Tantostag Hand Forged Damascus Tanto Knife with Stag Horn and Buffalo Horn Handle & Leather Sheath | Tactical Collector Gift | RK-532

Every Tantostag is forged, ground and finished by hand. The blade is fire pattern Damascus with an angled tanto point, the handle is stag horn and buffalo horn, and the two are fitted with custom brass file work so the knife sits balanced in the palm. Overall it runs 9.5 inches with a 5.5 inch blade and a 4 inch handle, which is a lot of edge on a knife that still rides comfortably on a belt. The Japanese short blade and its modern point are explained in what a tanto is.

The angled tanto point that everyone recognises today is not actually the Japanese tanto. A traditional Japanese tanto is a short blade with a gentle curve and a tip that follows the edge line, separated from the flat by a fine ridge called the yokote. The hard shouldered geometry you are looking at here was worked out in California in the late 1970s and early 1980s by makers like Bob Lum and Phill Hartsfield, and it spread worldwide from there. It survives because it solves a real problem: the secondary tip edge puts a great deal of steel directly behind the point, so it punches through hard material without folding the tip over.

The Tantostag is forged and finished in the Czech Republic, and it ships sharp, in its fitted leather sheath, with free shipping inside the United States.

Specifications

What the angled tanto point actually does

Look at where the two edges meet. On a drop point or a clip point the edge sweeps in a continuous curve to the tip, which is excellent for slicing and terrible for anything that resists. All the force at the point of contact is carried by a very thin, very fine sliver of steel, and if that sliver hits bone, a staple or a knot in timber it rolls or snaps.

The tanto answers that by stopping the primary edge short and running a second straight edge up to the point at an angle. The point is now supported by the full thickness of the blade almost right up to the tip, and the transition between the two edges gives you a strong corner that behaves like a chisel. That corner is the most useful part of the knife in practice. It scores, it starts cuts in webbing and cardboard, it opens seams, and it takes abuse that would ruin a fine point.

The honest trade off is that a tanto has no belly. It will not skin an animal well, because skinning needs a long curved edge that can be drawn through hide. If you want one knife for field dressing, this is the wrong shape and a skinner or a drop point is the right one. If you want a knife with a point that will not let you down, this is exactly the shape to buy. The Tantostag also keeps a long straight primary edge, which is the best geometry there is for push cuts on a board or a bench.

Why Damascus and not stainless

The blade is forge welded from 1095 high carbon and 15N20 nickel steel, 393 layers deep, hardened to 58 to 60 HRC. Because the layers are physically inside the steel, the pattern follows the grind and reappears on the tanto bevel where a printed blade would show nothing at all. That is the quickest way to check a Damascus tanto in a shop: look at the secondary tip edge and see whether the pattern carries onto it.

Against stainless, the case is straightforward. This is harder, it takes a keener edge and it holds that edge longer through fibrous material. It also rusts if you let it, where a soft stainless kitchen blade would shrug the same treatment off. That is the whole bargain and we set it out in Damascus versus stainless. If you are shopping around, run any blade through our five checks for real Damascus before you pay for one.

Stag horn, buffalo horn and the brass file work

The handle pairs stag horn with buffalo horn. Stag horn is dense, slightly irregular and grips hard even with wet hands, which is why it has been the default on working knives for centuries. Buffalo horn is smoother, darker and takes a deep polish, and it is used here to break up the shape and add weight at the rear so the knife balances near the front of the handle rather than out at the point. Both are natural materials, so the colour, the streaking and the surface texture will differ from the photograph.

The brass file work along the spine and fittings is cut by hand with a file, one notch at a time. It is decorative, but it also gives the thumb something to register against when you are pushing on the spine. Horn and bone want the same treatment as timber: a light coat of oil once or twice a year, no long soaking, no radiators. The method is the same one in wooden handle care.

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 or the handle. 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 whether it goes on the blade or the handle. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On a tanto the long flat above the primary edge is the natural place for a rune line, and horn takes a cut cleanly if you would rather have it on the grip. See the engraving page for what fits.

Care and sharpening

A minute after use is all it asks. Wipe, dry, then a thin film of mineral or camellia oil. Leather holds moisture against steel, so store it out of the sheath if it is going away for a season.

Sharpening a tanto is two separate jobs, and this is where people go wrong. The primary edge and the tip edge are at different angles and they meet at a corner. Sharpen them as one continuous sweep and you will round the corner off and lose the whole reason the shape exists. Work the long straight edge first, then lift the knife and treat the short tip edge as its own bevel, keeping the corner crisp. Full method in steel care and sharpening with a whetstone.

Made in the Czech Republic

Every piece we sell is made by hand in the Czech Republic. The smiths there work the way the trade has been worked for a long time, heating and hammering the steel, taking the bevels down by eye, and fitting the handle and the leather one at a time. There is no automated line anywhere in it, so small differences from one piece to the next are normal and expected.

Ransack Viking is a United States company based in Chicago, Illinois. We bring the pieces in ourselves, inspect them on arrival and ship them from our own warehouse. If you add engraving, that is carried out here in the United States before your order goes out.

A note on handmade variation

This knife is hand forged. It is not machine made and it is not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The fire pattern comes out of the billet differently on every blade, the stag horn and buffalo horn are marked by the animals they came from, the file work is cut by eye, and the exact profile shifts by fractions because a person ground it. 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 primary edge and the tip edge are sharpened before it is packed. It is ready to work on arrival.

Can I use this for skinning a deer

We would not. A tanto has no belly, which is the part of a blade that does the work in a hide. Buy a skinner for that and keep this for the jobs that need a strong point.

Why does the spine have notches cut into it

That is hand cut brass and steel file work. It is decorative in origin and it doubles as a thumb rest when you are putting weight on the spine.

Will the horn crack over time

Not if you keep it out of long soaking and away from direct heat. Horn and bone dry out in the same conditions timber does, and the same annual coat of oil prevents it.

How do I stop the Damascus pattern fading

The pattern is not a coating and it does not fade. What dulls it is a film of skin oil and moisture on the flat. Wipe it down and it comes straight back.

Does the leather sheath fit right or left

It is a vertical belt sheath and it carries on either side. If you want it built specifically for left hand draw, say so in the order notes before we start the leatherwork.

What is in the box

• One Tantostag Damascus tanto knife
• Fitted leather sheath
• Protective packaging
• Forged and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Compare it with the working blades in Hunting Knives, the pointed profiles in Dagger Knives, the belly heavy shapes in Damascus Skinner Knives and the Norse pieces in Viking Knives. Background reading lives in the guides.

Others in the same line

Worth putting side by side with this is the Tantoguard tanto knife. In the same category sits the Pitchpoint tanto knife. A near match for this one is the Runespine tanto knife, pattern welded Damascus.

For a different piece from the same family, look at the Curvefang kukri knife. You can have this made your way instead on the custom Damascus knife page.