Choils, when do they make sense?

bodog

bodog

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I can see why some people want choils on certain knives. Sometimes they make sense. Here are a couple that fall into the practical use of choils:

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But can anyone explain this and what sense it makes on this kind of knife:

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Is there anyone who wants a 5 inch blade with a 3 inch cutting edge? Why not just carry a knife with a 3 inch blade and cut the weight? Its not like it's a big chopper that's hard to control and it's not made for delicate work. I'm trying to wrap my head around it.
 
While this varies based on whether a design is well thought out or not, I don't particularly care too much about blade:handle ratios. Outside of specialized tasks one rarely needs more than a few inches of blade, but a good grip (and by extension a solid handle) is always necessary.
 
Large choils "make sense" when people want to give up the part of their knife that offers the most leverage and control, in exchange for putting their unprotected finger right next to a sharp edge. What could possibly go wrong? :rolleyes:

I am not a fan of choils.
 
I love my ESEE 3, and have cleaned quite a few birds with it, but have no idea why anyone would use that choil.
 
Choils are useful on larger knives to allow you to choke up on the blade for detailed or more nimble cutting . The amount of blade loss is not significant and will not impact the overall usefulness of the knife. Why to many machetes have choils? I like choils, but I do not require them.

Why does the choil in knife No. 1 work for you and the ones on the other knives do not?

There is a lot of personal preference involved. I very much like the classic Randall knife look.
 
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I gots two words for all the folks who love to extol the supposed brilliance of "choking up" on a large blade with a giant chunk ground out of it...


pinch grip.
 
Choils make me not want a strider. Smf wastes about an inch of blade.
 
I like choils on folder besides the ability to choke up in some cases it helps as a dead zone in case the blade closes on your finger, no edge contact, finger doesn't get slices off.
 
Sharpening choil like in the secound pic I get but the large finger choil I don't care for. Especially on shorter blades.
 
meh, it depends on the blade. I actually added a choil to my BK9, so I could do a little more detailed work with it. however, I have other fixed blade knives that do have choils and I really wish they didn't. It's personal preference. No right or wrong answer.
 
james terrio said:
I gots two words for all the folks who love to extol the supposed brilliance of "choking up" on a large blade with a giant chunk ground out of it...


pinch grip.
Click to expand...

Pinch grip works great in the kitchen chopping veggies. Don't work so good carving the barbs into a fishing spear.

A choil on a large blade for me does in fact make doing fine work much easier than non choil blades.

Some choils are more of a looks feature though so I can see where you are coming from if the person who designed the blade did not design it to be used.

When your finger is in the choil you aren't swinging, chopping or stabbing. Fine cuts or slices where small amounts of material are being removed is when they shine.

Use that pinch grip when shaving bark from a branch or log and you will slip. The material is too hard and requires a more firm grip. If I pinch grip while doing them finer tasks I'm going to want a choil to be present so when I do slip I'm not running fingers into a sharp blade. May as well just use it at that point.
 
I don't like to choke up on a large blade. I usually use a smaller blade. But it is a matter of potential use. Don't particularly like to pinch grip the top of a large blade. I think that grip is potentially more hazardous than using the choil simply because it would be easier to drop the blade and who knows where it might land.
 
Some choil designs are used for repositioning when fighting with a knife. I remember watching a ridiculous video review of Spyderco's Navaja. The guy that did the review was totally clueless and made a big stink about how bad the design was. Beside from some quality issues the Navaja was a very good design for those that know how to make use of it.
 
james terrio said:
I gots two words for all the folks who love to extol the supposed brilliance of "choking up" on a large blade with a giant chunk ground out of it...


pinch grip.
Click to expand...

I suppose there might be a few aplications where a choil is benefitial, but mostly I agree with this statement. Choils are way over used. They cause more trouble than they are worth for me.
And regarding a folder failing, I buy knives that I trust. A choil as finger protection is an answer to a problem that should not exist. That's like putting floatation devices on a car in case someone accidently drives into a lake.
As long as you use it properly the blade will never come in contact with your finger. At least that has been my experience.
 
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I have had knives with choils and without in all sizes. Years ago I figured out that for my uses, choils are a completely useless waste of potential cutting edge at best and a dangerous hang up point for detail close-in cutting at worst.
 
Some of my knives have them, i dont use the choil, but it doesn't bother me either.

Make companies are confused whether we need it or not.

And me personally, almost never use the heel of the blade anyways.
 
Only thing I can think of is legal blade length (if defined by cutting edge) with a bigger handle on a folder, or a choppier blade on a fixed.
For example-Folder- my Lansky Responder 3.5 is right at legal lenght for concealed carry, but the .5 inch or so of choil doesnt count and I can grab the handle and a bit of blade choil and it fits perfect to my hand. I do feel I have to knock down the edge a little right next to my finger to be on the safe side.
My BK15 the jimping is directly across from the choil so you can really pinch down if needed, and being a tweener the handle could be a touch longer for me.
Both really well designed choils imho. On most knives I dont bother with them however.
 
I am a huge fan of choils on any blade over 3.5 inches...

You just get so far away from the blade with knives that size that you have little control if you want to do anything that requires more delicate type work.

Just an example, but if you want to open a package and need to cut close to the item inside, then a choil is a huge help in keeping that tip and edge where you want it.

I have no issues with a 4 inch blade that has 3.5 inches of cutting edge and a well designed and comfortable choil.....
 
I usually put a sharpening choil on the knives I make. Usually 1/4" diameter.
 
Myself, I don't like them. I find them uncomfortable, and a bit unsafe.

They seem like a stopgap solution to either 1) a handle that is too small for a full 4 finger grip, or 2) to "choke up" on the blade, presumably to give greater control by placing your forefinger closer to the work, and placing a piece of metal between your forefinger and middle finger.

For smaller bladed folders, I can kind of understand how it allows you to "cheat" a bit and gain some psuedo handle length.

And larger knives can use different techniques to be easily manageable, even without a choil. Machetes and kuhkris, which are two traditional knives that are used for tasks big and small (obviously skewed towards large tasks), and they dont seem to have choils (broadly speaking).

Imo, if a knife needs a choil to be usable, the handle needs to be severely reworked. As I said I consider a choil to be a psuedo handle, and id rather have a "real" handle.

Anyway, I know its a personal preference thing. My preference is just to not have them.

Sharpening choils/notches I have no issue with.
 
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