I have a couple of knives that I'm modifying, a Busse Game Warden (GW) and a Busse Active Duty (AD). The GW is a thick one, I think they call it a fatty, but not sure. The GW is on top.
http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/testing/P1000552.jpg
You can see that I've been doing things with the AD, but I'll leave that to another thread.
The problem that I have with these knives is that 90% of my cutting is done with a pinch grip. To that end, I also find having a wide blade or handle for this pinch grip is uncomfortable, I like having my thumb and forefinger close together. Also, having the edge so far away from my thumb and forefinger is just uncomfortable, and requires a lot of extra effort. Plus, I have an elbow injury which only adds to the problem. The ideal (for me) is a SAK or Stockman, which have nice narrow blades and I can grip right up to the edge. Those blades generally don't have the most comfortable of handles for extended cutting.
These are some of the reasons that I like choils. I can get close to the cutting with a comfortable grip. Most knives without choils don't allow that, but there are some exceptions. Since I really like these knives, I went to town on the GW with an angle grinder, dremel, and belt sander. It's ugly, but very comfortable. I'll probably have to clean it up later for looks, but for performance, it works well. I can now choke up right next to my work, and get all 4 fingers comfortably on the handle, rather than 3 and a half. Note that the edge length is exactly the same, all of this choil came out of the unused part of the handle.
http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/testing/P1000560.jpg
Anyone else perform this type of surgery?
http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/testing/P1000552.jpg
You can see that I've been doing things with the AD, but I'll leave that to another thread.
The problem that I have with these knives is that 90% of my cutting is done with a pinch grip. To that end, I also find having a wide blade or handle for this pinch grip is uncomfortable, I like having my thumb and forefinger close together. Also, having the edge so far away from my thumb and forefinger is just uncomfortable, and requires a lot of extra effort. Plus, I have an elbow injury which only adds to the problem. The ideal (for me) is a SAK or Stockman, which have nice narrow blades and I can grip right up to the edge. Those blades generally don't have the most comfortable of handles for extended cutting.
These are some of the reasons that I like choils. I can get close to the cutting with a comfortable grip. Most knives without choils don't allow that, but there are some exceptions. Since I really like these knives, I went to town on the GW with an angle grinder, dremel, and belt sander. It's ugly, but very comfortable. I'll probably have to clean it up later for looks, but for performance, it works well. I can now choke up right next to my work, and get all 4 fingers comfortably on the handle, rather than 3 and a half. Note that the edge length is exactly the same, all of this choil came out of the unused part of the handle.
http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/testing/P1000560.jpg
Anyone else perform this type of surgery?
