Cold Steel 35AB Master Tanto San Mai - VG-10 San Mai Steel Blade - Kray-Ex Handle - Secure-Ex Sheath
Cold Steel popularized this knife style in the early 1980s. All Cold Steel Tantos feature a deep lustrous satin finish on the hollow ground blade bevels and a contrasting line grain finish on the blade flats. This technique highlights their state of the art grinding methods and emphasizes the Cold Steel Tantos unique appearance. In addition, the Tantos come with their famous flattened oval Kraton handle. The oval shape provides a solid grip and resists rolling or twisting in the hand under hard use, the kind that, over time, would destroy a lesser knife. The use of Kraton in knife handles is another Cold Steel innovation. Kraton is an unparalleled space age material that wont crack or rot and is immune to the ravages of bad weather. The tapered, solid steel pommel is another important Tanto feature that should not be ignored. Lynn Thompson designed it to concentrate the full force of a crushing blow in a small area so that even a moderately powerful blow can be remarkably effective in disarming or otherwise incapacitating an attacker. The Tanto series knives in San Mai all come with a thick, high quality Secure-Ex sheath that is sure to give years of hard service and keep your Tanto at your side, ready for action.
- Features:
- Category End Use: Military/Tactical/Hunting/Survival
- Blade Steel: VG-10 San Mai®
- Rc Hardness: 57-59
- Blade Style: Tanto Point
- Blade Finish: Satin Finish
- Handle Material: Black Kray-Ex®
- Sheath Material: Secure-Ex®
- Blade Length: 6.0" (152 mm)
- Overall Length: 11.5" (292 mm)
- Blade Thickness: 0.2" (5 mm)
- Weight, Knife: 9.3 oz. (264 g)
- Weight, Sheath: 3.3 oz. (94 g)
- Made in: Taiwan
More about San Mai III steel:
San Mai means "three layers". It's the term given to the traditional laminated blades used by the Japanese for swords and daggers. Laminated construction is important because it allows different grades of steel to be combined in a single blade. A simple way to think of this type of construction is to imagine a sandwich: The meat center is hard, high carbon steel and the pieces of bread on either side are the lower-carbon, tough side panels. The edge of the blade should be hard to maximize edge holding ability, but if the entire blade was hard it could be damaged during the rigors of battle. For ultimate toughness the body of the blade must be able to withstand impact and lateral stresses. Toughness is generally associated with "softness" and "flexibility" in steel, so that, surprisingly, if a blade is made "tough" the edge won't be hard enough to offer superior edge holding. San Mai III provides a blade with hard (higher carbon) steel in the middle for a keen, long lasting edge and tougher (lower-carbon) steel along the sides for flexibility.
