Finger Choils

[David Bowen]

What do you guys think of finger choils? Love them? Hate them? I got to thinking of a potential negative. What if I'm in an emergency situation, say a car wreck. I'm wanting to use to knife to cut through my seatbelt. When pushing into a cut your material will push to the heel of the blade. This would make it so not all of the edge is on the material resulting in a failed or partial cut. Thoughts?

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[nate j]

Hate them.

I just think they are a waste of space.  I would rather have the extra edge length sharp, or have the same sharp edge length and have the whole knife be shorter and lighter.

I guess they are supposed to allow one to choke up on the blade for finer control, but the same thing can be achieved by using the portion of the edge closest to the handle, or by pinching the blade between thumb and forefinger, depending on the situation.

I’m not too concerned with the scenario you describe, though.  Theoretically, I suppose a similar thing could happen with a knife that simply had a longer tang, or even with the handle of the knife depending on design.  In any event, while I haven’t had to cut any seatbelts yet, I would think following up with a simple draw cut should finish the job given a sharp blade.

[David Bowen]

I see what you mean. Was trying to come up with a scenario when said choil would be counterproductive. I can see how you could run out of edge and hit the tang or whatever.

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[Anthony R]

It depends. I love them on smaller knives when they are used to improve ergonomics. The Spyderco dragonfly is a great example of that. This knife works well in most peoples hands because of the choil.
 

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On bigger knives with large comfortable handles I don’t care as much. Sometimes a choil on a bigger knife can feel like it’s forcing your grip either too close to the blade or too far away when the perfect spot would be right in the middle.     (if that makes sense)

[David Bowen]

I agree on smaller knives I can came in handy, making up for that shorter handle. But it's lost on really big knives, like the Vosteed RSKAOS for instance.

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[Tasky]

I'm not an especial fan, but then I also don't consider myself to be a massive 'knife guy', really...

I do have a CRKT Pilar which has a choil. It works well for fine pointwork when cutting away from you, whereas pinching a blade only works when cutting down into something. This might be my large hands or just the design of the knife, but I also have a smaller Black Fox Kit and that one is an absolute smurf to use.

[stuntzombie]

I used to like them, but the older I get, the more I prefer choilless designs. It seems to me handle forward designs do the same thing without compromising blade length.

[Enginears]

It makes all the sense in the world on this horticulture blade, but for a regular knife blade I would say waste of space. 

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