My point exactly. Why make a grip where you have an extra inch or two of extra handle? Like I said a better blade:handle ratio makes more sense in my opinion.
If a handle is designed properly, then you can "choke up" by holding the handle. I can "choke up" on a puukko, for instance, without needing a massive divot in the base of the blade.
Sharpening choils, like what you see on traditional folders, actually make sense since they help keep the blade shape consistent over time and are small enough to not interfere with cutting tasks.
These are my feelings as well.
My thought is that if you need a choil cut into the blade edge to "choke up" to the work, then you have what I would call an improperly designed/sized handle. Also, the choil is almost by definition, an inferior point of contact on the knife, as the handle scales almost never go all the way forward to the front of the choil (because if they did, it wouldn't be a choil, it would be a finger groove). The lack of girth of the handle around the choil reduces comfort in longer duration's of cutting, or in heavy cutting tasks (less surface area to distribute the force, so it gets concentrated on your index finger). Also, because of that reduction in handle surface area, you generally have less traction, increasing your chance of slipping forward onto the cutting edge.
I also find them akward when I want to use the full handle (for the previously mentioned hard cutting, or when I've been using the knife for a long time). I find the huge distance between the real handle, and the cutting edge cumbersome. If it helps, I find this problem with knives that have large ricassos as well. As a large ricasso is functionally similar to a knife with a finger choil, just without the notch (its just flat). So I also like my first finger close to the cutting action, I just don't feel that choils are the best way to do that.
That said, I can see a purpose for finger choils on some folders. Where, in order to get a proper handle length, with a small blade length, you might have to make some of the handle be in the portion of the knife that folds (ie, the blade). Also, broadly speaking (yes, I know there are plenty of exceptions to this), folding knives are commonly used for cutting tasks that are either shorter in duration, or not quite as hard, so the lack of real handle in that area isn't as much of a negative as it could be otherwise.
Finally though, its no big deal to me if people want them/prefer them. Doesn't bother me in the least. And its not like I find a knife with a finger choil unusable, I just don't prefer them.
