finger choil

H

happyhunter

Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
71
What are your opinions on the finger groove on the blade or choil?

I have been using my new howling rat and I am not liking that choil. I pretty much consider it to have stolen about 3/4 inch of edge. When I slice cardboard I hold the blade at a pretty shallow angle so the edge slices. The card board pretty much contacts the grip. I can't do that with the choil there. Also makes chopping briars difficult.

I guess it would be handy on a longer blade. It would shift the center of gravity. But I don't like the choil on a short blade.
 
A lot of Rats have differing opinions about the size that the choil should be. Though, I have only heard a few say that they would prefer it not exist. ;)

The first version of Howling Rats had a smaller "half" choil. It was very shallow but allowed ample room to choke up your grip when desired. As I understand it, the choil was made larger by popular request for a more functional choil.

I prefer the presence of a choil because of the way I tend to use my knife. But on my smaller blades, the shallow choil is a perfect combination.

:D -360
 
happyhunter said:
What are your opinions on the finger groove on the blade or choil?

I have been using my new howling rat and I am not liking that choil. I pretty much consider it to have stolen about 3/4 inch of edge. When I slice cardboard I hold the blade at a pretty shallow angle so the edge slices. The card board pretty much contacts the grip. I can't do that with the choil there. Also makes chopping briars difficult.

I guess it would be handy on a longer blade. It would shift the center of gravity. But I don't like the choil on a short blade.
Click to expand...
i think it is to big on this blade, don't need it.
huh? :confused:
what the hell am i doing on this forum???? :confused: :confused:
 
idahoskunk said:
i think it is to big on this blade, don't need it.
huh? :confused:
what the hell am i doing on this forum???? :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

SomeHamGuy warned me that you might be around to keep me busy. ;)
 
Is this a diversion? Am I missing something? :confused: ;)

Now you've got me paranoid. LOL :D
 
OK, back to the topic.

Before I went Rat-crazy, hardly any of my knives had finger choils. I like the way they feel on the bigger knives, and have gotten more used to them on the smaller ones.

That said, I would like to see a run of Howlers with no choil at all, with the grind starting further back, just in front of the handle. It would give more edge to work with, and put the begining of the edge very close to the first finger. On a knife with a blade of this length, there would be no "front-heavy" feel to make you want to "choke up".

Greg
 
I like the choli. Gotten so used to it, any other knife I use feels werid without one. Only thing I'd change on the HR would be scales.

Now, on my ARK I'd rather not have a choli. I don't use it like my HR, but it also doesn't have as much belly as I'd like.
 
For what it's worth, that choil is the only reason I haven't bought an HR yet, although I intend to rectify that situation soon. If it wasn't there, I'd have at least two of them. I don't see the need for it on a blade that size, and honestly I don't use them on my larger blades, either. If a run was made with the edge running right up (down?) to the guard, I'd sell one of my (friend's) kidneys to buy one.
 
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