| Because of my father I became a firm believer in | | | | Second is the overall design of the knife. The |
| quality over quantity. This belief led me to my all | | | | blade has a full tang, meaning the steel that |
| time favorite knife: the Cold Steel Master Tanto. I | | | | comprises the blade continues all the way through |
| received it as a present many years ago from | | | | the handle and attaches to the pummel. Any blade |
| my father. He told me this was a knife that would | | | | smith will tell you that full tang knives are superior |
| not fail me. He was right. | | | | to the alternative. The handle is a checkered |
| Over the years that knife was not only used to | | | | rubber-like material Cold Steel calls Kraton. The |
| cut your standard everyday materials, it was | | | | advantage of this material is it is soft and flexible |
| used for things that even the manufacturer would | | | | to the touch, promotes a high-friction grip when |
| cringe at. Or so I thought. I've cut buffalo hide, | | | | wet/gooey, and very resistant to damage. |
| plastic, broken glass with the tip (didn't harm the | | | | And Third is the pummel. On the end of the knife |
| tip at all), insane amounts of cardboard, and even | | | | is a metal cap that comes to blunt point and has |
| metal. That's right! When it came time to tear | | | | a hole for a lanyard to be looped through. Lanyard |
| apart my best friend's mom's aluminum above | | | | holes, probably the most under-appreciated |
| ground pool, I pulled out the old tanto and started | | | | feature on a knife! One day I'll write an article just |
| hacking away. That knife has been used to break | | | | on the advantages and necessity of lanyard |
| up granite rock, puncture tires (don't ask), pry | | | | holes... I have successfully used the pummel of |
| open locked doors (my little one locked herself in | | | | my knife to puncture car doors, smash |
| the bathroom), and even to check to see if the | | | | cinderblocks, demolish ice blocks, break car |
| starter in an old Buick was still working! I have yet | | | | windows, and even destroy padlocks. This thing |
| to find something I can't do with this knife. | | | | eats anything for breakfast and begs for lunch! |
| PROS AND CONS | | | | Effectively what Cold Steel has done is create a |
| I don't have the space and you don't have the | | | | knife that is a monster wrecking machine |
| time for me to explain all the benefits of this | | | | condensed down to 11.5 inches and 9.5 ounces. |
| knife so I won't try. But there are three points I | | | | And if that's not good enough, the Master Tanto |
| would like to drive home. | | | | is the baby brother of a whole line of Tanto |
| First is the blade. Cold Steel used what they call | | | | blades! Blades are 6", 7.5", 9" and 12". And if a |
| San Mai III construction, a process very close to | | | | foot long blade isn't good enough, Highlander, Cold |
| the methods used by the ancient Japanese | | | | Steel makes swords using the same technique. |
| master sword smiths. There are three layers of | | | | But that's another review. |
| steel: a softer, high carbon core steel with two | | | | The only downside this blade has the price. But |
| harder pieces of low-carbon steel fused to either | | | | then again if I told you I was going to sell you a |
| side. The result is a sandwich of three pieces of | | | | knife that you could hammer, blade first, through |
| steel all perfect for their purpose, thus creating an | | | | a car door without hurting the point, break |
| even more perfect blade. The softer middle steel | | | | cinderblocks with the pummel, and use as a pry |
| flexes so stress does not snap the blade while still | | | | bar to open locked doors, how much would you |
| holding an amazing edge. The outer pieces of | | | | expect to pay? I've seen custom knives that can |
| steel are hard, giving the blade great rigidity and | | | | do half what the Master Tanto can do go for |
| strength while still allowing it to bend under sever | | | | hundreds more! So no, my friend, this blade does |
| stress. This blade is truly amazing to use. | | | | not really have any cons. |