Sharpening choils are a psyop.

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Got no issue with sharpening choils but finger choils on midsize and smaller blades are mostly just a waste of good cutting real estate IMO.
Even with large blades if they offer a no choil version the NC version is what i buy.
A example of a large blade that i wont buy simply because of the finger choil would be the WTG mountain man, if they offer a NC version i will buy but until then hard pass.
 
gamma_nyc said:
Who's bringing the single-serration-combo-edge to the people?
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The Germans have been doing it for 80 years. They have been making linesman knives like this since WW2 in fact.

S35v2CG.png

www.worthpoint.com

West German Bundeswehr Linemans Tool Set and Pouch Knife INOX Solingen | #4565571514

West German Bundeswehr Linemans Tool Set and Pouch* INOX Solingen & Heyco *You are bidding on a near mint Bundeswehr lineman electricians tool kit with pouch. This auction includes knife, pliers and p
www.worthpoint.com www.worthpoint.com
 
Arathol said:
The Germans have been doing it for 80 years. They have been making linesman knives like this since WW2 in fact.

S35v2CG.png

www.worthpoint.com

West German Bundeswehr Linemans Tool Set and Pouch Knife INOX Solingen | #4565571514

West German Bundeswehr Linemans Tool Set and Pouch* INOX Solingen & Heyco *You are bidding on a near mint Bundeswehr lineman electricians tool kit with pouch. This auction includes knife, pliers and p
www.worthpoint.com www.worthpoint.com
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Not what i'm suggesting. This linemans tool has a sharpening choil AND a serration. I am saying to merge the two features into one.
 
David Mary said:
True, but to my way of thinking, unnecessary. They make a "single serration" out of it. But all you need to do is, as the handsome fella said:



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The closer you can get your hand to the cutting edge, the greater the leverage, control and thus precision of your cuts. Hence I, too, share the knightly aspiration of:
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But, if I take two identically profiled knives and lose the last 1/8” of the edge to a choil on one of them, there’s no discernible change in precision or control. To me those aspects are far more important and more noticeable at the pointy end than they are at the heel anyway.

In my mind what you’re saying is more applicable to the ricasso. That’s just dead space on a knife. I generally try to run my handles as close to the plunge as I can and start my sharpening choils behind the plunge line and slope it to just past the sweep/radius of the plunge line.
 
A 1/8” choil is trivial. But there are choils longer than that, and finger choils, which to my mind are compensation for handles that maybe should have been designed differently.

Agreed as well on long ricassos. They are a deficit (again in my opinion) on anything other than perhaps choppers or fighters where the cutting leverage benefit doesn’t apply to the style of use one would have for the knife.
 
Gary W. Graley said:
Here's a recent knife I picked up at the Lehigh Valley knife show yesterday by WaxWing knives, the choil/sharpening notch has a sharp point that can catch on material too easy.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Taking my coarse diamond stone, using one end, I just sweep the blade back and forth across it at an angle so it creates that ramp to help prevent hang ups.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Only a few minutes work

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

NOW, if your blade is serrated...gotta say that's a non starter right there ;)

G2
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I generally don't like choils because they aren't done well. Like on the knife above I would have brought that choil back and the finger choil would just be shallower. I don't mind a choil where the material slides off but hate a choil where the material snags
 
Knight I’m with you on this! You lose the spot with the most leverage. Makes it much harder to cut a cane pole or tree limb. I think when your cutting something that really takes a lot of muscle it’s easier to control the knife when the handle is jammed against what you’re cutting. When you are 12’ in the air hanging from the side of a ladder and the choil hangs up on tyvek it’s a pain in the butt. I won’t buy a knife to use if it has a choil. My favorite knife has one but I would like it more if it didn’t. I think the youtubers have made them more prevalent because some of them are concerned with how their sharpening job looks.
 
I never considered this a choil.

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Always understood choil to mean a cutout at the base of the blade (roughly between edge and ricasso) that serves as a sharpening relief and/or a place to put a finger past the handle. The pic above shows what I think is more accurately called an index finger groove.
 
calm said:
I just use scissors for feed bags.
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Sounds like propaganda for Big Scissor.

Joking of course.

Back on topic, honestly, I haven’t run into choil issues yet. I usually just use the top half or 2/3rds of muh knife.

That said, the Mora Kansbol and Garberg are beautifully made knives with no choil.
 
KnightAspirant said:
Ever try to slice something open like a package of potting soil or anything that should be extremely easy for a nice blade to glide through, only to have it get hung up in the "modern" oversized "sharpening choil", forcing you to switch to a pinch grip on the blade to prevent the material from getting into the choil again?

Sharpening choils can be so annoying in practice its like they are a psyop.

The Finnish had it right with pukko's where the sharpened steel begins directly at the top of the handle. They actually use their knives!

My microtech LUDT has such a large mouth choil area that its almost unusable unless you use a pinch grip on the blade. My thing is this- if I have to move my hand off the handle to make the knife cut well, its not a good design. For what is a handle made for? Your hand.
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Do people actually use pinch grips?
 
DrRollinstein said:
Do people actually use pinch grips?
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I do. Usually it's because I'm in the midst of a task with a big knife and a more delicate, controlled cut is required. Yesterday, cutting vegetables, i had a 5" serrated kitchen knife, and after slicing pieces of green pepper needed to pinch up to cut out some seeds. Simple task, no need for a separate tool.

Truthfully, I'm pretty agnostic on the choil/ no choil debate. The smile never offended me, yet the little cutout serves its purpose. I'm less fond of a finger choil outside of specific designs that make it a useful option, and a combo choil seems hazardous, though it is a feature of one of my favorite knives. What I do love is some partial serrations sometimes, and would probably choose that over a choil. I figure they're the grace that God bestows upon us non-avid sharpeners.
 
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