Gripping a choiled knife?

[remnar]

I often hear/read people talking about the different grip options (forward or rearward) that a choil adds to a knife. I generally prefer a knife with a choil but I almost never grip it with my hand in the rearward position. I always use the choil unless my index finger is on the spine of the knife. Is this just me? I'm curious about how many people carry a knife with a choil and frequently grip it in the rearward position behind the choil. Under what circumstances do you find the rearward position to work better than choking up on the knife? I look forward to read you thoughts on this. :)

[Ruarch]

It is not just you. If a knife has a choil, I mostly don't use the choil when I am stabbing or thrusting with the knife. Otherwise I use the choil.

[spyderwolf]

I dont like choils on my knives-except on the DF-but i think that most people will always use the choil.The rearward grip will give you more reach in a SD situation.

[Nate]

I generally like choils. On smaller knives like the Chaparral, Native, and Calys/UKPK I pretty much always use the forward grip. On larger knives like the Manix 2, PM2, and Stretch I find the rearward grip more comfortable, but still like the ability to choke up depending on what I'm doing.

[remnar]

I generally like choils. On smaller knives like the Chaparral, Native, and Calys/UKPK I pretty much always use the forward grip. On larger knives like the Manix 2, PM2, and Stretch I find the rearward grip more comfortable, but still like the ability to choke up depending on what I'm doing.

The size of the knife would have a lot to do with how it's gripped. With the smaller knives you don't really have a choice if you want a full grip. With bigger knives I still find myself instinctively going to the forward grip. I think it may have just become a habit and when I consciously try the rear grip it usually feels awkward or uncomfortable.

[Doc Dan]

I do not really care for choils (except on the Dragonfly). I would rather have a small, close in finger guard, like those on the Manbug and Delica. I only use the choil if I must due to the knife design. I think, for example, the Caly 3 would be a much better design without the choil and a finger guard added, instead. It would give a full 3 inch blade. Finger choils shorten usable blade length and cutting edges and do nothing, as far as I am concerned, that a well designed grip with a well thought out guard cannot do.

[Brock O Lee]

I generally like choils. On smaller knives like the Chaparral, Native, and Calys/UKPK I pretty much always use the forward grip. On larger knives like the Manix 2, PM2, and Stretch I find the rearward grip more comfortable, but still like the ability to choke up depending on what I'm doing.

Same here, 3 inch knives and smaller I normally use the choil, large knives I normally grip behind the choil.

[demoncase]

I often hear/read people talking about the different grip options (forward or rearward) that a choil adds to a knife. I generally prefer a knife with a choil but I almost never grip it with my hand in the rearward position. I always use the choil unless my index finger is on the spine of the knife. Is this just me? I'm curious about how many people carry a knife with a choil and frequently grip it in the rearward position behind the choil. Under what circumstances do you find the rearward position to work better than choking up on the knife? I look forward to read you thoughts on this. :)

Not holding the sharp bit is my choice

[farnorthdan]

I think this is one of the reasons I like the military so much, it has a small choil but doesn't take away from the usefulness of the blade.

[Waco]

Slicing food on a chopping block, rear grip. If I'm opening something in clear plastic packaging that is welded everywhere, I'll hold the knife flat and use the forward grip.

[HarleyXJGuy]

Haven't really paid attention but will see tomorrow.

I am a pro-choil though.

[Evil D]

I switch between the two without even thinking about it. For power cuts my grip is behind the choil, then on the choil for more detailed cuts or even just different leverage for cutting in different directions. It's so second nature it's hard to give examples.

[FDE]

All examples are with my knife of choice the Paramilitary 2.
For cuts where more force is used (ie. wood, plastic and cardboard) I use a behind the choil grip with thumb on the thumb ramp.
For detail cuts using the tip of the blade to cut around something - think trimming edges; I use a forward grip with my middle finger on the choil and index finger along the spine of the knife.
For detail cuts using the belly of the blade - think sharpening a pencil; I use a forward grip with index finger in the choil and thumb forward of thumb ramp on the spine of the blade.

