Why the notch?

[Chris Pierce]

Just for the record, the French made Douk Douk in my pocket has a 'sharpening notch'

 

[black mamba]

David (Obsessed with Edges) put it very well. If the notch is there, you can sharpen right up to the back of the edge with a consistent angle.

If the notch is not there and you get up on the radius with your stone, you leave the back part of the edge untouched. You just have to be very, very precise to get the "whole edge and nothing but the edge."

 

[J. Oeser]

"several" was a poor choice of words. I meant lots of sharpening but thank you for the tip.

Jake, sorry, I wasn't really directing that at you. Just kind of a blanket statement that may have come across a little harsh. I do believe that regardless of having a choil or not it is important to know how to properly sharpen.

Ed, don't you think there is a real difference between a 5" fixed blade and a 2½" folding blade though?
I think David makes a good point.

Jeff, I personally think there is a difference. Just in the method of making and grinding them both. But in the end having a choil or not, for me personally as a knife maker does not make it any easier to make the knife, just different. On my fixed blades I use thinner stock and I flat grind them. Overly thick blades and hollow grinds are another topic in and of themselves. I try to keep the plunge line radius really tight, thus eliminating that big area of radius. You can see that pretty well in this pic of one of my fixed blades. This knife has about a 3 1/4" blade and is a little less than 1/8" thick just for reference.

I also, like many other slip joint makers, try to angle the notch out toward the cutting edge so that if anything goes in there while cutting it will have a natural tendency to slide out to the cutting edge without getting caught.


db, in the end, if you want one without a choil, then that is what you should get. Your personal preference is important and I'm sure there are many knife makers out there, myself included who could easily make one without a choil.

 

[db]

I think your correct and truth be told a choil is not a deal breaker for me. It's mainly if I have a choice I'd choose without.

 

[Ed Fowler]

When there is a smooth transition from the ricasso to the cutting area of the blade there are no hangups, the material just flows smoothly from ricasso to cutting edge.

The notch is only a place that can hang up and to me is very aggravating. When a blade hangs up due to what I consider a functional fault in design we, or I, can get aggravated and negative emotion is best avoided when we really need a tool to work with.

 

[confucius37]

I prefer the notch on smaller knives like traditional pocket knives because it makes it significantly easier to sharpen for me. On larger knives I can definitely see the advantage of no choil to avoid having the knife get caught up in whatever I am working on.

 

[knarfeng]

I dunno. Personally, I like 'em, though having one or not is not a deal breaker for me. I never had all that much problem with material hanging up in a sharpening choil. It has happened, but not often.

However, I don't normally care for the large choils meant to give extra room for fingers when you choke up on the blade.