What brands besides Spyderco have a finger choil to protect fingers from lock failure

A

AfterDark

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Apr 9, 2007
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I noticed my spydercos have about half an inch of unsharpened choil where if the lock was to fail and the blade were to close back into the handle, my fingers would still be safe. I have attached a pic I found of what I'm referring to. What other brands have this feature to protect the users fingers? I know fixed blade is best but was wondering what other companies care enough about their customer's fingers. I would gladly give up some cutting edge to have this feature.
choil-spyderco-military-g10.jpg
 
I don't think it's actually meant to protect fingers. The choil is meant to choke up on the blade. I use the lock to protect my fingers.

I think all companies care about their customers fingers. You lose edge length with a choil, and many folks don't care for it. I promise, there isn't a major conspiracy about knife companies trying to destroy the citizenries fingers.
 
The flippers on Kershaw/ ZT knives work the same way if not safer
 
A forward finger choil does protect your fingers, whether it's meant to or not.

I like the feature. I have several Spydercos with it and a Cold Steel American Lawman, which is a great knife.

Other than that, Strider comes to mind.
 
As much as I love finger choils you can choke up on, I'd rather have a lock that won't fail, wouldn't you?

14j2ghs.jpg
 
I have mixed feeling about choils. A choil can give you more delicate control of the blade, which is great, while sacrifying blade length, which in most cases is bad.
 
I know I'm being pedantic, but I just want to clarify. Are we talking choil, ricasso, or both? Most Spydercos I've seen have a pronounced ricasso. The Dragonfly II and the Native 5 have a 50/50 choil. The Delica however has a ricasso. I wish it was a 50/50 choil. The Boker Chad Los Banos slip joint has a nice 50/50 choil.
 
rushane said:
I don't think it's actually meant to protect fingers. The choil is meant to choke up on the blade. I use the lock to protect my fingers.

I think all companies care about their customers fingers. You lose edge length with a choil, and many folks don't care for it. I promise, there isn't a major conspiracy about knife companies trying to destroy the citizenries fingers.
Click to expand...

Nailed it on all counts. Its not for protecting ones fingers during lock failure, its not going to protect ones fingers during lock failure, and knife companies don't want to cut their customers' fingers to the bone.
 
I believe that that is a finger shaped groove in the ricasso that you're talking about, and not the spanish notch (which is now mostly called the "choil", or "sharpening choil"). I'm not certain, but I really doubt that was put there to "save peoples fingers". It is likely more about ergonomics when the blade is open.

I personally don't think that will do much to save your fingers if you're actually putting enough force on a blade to break the lock. If you're applying enough force to do that, then you're applying enough force for that unsharpened finger groove shaped ricasso area to push your blade back farther down the handle (as the blade suddenly swings inward), into the path of the "actual" blade edge. Remember, the closer you are to a fulcrum, the more force that you'll have.

For smaller stuff like if it closes with too little friction or something, I guess it may "help" if you're prone to leaving your finger in the way of the blades path.

Also, if you're REALLY worried about the lock breaking... hold it so your fingers aren't in the way of the blade... (or use a fixed blade like you said, or possibly even a different tool altogether).
 
ocnLogan said:
I personally don't think that will do much to save your fingers if you're actually putting enough force on a blade to break the lock. If you're applying enough force to do that, then you're applying enough force for that unsharpened finger groove shaped ricasso area to push your blade back farther down the handle (as the blade suddenly swings inward), into the path of the "actual" blade edge.
Click to expand...

It will protect a certain amount.
I was using my Spyderco Urban (slip-joint with choil...I'm calling it a finger choil; deal with it :D), when moving to the new apartment. I was cutting lots of thick cardboard for hours and hours, as I had to heavily reinforce boxes for my literally tonnes of books.

I ended up having the situation happen where negative forces were applied to the blade (just try cutting for hours on end without having ANY mistakes), and the blade was kept from closing due to my finger being in the choil.
Of course, my finger was right in the choil area, as that's the most comfortable way to use that knife.

Now sure, it wasn't hundreds of pounds of pressure, but most times people experience lock failures it isn't due to hundreds of pounds of pressure.
The choil worked just fine, and my finger got no cut at all; the blade barely was able to close much at all. :thumbup:

Take a look at the huge choil on the Tuff or SmF...that would sure work for finger protection. :)
 
Wondering what people are doing with their knives with all this rampant lock failure going on...:rolleyes:
 
Reswob said:
Wondering what people are doing with their knives with all this rampant lock failure going on...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Well, my knife had no lock. ;)

As for actual lock failure, you won't hear of much actually happening unless someone is throwing their knife, or spine-whacking the hell out of it, both of which aren't actually use.
 
stabman said:
It will protect a certain amount.
I was using my Spyderco Urban (slip-joint with choil...I'm calling it a finger choil; deal with it :D), when moving to the new apartment. I was cutting lots of thick cardboard for hours and hours, as I had to heavily reinforce boxes for my literally tonnes of books.

I ended up having the situation happen where negative forces were applied to the blade (just try cutting for hours on end without having ANY mistakes), and the blade was kept from closing due to my finger being in the choil.
Of course, my finger was right in the choil area, as that's the most comfortable way to use that knife.

Now sure, it wasn't hundreds of pounds of pressure, but most times people experience lock failures it isn't due to hundreds of pounds of pressure.
The choil worked just fine, and my finger got no cut at all; the blade barely was able to close much at all. :thumbup:

Take a look at the huge choil on the Tuff or SmF...that would sure work for finger protection. :)
Click to expand...

Makes sense to me :). I've come close to having a slippy do that to me before, and can see how that would happen to you there.

I was mostly thinking of forces strong enough to break/defeat a lock, that once the blade started moving, you wouldn't have much chance to stay that close to the pivot. The ricasso/choil/finger area would sweep back, and slide your hand right down the knife, right into the guillotine that is the knifes handle.

And wait, I thought lock failures were all about hundreds of pounds of pressure. Isn't that what I've been learning from all of those cold steel "marketing" videos:confused:?

For the record, while I don't particularly find "choils" (finger grooves on the ricasso) to be comfortable/useful (for me), I have nothing against them. If a "choil" can help protect your finger in certain situations, so be it, and I'll mark that down as a slight benefit to the feature :).
 
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