What's the purpose of a sharpening choil ?

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Some fundamental misconceptions here. It's very possible to sharpen a choil-less knife without causing a recurve, AND it's possible to get the very base of the blade without hitting the plunge line. The former will require tilting the blade up a little bit to focus your efforts on the recurved portion. The rest of the blade will be floating parallel to the stone until you've ground away the projecting heel and brought it level with the rest of the edge. To deal with the latter issue, one simply needs to approach the abrasive at a slant to allow it to contact just at the edge, and not the region above it.
 
Great topic. Now I have a good idea about what is a choil. Fun fact: Nick Shabazz loves to say choil.
 
SALTY said:
I'd rather endure 1% or 2% of the blade being unsharpened or poorly sharpened rather than have the sharpening choil catch on everything - as they do. They may only be 2% +/- of the blade's length but seem to be in the way snagging on things a highly disproportionate amount of time.
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It's not about "1% or 2% of the blade being unsharpened", it's that the corner of the whetstone tends to ride up on the plunge line, making it tilt and put more pressure on the opposite corner of the stone, making you grind the edge unevenly. It is easier to maintain the edge shape on a knife if there is free space behind the bottom of the edge, especially if you have a pretty thin blade and edge. That's why most good kitchen knives have a choil behind the edge:

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marchone said:
Sometimes I think I'd like to see a BF committee-designed "perfect" blade. But I think it might rival a platypus.
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Yeah, but I bet that platypus doesn't end up with a combo edge. Tail might end up looking like a Smatchet though.
 
I think it's a nice added feature. I understand it as care and concern from the maker for his customers. Some knives don't need it (be sure the maker won't add it, ha, ha) and some really benefit from it (owners who sharpen with a Lansky system or similar will understand...). It allows for a cleanly sharpened edge. Some people value this. I do, but I can do without (as long as the whole edge is sharp, I am happy. Riding up on the guard doesn't upset me that much). I would totally dig a platypus knife, whatever this maybe. I could have one coming...
 
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My pet peeve is a recurve caused by lack of a choil. But I also don’t like most factory choils. I make them very small barely is as deep as the secondary bevel.

Unless there is a sweeping grind. I hate sweeping grinds. Then I go wider but still shallow.

Like on this Buck 212. It actually works great to strike a ferro rod.

one thing nobody mentioned is the smile at the ricasso. Ruins the corners of your stone which makes the smile worse which makes the stone worse. Then it gets transferred to every knife you sharpen.
 
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FortyTwoBlades said:
Some fundamental misconceptions here. It's very possible to sharpen a choil-less knife without causing a recurve, AND it's possible to get the very base of the blade without hitting the plunge line. The former will require tilting the blade up a little bit to focus your efforts on the recurved portion. The rest of the blade will be floating parallel to the stone until you've ground away the projecting heel and brought it level with the rest of the edge. To deal with the latter issue, one simply needs to approach the abrasive at a slant to allow it to contact just at the edge, and not the region above it.
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Exactly and I'm not sure anyone has mentioned that we exert the most power in a push cut were a choil is located. They may help with sharpening, but they take away valuable real-estate on a knife.
 
VPLKnife said:
Exactly and I'm not sure anyone has mentioned that we exert the most power in a push cut were a choil is located. They may help with sharpening, but they take away valuable real-estate on a knife.
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Short of reviving a 3 1/2 year old thread, I agree. However in many cases, that "real estate" is lost to a poorly executed ricasso and/or plunge grind anyway.

I like sharpening choils. They do NOT have to be finger choils, and they do make it easier to maintain a flat bevel right to the heel of the edge when sharpening, especially on knives with a pronounced ricasso that extends down below the blade edge.

An example of a very small choil (<1/8") that I typically add to all my non-sharpening choil knives:

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