[The Deacon]

Depends on the size of the knife and the task at hand. Use the Kiwi's choil darn near 100% of the time, unless I'm holding it like a scalpel. The Chaparral's probably gets used around 75% of the time and the Stretch's maybe 25%.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

I do not like choils for two reasons, but, I may be wrong, and I am open to correction from fellow knife users:

1 It seems to me that a choil takes out material that leads to the overall blade strength being weakened.
2 This may be an unnecessary fear but it seems to me that by placing one's grip in the choil it opens you up to slipping when cutting materials, and leading to the knife user being cut.

However, I can see the validity of using the choil if you are doing careful, detailed cutting work.

[Cujobob]

I don't usually prefer choils because one of the two grips feels awkward to me. Sometimes it's the further grip, sometime it's the choil grip.

On the Caly 3, I enjoy the forward grip but I cannot use the back grip as it's far too awkard.

On the Manix, both grips work well, but my feeling is that getting rid of the choil and putting the user closer to the blade would lessen the need for a choil to even be present. It makes the knife bigger, as well (or reduces cutting edge).

The Native 5 is also a knife that can only be used in a choil/forward grip. It feels somewhere comfortable there, but choking up on a knife is not always preferred.

On small knives, specifically, I don't feel like choils are at all necessary. I would like to see a PM2 and Manix without choils to see which I would prefer. I don't mind a choil on either knife as it is, but may prefer without. On each knife, I find that I can use a normal grip and the choil just fine and both are comfortable. The PM2 feels a bit far away from the edge when cutting with a rear hand position sometimes, though.

Regarding slipping while using a choil, the choil is meant for the sort of work where the knife slipping shouldn't occur too often as not a lot of effort/force is being applied to the cut.

[The Deacon]

I do not like choils for two reasons, but, I may be wrong, and I am open to correction from fellow knife users:

1 It seems to me that a choil takes out material that leads to the overall blade strength being weakened.

Folks say the same thing about the Spyderhole opener. Everything about a knife involves trade offs. Any time material is removed strength is diminished, but in this case the reduction at the point where the blade is thickest. So any negative impact is minimal and, at least to some of us, far outweighed by the positive benefits.

2 This may be an unnecessary fear but it seems to me that by placing one's grip in the choil it opens you up to slipping when cutting materials, and leading to the knife user being cut.

However, I can see the validity of using the choil if you are doing careful, detailed cutting work.

Unless you carry an OTF auto with a knuckle duster grip, you hand can always slip forward, just a question of how difficult that is. Folks carry and use knives ranging from the Centofante Memory that offer zero protection against such slippage and the Teancious, which offers minimal protection at best, up to models like the Assist that have both upper and lower guards. Only you can decide where your comfort zone lies within that spectrum.

[usar]

I think for the most part Choils are very good for handling different tasks at hand !

[Holzfaeller]

Putting my finger on the choil feels odd to me, like my thumb is in the wrong place. Consequently, I never use them. I like the Para2 and Manix 2, but there are times when I would like the edge closer to the handle, especially during hard cutting, like in a thick material. But, I'm hard to please.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Yeah and to further elaborate on this, check this out. What is this an example of? Many years ago I had a bad cut with a VERY sharp knife, right on that first indentation at the joint, of my index finger. It cut pretty deep and because of the location, it took a while to heal and bled a lot. Now, and here is the odd part, whenever I imagine the feel of using the choil on a knife, or similar section of a knife, I can actually FEEL that section of my finger TINGLE with an almost apprehensive feeling that there will be pain there. That is so weird. Is this some mental memory issue going on? It doesn't go away until I touch that area of my index finger to make sure there is no cut, and then the feeling goes away. VERY VERY strange to me.

I hope that didn't get too deep on this topic.