Choil question

J

jeff_c

Joined
Jun 9, 2009
Messages
725
Howdy gang.

Has anyone flattened their blade back toward the choil? The edge on both my RATs is sharpened all the way back to the choil. The choil is a little shallow on these blades and I find that if I'm not really mindful while I work I can far to easily nick my index finger with the razor sharp blade.

Does this make sense?

You can kind of see what I mean in this picture.
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I have another knife that has about 1/8 inch of flat steel beyond the choil before the edge starts. Of course that blade is 6 inches long, so 1/8" is not much of a sacrifice.
 
I was thinking of doing that to my 6. Not grind it flat, but just make it really dull. May not work my serrations though.

1019483504_wxU8b-L-1.jpg
 
That serrated RC-6 just made me all tingly in my bathing suit area. :confused: :o

I'm going to get a 6 serrated and a 5 plain.

Don't dull your serrations! It'd be easier to do on a plain edge 6, just take a stone and dull-down 1/8" to 1/4" just in case......not really a bad idea if you use the choil a lot and are accident-prone.

You could also try to rig a paracord lanyard that you loop around your index finger that prevents it from sliding forward......it wouldn't be too hard.
 
i have a 3mil with serrations and i sliced my index finger pretty good once due to the same issue. after that i just took a sharpening stone and ran it over the edge of the first seration closest to my finger to round it off...while it's still sharp...i'm not afraid of it biting me so easily...
 
I too have thought about taking the edge down a bit next to the choil. The Spyderco Manix 2 has a jimped choil with a small block before you would hit the edge, I think that is a great choil design. I'f I could make one improvement on my ESEE 6, that would be it.
 
another perk of having skinny fingers. i hadn't noticed an issue until you pointed it out. fortunately for me, its still not an issue.
 
Here's what I've done on knives with choils that nick me. Get a diamond file ( or carefully on a sander) and just round off that bottom corner a little bit and maybe smooth it with some sandpaper. No more forefinger nicking issues. Leave the edge itself alone so you can still shave right up to the choil area.

I got that 6S too , and it's a wicked good knife If you're only going to grab "one".
 
So far the choil on my E-6 hasn't nicked me. It seems to be just big enough. I wish it wasn't there, but it hasn't hindered me so far. I can see where the choils on the 3 and 4 might bite someone though. I was at my local knife store yesterday handling both of them and unfortunately, I will never be able to own either of them. The choils are just too small. Not being able to use them, puts carving tasks too far away from my grip. I would no longer have the proper mechanical advantage I'm accustom to. I wish ESEE would just eliminate them from the smaller blades all together. That space could be better utilized imo to lengthen the handles just slightly. With no choil and a slightly longer handle, I think it would make for a more comfortable and useful knife. Everyone thought the Izula was the shiz until the longer Izula ll came out. I know I'm just preaching to the choir, but these are my thoughts on the ESEE choils.
 
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