Postby Liquid Cobra » Thu Jan 03, 2019 8:53 pm
I think I’m the guilty party mentioned at the beginning of this thread. I can’t speak for why others do or do not add sharpening choils to their knives but I can tell you why I did.
Honestly, I just thought it would be a fun thing to try.
For years I’ve not been a fan of sharpening choils because they had a tendency to catch on things while I was cutting, so I didn’t care for them. They also looked strange to me. I didn’t give them much thought after that except when sharpening on my Edge Pro. I have a hard time sharpening all the way up to ricasso on my Edge Pro and found myself sometimes wishing it was easier. But oh well, no big deal. Then for some reason, over the years the sharpening choil started to appeal to me athestically and they didn’t seem so weird looking. I also sharpened a few knives on my Edge Pro that had the notch in the blade and it was easier. Maybe I was wrong about sharpening choils...
When the Kapara was released I saw that Alistair was talking a lot about his new Spyderco collaboration on Instagram and YouTube. He was offering some tips to help make the knife more like his custom which I thought was pretty cool of him. Again, I just thought it would be fun to tweak this knife and make it into a little project. I wanted to add the sharpening choil, get a bright red backspacer that he will eventually sell, replace the clip with a Ripps Garage Tech clip (idea I got from The Irradiator

), strengthen the detent and then add some red para cord and a red combat bead (again, thanks Paul). So I got the ball rolling with my first mod. I also just wanted to see if I could add the choil and not mess things up. It was a fun way to spend my evening. After I was done I modded my Amalgam and Sliverax to make the detent stronger which also worked out really well for me.
I don’t really care if the sharpening choil snags or not as I’m not planning on beating this knife up with use too bad. Yeah, I’ll admit it. I’ve got plenty of others for that. And I’m happy Spyderco typically doesn’t add a sharpening choil to their knives. It’s easy enough to do yourself should you want to. I just wanted to try it out.
In the end a sharpening choil is like everything else in this hobby, a preference. Like Sal likes to say “all good, just different.” Or something to that effect. I’ll throw in a quote from Sal about blade steel that I think is relevant here.
sal wrote: ↑Tue Dec 25, 2018 5:48 pm
Hi P_atrick,
Interesting question. First I would have to say that "Passion is the spice in the spirit that makes excellence possible"!
If it were not for the interest in blade steels and variety from you and me, there would be so sprints of any kind. While all steels used in blades have their similarity, like ice cream, they have different "flavors" and characteristics. I'm sure that of all 32 flavors of ice cream, some are preferred by more people. Some people always like to eat the same flavor. They know what to expect and enjoy the experience. Others like to taste different flavors to experience and compare. Experiencing a blade is a personal experience. studying the details, why did they do that? Cutting, sharpening, handling, open/close, deploy, how to carry, where to carry, etc. Your full attention is focused.....that alone is a pleasure.
Obviously, we do it for our customers or I would only be making one off mules.
As a maker, we get to experience the different performances through testing and learning, as well as how to heat treat, form, finish, sharpen and care for . As a customer you get to experiment with the differences. If a steel is not used again, it may be for lack of demand, difficulty to work with, difficulty to acquire, etc. We still retain all of the data acquired in the making and testing of the steel. So we do have that information should we choose to bring it back or you demand it.
sal
Most recently acquired: Paramilitary 2 Tanto, YoJUMBO, Swayback, Siren, DLC Yojimbo 2, Native Chief, Shaman S90V, Para 3 LW, Ikuchi, UKPK, Smock, SUBVERT, Amalgam, Para 3 CTS-XHP, Kapara, Paramilitary 2 M390
Grail Paramilitary 2 M390 X 2! ACHIEVED!!
For more of my pictures see my Instagram account.
@liquid_cobra