What Is a Knife Tang? Full Tang vs Partial Tang Explained

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Updated August 2026 · 8 min read · UK Japanese-steel knife specialists

The tang is the part of a knife you never see and almost never get told about, and it is the single clearest signal of how a knife is built. It is also the honest reason a forged knife costs more than a supermarket one.

This guide explains what a tang is, sets out every tang type you will meet on a spec sheet, and shows you how to tell them apart from a product photo before you spend anything.

What is a tang on a knife?

A tang (also called a shank) is the back portion of the blade of a tool or weapon where it extends into the handle or into stock material — on a knife, a sword, a chisel, a file or a screwdriver alike (Tang, Wikipedia). On a kitchen knife it is the flat piece of steel behind the heel that disappears into the handle and holds the whole thing together.

Tang designs are classified three ways: by how they look, by how they attach to the handle, and by how long they are relative to the handle. Those three axes are why the vocabulary gets confusing — "full tang" and "hidden tang" are answers to two different questions, not two options on the same list.

In Japanese the tang is the nakago, a term used especially of the katana and the wakizashi. It is also where makers traditionally put their mark: tang stamps can carry the manufacturer, an often-encoded year of manufacture, and sometimes the steel type or a serial number.

If you want the rest of the vocabulary — heel, choil, bolster, spine — our guide to the anatomy of a chef knife covers the whole blade.

Tang types compared

Here is every tang type you are likely to see named, what it actually is, how to spot it from the outside, and what it means when you are choosing.

Tang type	What it is	How to spot it	What it means for you
Full tang	Steel runs the full length of the grip. It may or may not be as wide as the handle.	A line of steel showing along the spine and belly of the handle and at the butt, with two or three pins or rivets through it.	More force can be leveraged through the handle, which helps on harder materials or as the edge dulls. Heavier, with the balance point further back.
Slab tang	A full tang that also matches the full width of the handle, with scales fixed either side.	Steel visible on the bottom, back and front edges of the handle — the classic Western chef-knife look.	The most visible, most easily verified construction. Nothing about it is hidden from you.
Through tang	Runs the full length of the handle but is too narrow to be exposed on any face of it.	You cannot see it. A seamless handle with no rivets that the maker still describes as full-length.	Full-length steel with a cleaner handle. Proof of length has to come from the spec sheet, not the photo.
Partial tang (stub, half, three-quarter)	Steel stops part-way into the handle. The names describe how far it gets.	No steel at the butt, often no rivets, and a handle noticeably light for its size.	Lighter and cheaper to make, but it limits how much force you should apply through the handle.
Rat-tail (stick) tang	The steel narrows abruptly behind the blade into a thin rod, like a rat's tail behind its body.	Hidden inside the handle. A threaded pommel nut at the butt and a very light handle are the usual clues.	This style is often used on decorative blades that are never intended for actual use. Treat it as a warning sign on a working knife.
Hidden tang (incl. push and encapsulated)	Fastened inside the handle so neither the tang nor the fixing shows. Push tangs are pushed into a pre-made handle; encapsulated tangs have the handle moulded around them.	A one-piece handle with no rivets and no steel at the butt — the standard look on round and octagonal Japanese-style wooden handles.	Describes the finish, not the length. A hidden tang can be full-length or partial, so it tells you nothing on its own.
Tapered and skeletonised tang	A tapered tang thins along its length; a skeletonised tang has sections cut away to a framework.	Usually stated by the maker. On some knives the cut-outs are visible through the scales.	Both are deliberate ways of cutting handle weight without a significant loss of strength. They are refinements of a tang, not shortcuts.
Extended tang	The tang runs past the end of the grip.	An exposed metal cap or spike beyond the handle.	On knives it can act as a hammer pommel. Rare on kitchen knives and not something to look for in one.

One thing worth being clear about, because it is stated the wrong way round almost everywhere: these design styles are not a list of partial tangs. Most of them can be applied to a full or a partial tang, and using one does not exclude another — a blade can perfectly well have a hidden, encapsulated, rat-tail tang all at once.

Full tang

A full tang extends the full length of the grip portion of the handle. It may or may not be as wide as the handle itself, but it always runs the whole way.

In the most common full-tang design, the handle is cut to the shape of the tang and two handle scales are fastened to it with pins, screws, bolts, metal tubing or epoxy, leaving the steel exposed along the belly, butt and spine of the handle. That exposed strip is what people are really pointing at when they say "you can see it's full tang".

Two things follow from it, and only two:

• You can put more force through the handle. A full tang generally allows more force to be leveraged through the handle against the resistance of whatever you are cutting — an advantage on harder materials, and on any knife whose edge has started to dull.
• The balance point moves back towards your hand. More steel in the handle counterweights a blade that is usually much heavier than the grip. A rear- or centre-balanced knife is more agile and easier to manipulate; a forward-balanced one has more raw chopping power. Neither is better — they are different tools.

That second point is the one most often garbled. Extra handle weight does not give you more chopping power. It gives you a nimbler knife, and it takes chopping power away.

Full-tang construction is also part of the honest price argument for a forged knife: more steel, more machining, more fastening work. If you want the wider version of that argument, we have written it up in forged vs stamped knives.

Partial, half and three-quarter tang

A partial tang extends into the handle but not all the way to the end. The sub-names simply describe how far it gets: a stub tang barely enters the handle, a half tang reaches roughly halfway, and a three-quarter tang most of the way.

A partial tang generally cannot leverage as much force against the resistance of the material being cut as a full tang, which limits how much force you should apply through the handle. That is the real, sourceable trade-off — not that the knife will snap if you drop it.

