Pitchpoint Hand Forged Blackened Tanto Knife with Buffalo Horn Scales & Brass Bolster | About 11 Inches Overall | Etched Knotwork and Leather Belt Sheath | Outdoor Gift | RK-2201

The Pitchpoint is a heavy tanto point fixed blade with a blackened finish, dark horn scales and a brass bolster. The tanto point is the whole argument for this knife. Instead of curving smoothly to a tip the way a drop point does, the spine runs dead straight and then breaks down at a sharp angle, so the point is backed by the full thickness of the blade almost all the way to the tip. That is a very deliberate piece of geometry. Most knife points fail because they are thin, and a tanto point simply refuses to be thin.

The blade is 1095 carbon steel finished in a hard black coating, with the sharpened edge left bright so the two tones read against each other, and a panel of Celtic knotwork etched into the flat behind the ricasso. The scales are black buffalo horn, pinned three times over a full tang, with a polished brass bolster at the front. Every one is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Ransack Viking imports them, checks the coating, the edge and the sheath fit at our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse, and ships from there. A dark brown leather belt sheath is included.

Tanto means a short Japanese blade before it means a point shape, which the tanto explained sorts out. Knotwork carried meaning as often as it was pure decoration, and our note on Norse symbols works through the recurring shapes. At sword length the same lines turn up in the short swords.

Specifications

What a tanto point is really doing

Take a normal clip point or drop point knife and look at the last inch of it edge on. The steel there is thin in two directions at once, because the blade is tapering to a point and grinding to an edge at the same time. That is why tips snap. A tanto point solves it by refusing to taper the spine at all. The spine stays full thickness until it reaches the angle, then drops away in a short straight run to the point. Set the two edges at an angle to each other and you get a corner rather than a curve, and a corner backed by four or five millimetres of steel will go through things that would take the end off a fine point.

The name comes from the Japanese tanto, a short blade in the same family as the katana and the wakizashi. It is worth noting honestly that a traditional Japanese tanto usually has a gently curved tip rather than the hard angle we all now call a tanto point, and the angular version is a twentieth century American interpretation that became popular on its own merits. Both are called tanto now and both are legitimate. The angular one, which is what this knife has, gives you two distinct working edges. The long straight belly is for slicing and it is easy to sharpen because it is dead flat. The short front edge is for pushing, prying and puncturing, and because it is short it stays stiff.

1095 steel and the black coating

1095 is a plain high carbon steel with around one percent carbon. It is not stainless and it holds no pretence about it. What it does is sharpen easily, hold a working edge, and behave predictably under heat treat, which is why it has been the backbone of traditional cutlery for well over a century. Drawn back to 54 to 58 HRC this blade is tough rather than glassy, which is the right choice for a knife whose entire purpose is to survive being used hard at the tip.

The black finish is a hard applied coating rather than a colour in the steel. It does two useful jobs. It cuts glare, which matters if you ever use the knife outdoors in bright light, and it puts a barrier between the carbon steel and the air, which slows corrosion on the flats. It is not indestructible. Hard use will scratch it back to bright steel along the high points, and that is normal wear rather than a fault. The sharpened edge is deliberately left uncoated, because a coating on the cutting edge would simply be ground away the first time you touched a stone.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel, the leather or the wood. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this knife the black flat behind the ricasso shows an engraved line beautifully, because cutting through the coating exposes bright steel underneath. Detail is on the engraving page.

Handling and balance

The brass bolster puts the balance point right at the index finger, which is where you want it on a knife you are going to use for controlled work rather than chopping. Horn is denser than most woods, so the handle carries a little weight of its own and the knife does not feel tip heavy despite the thick spine. The scales are left with a gentle palm swell and a squared butt, so the hand indexes the same way every time even in the dark.

For push cuts, put your thumb flat on the spine behind the knotwork panel. The spine is wide and square enough to take real pressure without biting into the thumb. For slicing, use the long straight belly and let the flat grind do the work. Keep the short front edge for the jobs that need a point, and be aware that the corner between the two edges is the strongest part of the blade and also the part that will mark a cutting board if you are careless.

Care

Wipe the blade dry after use and put a light film of oil on the bright edge, which is the part with no coating protecting it. Mineral oil or camellia oil is fine, and food safe mineral oil is the sensible choice if the knife ever goes near a kitchen. Horn is a natural material and it does not like extremes. Keep it out of direct sun on a windowsill and away from radiators, because prolonged dry heat can shrink and crack horn scales over years. An occasional wipe with a little mineral oil keeps it dark and healthy. Feed the leather sheath twice a year and store the knife out of it for long periods. More detail is in our knife care guide.

When the edge goes dull, sharpening on a whetstone covers the angle and the pressure.

Made in the Czech Republic

Made by hand in the Czech Republic and imported by Ransack Viking. Nothing here goes from an importer catalogue straight to a customer. Every knife lands at our Memphis warehouse, is unpacked, has the edge and the handle fit checked, and only then goes live as in stock. That is the honest reason processing takes one to two weeks. United States shipping is free, returns run for seven days, and the lifetime warranty against defects in the forging, the grind, the heat treat and the fittings has no end date and needs no receipt.

A note on handmade variation

This is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Buffalo horn is a natural material and no two pieces are alike. Some scales are almost solid black, others carry pale streaks, marbling or a translucent edge where the light comes through, and all of that is normal. Hand grinding shifts the angle of the tanto tip by a degree or two between knives, and the etched knotwork panel varies slightly in depth. The dimensions, the steel and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is it sharp out of the box

Yes. Both the long belly and the short front edge are sharpened and ready to work. The bright bevel you can see against the black coating is the sharpened edge.

Will the black coating wear off

It will wear at the high points with hard use, which is expected on any coated blade. It is a functional finish rather than a permanent one, and the bright steel it exposes is the same 1095 underneath.

Is the handle real horn

Yes, it is buffalo horn rather than a moulded imitation, which is why the streaking and the translucency vary between knives. Keep it out of prolonged dry heat and it will last indefinitely.

Can it be used in the kitchen

It will cut, but it is built as an outdoor and utility knife rather than a kitchen knife. If you do use it on food, wash and dry it by hand immediately and never put it in a dishwasher.

Can I have runes on the blade

Yes. A cut line through the black coating shows as bright steel, so engraving reads very clearly on this one. Your chosen design replaces the existing knotwork panel rather than sitting beside it.

How long does shipping take

Processing runs one to two weeks while the knife is checked at the Memphis warehouse, then standard United States shipping. Engraving adds a few days.

What is in the box

• Pitchpoint blackened tanto knife
• Dark brown leather belt sheath
• Care and warranty card
• Hand made in the Czech Republic, shipped from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse

Explore the range

See more in tanto knives, Viking knives, Norse arms and engraved and personalised pieces, or read the guides.