Pet Peeve

Thanks Stretch, that one's not too bad, has a bit of an angle, could make it even a bit
more angle and no worries :)
the Bark River I have doesn't have the notch, so it's odd yours does;

mikro.jpg


G2
 
Oh, that's one of the ones (of a couple) that I was saying in my first post that I did. I used a Vigor flex-shaft and a small chain sharpening stone. Now, I was under the impression (and probably still am to some degree, truth be known) that it's easier to "get up in there" for sharpening on that last portion of the blade.

Now that you mention it, it really doesn;t make sense to worry about that last little bit. It's almost obsessive,I suppose. Maybe through time, by not sharpening that last few millimeters, the "unsharpened" bit will grow ever slowly toward the tip. That's the fear anyway, real or imagined.

I have an old Schrade 152 skinner (made in USA!) that was passed on to me from my Dad.... who knows where he got it or how long ago. I'm looking at it right here (owee that thing is sharp). It has no notch, just a nice, gentle sweep off of the end of the ricasso, if that's right. And that last bit of the edge goes from sharp to duller to duller yet to almost a flat spot as you get closer to the hilt. I guess inattention would most likely be the cause, but that's why I put the notch in there....in hopes of avoiding that gentle "unwinding" of the edge due to my own inattention...
 
Gary W. Graley said:
Sodak, there in lies some confusion as to terminology, choil, ricasso, to me I always
just called it the cutout/notch before the edge,
but like on this Spyderco UK pen knife, you can see the area just before the edge
that allows you to do as you are saying, choking up on to the blade for finer control
I'm all for that, no worries, it's just when they go and cut into the blade to make that
empty area before the edge, the sharp cutoff that catches onto material, that's the
area that gets me, the other part, that's fine and works for me too.

UKPEN.jpg


Also like in JB's lower image there as an area that allows you to grip onto the blade

G2
Click to expand...
Ok, I see what you are saying. That cutoff can be trouble, I've ground them down a little on more than one occasion. It causes me to lose a little less blade, but a smooth "ramp" can help sometimes. But I can see how it might get hung up at times. As long as I can get a good close pinch grip, I'm happy. And so is my elbow! ;)

Here are a couple that have nice "ramps", when you are pull-cutting, they don't get hung up, but ride up, then start cutting. But this might still be too drastic for you, I don't know. How knives work in your hand can vary a lot from person to person.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010004.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/p1010473.jpg
 
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I have another Schrade 152 that I got at a knife and gun show. It's in worse shape than the one passed on to me. The dull part of the edge near the hilt seems to go on forever toward the tip. I should really work on this one.

Maybe that notch isn;t needed. But on the ones I have that already have it, I guess it's a trade-off - you can sharpen all the way up to the notch, but that little notch can catch on things and aggravate you.
 
Ah, ok didn't connect the dots Stretch, makes sense that was something you modified.

A LONG time ago, man it must have been back in the mid 80's, I was making some small
fixed blade knives, which also had the notch in there as I 'thought' it had to be in there.
Well, I found a knife maker in one of the Knives Illustrated and called him up and asked if
I could maybe come up and visit and he was kind enough to allow me to do so.
His name was Tom Cute, from upstate NY, I showed him the knife I had made and he asked
'why did you put that notch there?' I mumbled I thought it was suppose to go there...
he then explained to me, much as I've explained in this thread, that I shouldn't be doing that and it made a ton of sense.
A real nice guy, solid hunting knives he made too.

And Sodak, that is a bit of the blade gone, but should still work nicely, looks like a
real hard working knife there.

G2
 
My pet peeve is people who say &%$# in every other sentence, and stupid people.
 
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I like the choil/notch.

What I would like to see is a notch that is functional. E.g. capable of being used w/a firesteel. And and additional notch (ie, two notches) for rounding off pegs, etc. Of course it depends on the knife.

Peace,

Richard.
 
Richard, handy additions to a blade are always welcome
I modifed my SAK Electrician's small blade, didn't like the sheeps foot
style as shown here how it arrived;

elect3.jpg


and ground it down into a more pointed shape, but you can see there is a LARGE
single serration that is very useful for different kind of chores, cable sheathing removal, wire stripping,
pencil sharpening and many others, that was/is a handy notch, but then it is a sharpened notch ;)

elect4.jpg


G2
 
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Gary W. Graley said:
Richard, handy additions to a blade are always welcome
I modifed my SAK Electrician's small blade, didn't like the sheeps foot
style<snip>
Click to expand...

Well done! It must have been difficult to do such a beautiful, clean job while preserving the temper. Was it all done with hand tools?