It is not automatically a defect, either. Partial tangs can be optimal in lightweight blades that are kept extremely sharp and used on less-resistant materials. Scalpels are the obvious example; so, famously, are Japanese samurai swords. The two commonest partial tangs in everyday life are the folding pocket knife, where the tang stops at the pivot, and the utility or craft blade designed to be swapped out when it dulls.

Where it is a warning sign is at the bottom of the market: many inexpensive knives and swords made for decoration use partial tangs and are not intended for cutting at all. That is the knife you do not want in a kitchen.

Hidden, push and rat-tail tangs

These three get lumped together as "not full tang", and they should not be.

A hidden tang is fastened within the handle so that neither the tang nor the mechanism holding it is visible on the surface. That can be done with epoxy alone, or more carefully with a protrusion on the tang that locks into a notch in the handle, or with a threaded tang end and a pommel nut screwed on. A push tang is pushed into a pre-made handle and fixed there; an encapsulated tang has the handle material moulded around it.

None of those words tells you how long the steel is. A through tang runs the full length of the handle and is still invisible from the outside. So when a knife has a one-piece round or octagonal wooden handle — the traditional Japanese-style handle you will find on much of our range, and on Japanese knife handles generally — "you can't see a tang" is not evidence of anything.

A rat-tail or stick tang is the one to be careful about. Here the transition from blade to tang involves an abrupt drop in the amount of steel, leaving a rod much narrower than the blade — the resemblance to a rat's tail behind its body is where the name comes from. This style is often used on decorative swords and blades that are never meant to be used, and therefore never needed a strong functional tang.

There is also a genuinely fake version to know about: inexpensive decorative knives sometimes use a hidden false tang, a thin separate bolt welded to a stub tang, passed through the handle and held by a pommel nut. It looks like a through tang from the outside and is not one.

How to check a knife's tang before you buy

You will rarely get to take a handle apart, so work from what you can see and what the maker is willing to state.

• Look at the butt. On a slab or full tang with scales, steel is visible at the very end of the handle. No steel at the butt does not prove a partial tang, but steel at the butt does prove the tang reaches it.
• Look along the top and bottom edges of the handle. A thin continuous line of steel between two scales is the tell.
• Count the rivets, then look at how they sit. Pins are how scales are fastened to a full tang. On a well-made knife they are flush; a proud rivet becomes a blister after twenty minutes of prep.
• Read the spec sheet, not the marketing. "Hidden tang", "ergonomic handle" and "premium construction" say nothing about length. "Full tang" and "through tang" do.
• Weigh the handle in your hand. A handle that feels hollow for its size on a knife with a blade-forward balance is worth asking about.
• Treat a pommel nut with suspicion on a cheap knife. On a quality piece it is a legitimate method of fixing; at the bottom of the market it is the classic signature of a rat-tail or false tang.

Handle material is the other half of this question, and it is genuinely separate — a superb tang inside a handle that swells and cracks is still a knife you stop using. We have covered the common options in our guides to pakkawood and G10 handles.

Knives to consider

A short, honest note before the list. Where a knife's tang construction is stated on its spec sheet, we say so below. Where it is not, we do not guess — and you should be wary of any shop that does.

Frequently asked questions

What is a tang on a knife?

A tang, also called a shank, is the back portion of the blade that extends into the handle. On a kitchen knife it is the piece of steel behind the heel that runs into the grip and holds the knife together. Tangs are classified by how they look, by how they attach to the handle, and by how far they extend into it. The Japanese term for the tang is nakago.

What does full tang mean on a knife?

Full tang means the blade steel extends the full length of the grip portion of the handle. It may or may not be as wide as the handle. In the most common design the handle is cut to the shape of the tang and two scales are pinned to it, leaving a strip of steel exposed along the spine, belly and butt of the handle.

What is the difference between a full tang and a partial tang?

A full tang runs the whole length of the grip; a partial tang stops part-way. A full tang generally allows more force to be leveraged through the handle, which helps on harder materials or once the edge has dulled, and the extra steel moves the balance point back towards your hand. A partial tang cannot leverage as much force, so it limits how hard you should push, but it makes for a lighter knife.

What is a half tang?

A half tang is one of the partial tang designs, along with the stub tang and the three-quarter tang. The names simply describe how far the steel reaches into the handle: a stub tang barely enters it, a half tang gets roughly halfway, and a three-quarter tang most of the way.

What is a rat-tail tang?

In a rat-tail or stick tang the transition from blade to tang involves an abrupt drop in the amount of steel, leaving a rod much narrower than the blade. This style is often used on decorative swords and blades that are never intended for actual use and therefore never needed a strong functional tang, so it is worth avoiding on a working kitchen knife.

Is a hidden tang the same as a partial tang?

No. A hidden tang is fastened inside the handle so that neither the tang nor the mechanism holding it is visible from the outside. That describes the finish, not the length. A through tang runs the full length of the handle and is still invisible, so a seamless one-piece handle with no rivets tells you nothing on its own about how far the steel goes.

Does a kitchen knife have to be full tang?

No. A full tang lets you put more force through the handle, which suits heavy work, but partial tangs can be optimal in lighter blades that are kept very sharp and used on less-resistant materials. What you should avoid is the bottom of the market, where many inexpensive decorative knives use partial or rat-tail tangs and were never intended for cutting at all.

How can I tell what tang a knife has from a photo?

Look at the butt of the handle and along its top and bottom edges. A continuous line of steel between two scales, with flush pins through it, means the tang reaches that far. If the handle is a seamless one piece with no rivets, you cannot tell from the photo and you need the maker to state it. Marketing words such as ergonomic or premium say nothing about tang length.

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