Sharpening choil debate, the ultimate solution

[Londinium Armoury]

I decided to put this in general knife discussion instead of makers forum, feel free to move it if my choice was incorrect, I just felt lots of people who collect knives have opinions on this, not just makers.

So I always appreciate having a sharpening choil on my knives so I can sharpen the entire edge more easily on multiple systems. You can sharpen knives with no choils, but you can't always hone them properly with for example ceramic rods. Having no sharpening choil really annoys me when i'm trying to hone a blade on a rod system.
Then you have the problem of catching, certain choils do catch if they are quite deep, also some people hate choils, some people hate not having a choil.
So what should companies and makers do to please everybody? My first take used to be well just put a choil on your knife because it helps the user sharpen the blade, so makers who don't include choils are making a mistake.
Now after re thinking my position I have the opposite conclusion, it's actually better to not put a choil on your knife, I am going to stop putting choils on my knives, and stop worrying about knives that do not come with choils, for one reason.
You can always put your own choil on a knife, so can the customer, it doesn't take any special skill, a simple round diamond file, or a dremel bit can do it in 1 minute, you can also make it exactly how deep or shallow you prefer.
So this solves the debate, don't include a choil, you can always remove metal from a knife, you can't add it back on. This way everybody gets to buy the knife they like without the choil or no choil deal breaker. If you want a sharpening choil on that new Spyderco, just grab a file and go add one. If you don't like choils, then you're sorted it didn't come with one to begin with.
Problem solved, the no choil guys were right all along, even if you love choils.
The End.

 

[gazz98]

After 30+ years of carrying a knife, I've never added a choil to a knife and I never will. I have just learned to sharpen the blade as is. Do I prefer a choil? Meh. It does make sharpening easier but I carry mostly Spydercos and my Delicas, Enduras, Manix 2s, etc don't have a choil. I adapt and overcome.

I do understand your reasoning tho.

PS. I hand sharpen. No guided systems for me. My uneven bevels are purely....artistic? Yes, artistic.

 

[Londinium Armoury]

After 30+ years of carrying a knife, I've never added a choil to a knife and I never will. I have just learned to sharpen the blade as is. Do I prefer a choil? Meh. It does make sharpening easier but I carry mostly Spydercos and my Delicas, Enduras, Manix 2s, etc don't have a choil. I adapt and overcome.

I do understand your reasoning tho.

PS. I hand sharpen. No guided systems for me. My uneven bevels are purely....artistic? Yes, artistic.

I have some guided systems lying around, I only use them to set bevels on blanks not for sharpening. I think it might make things easier to sharpen a no choil knife using a guided system, not sure though really. I do bang the ricasso quite a lot when using whetstones.
The real pain for me is ceramic rod honing, I can never hone the bottom portion of the knives because of the large round rods, they just cant reach the bottom of the knife. But saying that I've come across a problem with knife choils on rods as well, I sometimes catch the bottom of the choil overhang on the rods. So i've kind of developed a technique where I put my index finger on the bottom of the edge just above the choil so I can feel if the rod is about to hit the base of the edge where the choil is.
I think there's annoying things about both choil and no choil. Some of my fav knives have no choil, some have a choil, it's never been a deal breaker for me personally. If I like a knife I'll buy it choil or not.