So who "invented" the finger choil?

[Evil D]

I suspect this may be lost to the ages, but do we at least know who popularized them on the first fixed blades and the first folders? I don't recall ever seeing one before Spyderco but I'm sure it's also just before my time too.

[JRinFL]

Harcourt Benton Xavier Choilsworth IV invented the finger choil back in 1659.

[Evil D]

Harcourt Benton Xavier Choilsworth IV invented the finger choil back in 1659.

Ah, of course our old friend Mr. Choilsworth I should have known

[Ranger_Ike]

All lies! Everyone knows Henry Meadowlark really invented it. He just didn’t have the funds patent it and his idea was stolen by his X-BFF, Choilsworth. The government covered it all up because poor Henry was “less than noble”. Poor Henry was left penniless and worked as a stable boy the rest of his short life.

Edit: for real though, I’d be interested in the history of this too.

[yablanowitz]

That's going to be tough to research. Back when I was growing up, a "choil" was that little notch between the cutting edge and the ricasso (kick on a folder) that ya'll call a sharpening notch nowadays. Nomenclature has changed through repeated misuse until it is almost impossible to trace back.

[Evil D]

That's going to be tough to research. Back when I was growing up, a "choil" was that little notch between the cutting edge and the ricasso (kick on a folder) that ya'll call a sharpening notch nowadays. Nomenclature has changed through repeated misuse until it is almost impossible to trace back.

This is what I figured too, and I've seen the same mixing of terms too. I was hoping maybe Sal had some history knowledge bomb to drop on us. The first knife I ever saw with one was the Native, and it was a major selling point along with the thumb hole. The whole thing was such a giant leap ahead of anything else in ergonomics that I had owned up until then.

[kobold]

Cavemano #42 invented the first finger choil by placing his finger on a naturally formed rock shaped exactly like a Sage 2.

[Bill1170]

My dad left me some Randall-Made fixed blades he bought new in the 60’s. The skinner has a pronounced finger choil.

It wouldn’t astonish me to learn that Spyderco pioneered the finger choil on folding knives, but I don’t really know if this is true or not.

[Deadboxhero]

Invented by Choilonymus ,562 BC, Ancient Greece

[Buddafucco]

Spydiewiki says the Dragonfly was the first Spyderco to feature a 50/50 forefinger choil.

[sal]

I don't know about "inventing" it, but the first one I saw was a small folder designed by Moki Sakurai for Pete Kershaw in the '80's. I used in on the D'fly for purchase and control of the smaller knife. I also used it on a few early Golden made models.

I believe I "coined" the term, "Finger-Choil".

Brian Huegel might have more info?

sal

[Accutron]

Spydiewiki dates the original aluminum handle Renegade as 1993, and the first Dragonfly as 1994. Which one actually came first?

[Jason Paul]

I'm pretty sure it was Ron Popeil with his Choil-O-Matic, late 70's maybe...

[Thunderpants]

Guns n Roses mention them in their 1987 hit, Sweet Choil of Mine.

[N. Brian Huegel]

Yes, Sal is correct. To the best of my knowledge and research, he coined the term finger choil to identify the innovation he incorporated into many of his designs. To my mind it is a somewhat of a combination of the terms choil and finger groove/s, however, a finger choil can only be singular as it must exists as part of the blade and part of the adjacent handle. Whereas a finger groove or grooves is part of the handle. Although I suppose one could create a design that incorporates a finger choil and a finger groove and/or finger grooves.

nb