i did notice that swamp rat will be reducing the choil on the rat trap
i know that there isnt any use cutting with the choil, however when you have something that requires 6" of cutting, like a curtain or a long peice of cloth, on something like the active duty you only have 3" of cutting space. for me, when i have to cut something like that, i have a choice of iether using a sawing motion throught the entire thing, making a single ripping cut, or making 3 or 4 slicing cuts (where the blade gets inserted to the end of the blade near the ricasso, and then pulled out towards the tip, reset the blade and repeat)
with the first one, on flow-y drapes i have a hard time using the very limited sliceing room without iether having the material drop off the tip, or drop into the choil. not because im trying to do iether, just because the material isnt super taught and has a tendancy to slide along the edge in iether direction a little more then i intend it to.
with the ripping action, again, things tend to slide a little bit. with a limited cutting area, its gonna (for me) iether go off the tip or the choil.
and with the multiple slices, that works, but not when im short on time and have to make the cut fast.
when im making a quick cut, i like to be able to square the material up with my hand, and slide it onto the blade where it starts - that makes it so i can do it completely blind, and get the material squarely onto the blade everytime. even when im not doing that, i like to initiate the cut by pushing the blade foward, so that my main cut will be using the entirety of the blade instead of the last half of it (again, with the possibility of the material slipping off the tip before its fully cut). doing that inevitable results in the material going into the choil and me having to reset the cut.
ya, i could probably learn to do use the knife in a manner that would minimize that, but i would probably lose all that method i learn when i need it most, when a seatbelt needs to get cut and another car is coming, when im stuck and choking, when i need to cut something off thats hurting me badly enough that im getting dizzy, things like that. chances are im gonna do the square it up bit and cut from the back of the blade where i have the most control, speed and power.
and id still have to ask, even once i learned how to use the blade without having things slip into the choil, whats the purpose of them being there in the first place? as a choke up area is one that ive heard a lot, wich i can understand that (though personally i dont like having my finger actually on the blade or right next to it when cutting anything, wich is mainly because i have butter fingers when it comes to that specific hold position with knives.), but with anything smaller then that, whats the purpose? (compared to a small notch, or something that wont have things actually going into them and getting caught)
with the knives that have the choke up area, i feel the urge to always be in that position rather then have my hand on the actual handle.... (unless its big like a basic 9 or battle mistress)
sometimes it takes little changes like that to make a knife just what you want.
I'll have to compare it to the new mod SRKW has made for the production run.