jashan1 wrote:
i watched the esee knives; not much of the variety though.
i thought of buying a KABAR tanto (serrated or plain)
can you compare these brands?
Jashan,
There is a reason why Esee / Rat Cutlery caries less than a dozen styles compared to the 50 or 100 odd styles carried by any other company. This is because they simply do not need to make other designs as these are well in demand. Their knives are trusted and this is all that they need. Looks can be deceiving. Their simplicity is their strength as I said earlier.
But of course you can buy other knives too as there are some other great knives in the market. These just seemed to be the most suited to your purpose.
The KA Bars are great knives knives and they have earned themselves a great reputation and this comes from the history of their usage BUT You need a hunting / survival knife and the uses are but not limited to: hunting, skinning, prying, cutting, punching, chopping, striking a fire steel etc. etc. The Man Vs Wild series will give you a good idea about the possible uses
You can buy a Ka Bar but I am not in favour of the Serrated blade as these cannot be sharpened easily. Here is what a company like Benchmade has to say about sharpening the serrated blades they sell "There's never a dull moment with a Benchmade... That's right! We will gladly re-sharpen your Benchmade knife to a factory razor sharp edge (service does not apply to any serrated portion of the blade)."
Source:
http://www.benchmade.com/about_knives/l ... ervice.asp
Although it cannot be denied that the serrations do give a lot more cutting power (the points puncture and then the blade cuts easily) but only when sharp.
Now coming to the Tanto: The origin of Tanto is Japan and these were carried on the battlefield and worn mostly by the Samurai. It was designed primarily for stabbing although it can be used for slashing as well. They were basically designed for piercing armour. Now the question is: Do you have these uses in mind?
Once again the sharpening issue comes to my mind with the tanto. The straight slightly curved blades are the easiest to sharpen. What good is a dull knife?
A traditional blade or Drop-point or clip-point usually has a wider blade, and decent thickness. They are ideal for cutting, skinning, carving etc.
Looking into all this personally I would not advice you to either buy a serrated or a tanto point blade.
I also agree with the comments by eljefe and miss_3006. Great advice!