I sooo envy those who make the time and have the patience to DIY. I used to be one of them. Had a Smithy. Made my own tooling, fixtures, etc. But it was mostly out of necessity. We just couldn't get the parts we wanted done to our specs (we live in the middle of nowhere and this was many years ago).

Now I prefer to hire out that kind of work.

Peace,

Richard.
 
Thanks Richard, it was done with a flat disc sanding rig I made up and then
a buffing wheel to polish it out. And as you figured, I made sure it never got
overly heated, kept dunking it in water as I was grinding it down to a more pointed
blade shape.

G2
 
Choils never bothered me. In fact I tend not to notice them one way or another. Lovely work and lots of valid points, however!
 
From what I understand a choil is also there to prevent blood and other liquids from running onto the knife. If you cut fruit or something very juicy with your knife, the liquid will drip off the blade when it encounters the choil. Without a choil it will run onto the handle and gum up the works. Not so great, especially when working with a folder.

Personally, my main bugbear is when makers place the clip so that a large portion of the knife sticks out of the pocket.

I think the vast majority would prefer that the knife ride low in the pocket, so I wish knifemakers - production and custom - would take note of this.

Check out Pat Crawford's stuff. His clips go right up to the edge of the scale. Perfect!
 
I understand that the choil is there to relieve stress on the edge. Since it is not there on all knives it may only be needed with certain steels or edge grinds. If it's there I try to be aware of it since it does snag on things. A choil is far less of a peeve for me than a 'tip down' carry folder. That's just not natural!!
 
Gary,

Great thread. I personally do not like the little notch in the blade either. I think that the angle even like what is put on a Sebenza catches on stuff. I had a Benchmade 555 Mini-Grip and the "angle" on it seemed to catch on certain things also.

So I guess I would have to say that I dislike the following and consider them pet peeves.

-Unsymetrical grinds on each side of the blade

-The notch close to the ricasso on the blade

-Knives that will not shave hair out of the box (Queen)

-Crappy made liner locks that behave as if they are almost worn out right out of the box or within a week of use. This is a big one of mine. I have had a few really well known brands that were almost to the other side of the knife when they were brand new

-Clips that don't go far enough away from the handle to actually clip onto thicker pockets (Kershaw Titanium Bump & Some Spydies with the barrel bolt clip)
 
People who own Busse Combat knives,Swamp Rat knives and Scrap Yard knives all have one thing in common. They believe the Choil is there to help you "Choke up" on your blade so you can use more force when cutting.
I don't know about you but I would NEVER stick one of my fingers into the "Choil" and then wrench downward with all my might.
Sounds like a Hospital trip in the making to me. I have no idea why they started the rumor that Choils are for your finger to sit in while wrenching down on the chunk of razor sharp steel.

Bob Loveless said once that the choil is only there for the common knife user to use as a stop gap between the blades edge and the bolster. That way anyone can sharpen any such blade without more damage.
Makes sense to me. I am around the 100 piece club and after reading this post I examined them.A full two thirds of them are with some choil. The others are generally my higher end knives and do not use a choil.Microtech,Crawford,Fogg,Emerson and so forth find no value in a choil.

I'm the kind who prefers a choil of sorts. Small is fine,but using a commercial electric knife sharpener I really find the choil a great help to me in sharpening. I could no more sharpen a knife without electronic help than I could fly.
To me a small choil is fine,and serves the intended purpose.

Peace.
 
I agree with you Gary, I hate that darn notch too!

In fact, it's a deal breaker for me these days.
 
Yep, I'm pretty firm on NOT having that notch, as to a choil/ricasso, works for me
to have some room in front of the guard, but if the edge goes right up to the guard
not a biggy.

But as I say, it's all preference and no one should be upset if someone else likes them
or not, but if we can sway a few makers in the mean time, all the better...for me at least ;)
G2
 
Prince of Peace said:
People who own Busse Combat knives,Swamp Rat knives and Scrap Yard knives all have one thing in common. They believe the Choil is there to help you "Choke up" on your blade so you can use more force when cutting.
I don't know about you but I would NEVER stick one of my fingers into the "Choil" and then wrench downward with all my might.
Sounds like a Hospital trip in the making to me. I have no idea why they started the rumor that Choils are for your finger to sit in while wrenching down on the chunk of razor sharp steel...
Click to expand...

Choking up on the choil of these knifes is for more control not power. Have you cut yourself on one of your Busse products?
 
JB in SC said:
I don't care for them; my favorites don't have them....

DSC_1176.jpg
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That's weird, most Halfrich's I've seen has the sharpening choils. The ones he puts on his backpocket knives are almost halfway up the width of the blade.

I don't mind them unless they're 1/2 way up

Pivots that are too tight, but will loosen all the way unless I loctite it, REALLY annoy me

Edges wayy to thick from the factory (Queen, older Benchmades)
 
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