Busse's small choil: pro's and con's

CapitalizedLiving

CapitalizedLiving

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Dec 1, 2007
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I have almost bought a BOSS Street on several occasions this last week, but keep holding back due to the memories of the BAD I once owned. I was not a fan of its choil. I felt it didn't serve much of a purpose.

I understand the concept of a choil as a sharpening notch and why such a thing would be useful. But I wondered why the BAD's "sharpening notch" was so massive. I also understood the concept of a choil as a method for choking up on a knife, but this clearly didn't apply to the BAD or to any small-choil Busse knives.

So far, all I have are con's regarding this small choil feature. It seems like a medium choil if anything, as a small choil would be smaller than this, in my opinion.

Do any of you have any pro's regarding Busse's small choil? If you have any, please let me know so I can get off the fence and either buy a BOSS Street or pass on it.

Thank you very much!
 
So a fire steel fits in the choil? Interesting. That's good, since the BOSS Street has a rounded spine that makes it not so good for fire steel use. Thanks for the input.
 
I haven't struck it with my AD since its CG, but did use the one on my war dog.

There are certainly steels that would fit. And on a dedicated bush/camp knife, I see no reason that you couldn't square off the edges of the choil to optimize it for that use (if it needed it). What I liked was that it was easy to aim the sparks since I'm a hack who tends to move the knife not the steel which I know is the wrong technique.
 
I don't see any advantages in "elf choils". In combination with the talon hole they move the hand too far away from the edge to do detailed work comfortably without providing the option to choke up on the blade. No elf choils for me :thumbdn:

If I want to have a fire steeel application I'd rather like it on the spine - like the jimping on the SAR-series :thumbup:
 
I use the small choil on my Basic 9 for a number of uses ... fraying Deer leg tendons for really strong twine ... cleaning off pine roots for larger binding on a A frame "basher" ... cleaning stems on nettles before splitting them to make twine ... the use of a fire steel is really great with these as the choil is a "right-angle" design and throws a great shower of sparks ... but the Basic 9 choil still allows a fairly good choke hold by gripping partly into the recess and partly using the lower talon hole as a finger placement area ...

I don't have a Boss Street but would expect the same would apply ...

For those who prefer a small blade without a choil I know what they mean but find I can get by with any design ... delicate feathering for tinder is a good example where they all work with practise.
 
PeterPHWS said:
For those who prefer a small blade without a choil I know what they mean but find I can get by with any design ...
Click to expand...

I have no possible dispute with that statement... but to that point I wonder if I should stick with the CABS and pretty much all my other knives for that matter. Because you're right - given a non-optimal situation (ie 98% of all situations) I'll find a way to work with whatever I have to get the task done. And the 2% of times where i actually have the proper tool, I end up using it as if I were improvising with a generalized tool, since that's where 98% of my experience comes from.

So why bother with $200-300 knives with "elf choils" when I can deal with $10 Moras or a piece of sharpened rock? Hmm. Thanks for the moment of clarity.
 
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