Knife Anatomy 101: What is a Knife’s Tang?
You see it in the descriptions of many types of fixed blade knives: full tang, half tang, rat-tail tang,yet what is a knife’s tang?
The tang of a knife is the projecting shank, prong, fang, or tongue that connects the blade with the handle. There are many different types of tang, depending on the style of the knife and the construction of the handle.
Full Tang
The term full tang means that the knife/sword is one solid piece and the 2 handle pieces are pinned on to the blade, one on each side. This is the strongest of the tang types. Half tang knives go the length of the knife handle, but only half the width of it.
Push Tang
This is a partial tang that is pushed into and secured to the handle with glue or epoxy. They usually come in full and half push- half only going into half of the handle, while full being pushed in the full length of the handle.
Rat Tail Tang
In a rat tail tang, the tang narrows as it goes through the handle and is either threaded at the end or is welded to a piece of threaded rod. A bolt or threaded pommel secures the blade to the handle.
Encapsulated Tang
This tang is smaller than the handle. The handle is fitted or molded around the tang.
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Comments (13)
The Best Camping Knife: An In-Depth Guide | StefanRTW
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[…] tang construction is when the blade is made from a solid piece of material that stretches the full length of the knife all the way into the […]
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Jonathan Gilbert
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What do you call it if the handle is simply moulded out of the same piece of metal as the blade, with no handle pieces attached? Does that still fall into the category of Full Tang?
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Is the Victorinox 8-Piece Knife Block Set a Good Buy? - McDonald Knives
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[…] are also very ergonomic. Unfortunately, they aren’t the cheapest and they don’t come with a full tang. Taking all things into consideration, the Victorinox 8-Piece knife block set is worth the time and […]
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