Cold Steel Magnum Tanto XII Knife San Mai VG10

[Garet Jax]

Hello all,

The Magnum Tanto comes in 3 sizes: small, medium and large (11.5" blade, 17.5 total length). What are your thoughts?

The large one generally is ~$210.

You can get a blade the same length from cold steel made with CPM-3V for ~$360.

 

[alucard0822]

For what purpose? VG10 or most any stainless pretty much turns any large fixed blade into a wall hanger. Depending on the steel used for cladding it might not crack or shatter as easily as a monosteel VG10 blade, but the edge will probably chip if you hit anything with it. 3V is tough enough to not be dangerous to the user if you actually use it. IMO it's a lot of money for a really basic blade, for martial arts, better off with a 3 peice set, or at least a Tanto that matches the others and has a wrapped handle. Looks like it would be kinda slippery with just checkered grivory. For most other uses would probably be better off with another blade design in a tougher steel than VG10, although 3V is pretty tough and makes a decent large fixed blade.

 

[llkoolkeg]

I liked their "American Tanto" more back when it came with a nice leather belt sheath. I am not dishing out serious money for a blade, though, if it comes with a crap sheath and most tac-T-cool sheathes are anything but. The only exception to this rule so far has been my purchase of the CRKT Hisshou, as designed by Bugei's James Williams, which actually has a pretty nicely executed kydex sheath.

 

[llkoolkeg]

Oh well...I ended up rethinking this and just received a CS Magnum Tanto XII in CPM-3V as a gift. It is INSANELY sharp right out of the box, shaved all the hair off my arm in one pass and the sheath is actually much better than I thought it would be. It retains the blade infallibly UNLESS you thumb it out in a very specific way. Once I figured out how, it releases easily 100% of the time when done correctly yet holds the blade like superglue quicksand if snatched or grabbed at...much like a retention holster. I like it every bit as much as my iris-leaf-bladed CRKT Hisshou.