Sharpening choils - Why?

[kreisler]

here my take:
If you have a modded "primitive geometry" at the ricasso, then no one needs a sharpening choil there. Because a sharp 90° edge of your stone can perfectly sharpen that ricasso corner, i.e. both the ricasso and the bevel simultaneously.

it's either or.

either mod to primitive geometry or insert a sharpening coil.

[Vivi]

here my take:
If you have a modded "primitive geometry" at the ricasso, then no one needs a sharpening choil there. Because a sharp 90° edge of your stone can perfectly sharpen that ricasso corner, i.e. both the ricasso and the bevel simultaneously.

it's either or.

either mod to primitive geometry or insert a sharpening coil.

I have never had the little J shape near the ricasso have any effect on cutting performance at all, personally.

[kreisler]

I have never had the little J shape near the ricasso have any effect on cutting performance at all, personally.

yee yu right. The cutting performance is better without a choil or notch. But we were talking about sharpening. If you leave the original Spydie edge as is and 'just go ahead and sharpen' mindlessly , then the growing J shape becomes bigger and bigger, developing a recurve. And that recurve portion cannot be sharpened on a dead flat stone, because the recurve can never touch the stone surface. The point being, most sharpening stones are flat, not triangle

the J shape can still be sharp and functional, no doubt. and sharpening choils are not needed for cutting or sharpening, i agree. but i also have full understanding when professional sharpeners grind a generous choil in all blades to facilitate the ease of sharpening on their expensive flat stones.

[Pelagic]

I have a strong dislike for sharpening choils. I feel like they add no functionality and actually create performance deficiencies. Any knife with a sharpening choil is pretty much a non starter for me.

I don’t like the blunted tip on the pacific salt but I have never complained about spyderco making it that way. I get it. Some people like the fat tip, some don’t. The thing is, it’s super easy to grind the extra steel off and make the fat tip pointy. If it came pointy like I like it then it would be impossible to add metal to it and half the market would be SOL. Point is, the sharpening choil is the same scenario. If you like sharpening choils, they are MUCH quicker and easier to make than grinding down a spine. It’s cool to like them and I’m sure most folks respect whatever the reasons are, but rather than asking for something that will push away half the buyers, why not just buy a $5 file and take 5 minutes to cut one? I dunno, that’s just my rant on “as Lance sees it”.

I agree wholeheartedly Lance. Good points.