dragonfly choil

[r small]

I've been carrying a Delica for a few years now. Great for EDC. One negative though. It does tend to frighten certain people. So I'm considering downsizing to the dragonfly. Should be a little more sheeple friendly and the size is perfect for what I'm looking for. But one thing about it I'm not sold on is the choil. I think having the index finger so close to the sharpened edge would make me nervous. Does anyone here actually grip the knife using the choil? Do you use it just for particular purposes? And how does the grip feel if you hold the index behind the choil? Thanks. RS

[Evil D]

The ergonomics are so well thought out, i don't really know how you would grip such a small knife without using the choil. When you do it melts into your hand...you would have to do some crazy hard push cut with greasy hands to slip your finger off the jimping and into the blade.

[.357 mag]

I'm getting my dragonfly in a few days but from what I understand, the back of the grip fits right in the swell of your hand.

P.S- I don't know where your from, but I can't believe people think the delica is a scary knife.

[angusW]

I don't have a Dragonfly yet, two on order, but I've never had an issue with my finger on a choil on my knives that do have them. It's not there for hard cuts and the D'fly is not a hard use knife like a Para 2 or Manix 2. I think it's safe to say you'll be fine with your finger on the choil. I've yet to hear of someone having their finger slip off the choil onto the blade.

And welcome to the forum r_small :)

[captnvegtble]

You would have to use the choil on the dragonfly. I don't own a dragonfly, but I own a Delica (no choil) and a Caly 3 (choil) - I don't find holding the Caly3 comfortable without using the choil, and it's larger than the dragonfly. I'm not a fan of choils and that is why I haven't bought a dragonfly even though I've been tempted.

[gbelleh]

Yeah, it seems anyone who is scared by a Delica will probably be scared by a Dragonfly too. In my experience, the choil works great on the Dfly.

[dwong]

Hard grip on knife with or without the coil is very secure for me, thumb rest helps alot.

Yellow D'fly would make a friendly knife.

[angusW]

I'm getting my dragonfly in a few days but from what I understand, the back of the grip fits right in the swell of your hand.

P.S- I don't know where your from, but I can't believe people think the delica is a scary knife.

I was in a restaurant with my wife and some of her university classmates and a few of them screamed when I pulled out my Persistence to cut a straw for my daughter. Wasn't around here though.

[r small]

.357 mag-- I'm from Northern Virginia. Suburbs of D.C. Actually quite a few folks around here carry knives. But there's more that don't.

[Blue72]

Yeah, it seems anyone who is scared by a Delica will probably be scared by a Dragonfly too. In my experience, the choil works great on the Dfly.

exactly, I had many comment on the dragonfly.....You need a ladybug

By the way you can use the knife without the choil, I do half the time I use it

[jabba359]

I just got a D'Fly 2 this last week and have no worries at all about the proximity of my finger to the sharpened edge when using the choil. Maybe it's just because most of my knives have a choil, but I see no reason to be afraid. Once you get one in hand, you'll quickly realize that it's a non-issue.

[DrSpeed]

I like choils. They give you lots of control.
For some reason I'm being more careful not to slip over the guard of a knife without a choil like the Delica as opposed to e.g. the Caly or (Para)Military.
Just my opininion.

[The Mentaculous]

The Dragonfly has a really nice choil, but I actually find myself using a 3-fingered non-choil grip some of the time, especially when I'm not doing a precise cut (like slicing up some cardboard to recycle I might use a 3-finger grip).

Obviously if you want to grip with all your fingers, you need to use the choil, but I think it is very comfortable to grip it in the standard 3-finger grip. The edge of the choil becomes a nice finger guard. Maybe it's different on the FRN versions, since mine is a G-10 one, but the ergo's are the same on both so it probably feels similar.

[Pneumothorax]

Two comments:
1) the purpose of the choil is exactly to be able to put your finger there to gain control of the blade without risking movement of your hand. But its not just the bottom choil to look at - its sort a system since the top of the blade has serrations also to 'lock' your hand in place. Once you feel the choil, you know youre good
2) people around my area think a delica is big also. I work in an office and only LBKs are accepted easily. People know me as the 'knife guy' now, so bigger blades are accepted. Generally, there are many NKPs out there...at least in my neck of the woods...

[jackknifeh]

I'm getting my dragonfly in a few days but from what I understand, the back of the grip fits right in the swell of your hand.

P.S- I don't know where your from, but I can't believe people think the delica is a scary knife.

Yeah, it seems anyone who is scared by a Delica will probably be scared by a Dragonfly too. In my experience, the choil works great on the Dfly.

exactly, I had many comment on the dragonfly.....You need a ladybug

By the way you can use the knife without the choil, I do half the time I use it

This thing about people being scared of knives, or the people who carry knives is getting comical. I've decided not to worry about it. I have looked at a Mantis MT-8R Z'mora knife in the past it really looked like it was made to scare people. :eek: It might be fun just to pull it out around some people. :D I won't spend $100 for that laugh though. Besides who needs it when I have the terrifying Delica? :eek: And if that fails, I have my bug! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Jack

[r small]

I'm curious. What do you guys (and gals?) use your dragonflys for? If the purpose of the choil is better control then do you do some kind of detailed wood working or carving? I use my carry knives only for light duty and simple jobs--opening boxes, packages, letters, etc. I would think the three finger grip would fine for this. I have an Endura with a serrated blade that I use for heavier jobs. The other day it made short work of a briar patch down at my local park. I wouldn't have used a smaller knife for this job, choil or no choil.

[krislacy]

i love the choil on the dfly. that being said i use it 50% of the time is. i pinch the scales when i do a detail cut. it is a great knife and one of my sharpest.

[.357 mag]

As said before, might won't be here til tuesday but mine will be used for opening boxes, cutting string,tape, opening letters,Etc.. Mine is in H1 so it will go with me to the lake and the public pools. It will also be my new backup to my endura so I can pull a knife for little jobs in public without pulling a 3 3/4 knife.

I guess what I'm saying is, the dragonfly won't leave my side. It will always get edc'ed with something else.

[jackknifeh]

I'm curious. What do you guys (and gals?) use your dragonflys for? If the purpose of the choil is better control then do you do some kind of detailed wood working or carving? I use my carry knives only for light duty and simple jobs--opening boxes, packages, letters, etc. I would think the three finger grip would fine for this. I have an Endura with a serrated blade that I use for heavier jobs. The other day it made short work of a briar patch down at my local park. I wouldn't have used a smaller knife for this job, choil or no choil.

What do you use in addition to the Endura? The smallest knives I carry (have) is the Delica and Michael Walker and both are great for almost anything I need to cut on a regular basis which is about the same things as what you mentioned. I believe the D'Fly would do just fine for all those things. I've been thinking about getting a D'Fly for a while but for a smaller knife it seems a little too "wide". That's not why I haven't bought one. I want a Sage 1 or Terzoula first. I think the D'Fly would be a great small knife and if I didn't already have that cutting need met I'd get one and I'd get the ZDP-189 blade since there is a choice of it or VG-10, which I'd get if it didn't come in ZDP.

Jack

[r small]

My Endura I use for heavy cutting jobs. But I find it a little large for EDC. For carry I use knives in the 3" inch range--my Delica and a Benchmade mini-griptilian. The mini-grip is a great knife too. The axis-lock system is pretty slick. But I still prefer lock-back. I guess I'm what the kids these days call "old school". I also have about 10-12 knives back in a drawer that I don't use much, including some long discontinued Spyderco models. I think the d-fly would round out my collection pretty nice.