Hmmm. Maybe it is because I have small hands or maybe because of how I use my blades but I really prefer a choil on small knives and could take ‘em or leave ‘em on big choppers. 9.5 times out of 10 I am using my small knives for dressing out big game and as such I want as much tip control as possible. I feel like a choil does a good job of ‘reducing” the length of the blade so that I get as much control as possible, yet when I need more length/belly I can hold on the handle and have the best of both worlds (for me).

As far as my chopper goes (battle rat), I typically use that for batoning wood for the stove so the coil is really not needed. On a few occasions I have tried to whittle a bit with it around camp (using the choil), but I think I would have been just as happy to not have the coil there and use the handle.

The only time the choil has been a detriment to me is when I was filleting a few trout with the battle rat (not the best tool, but the only one I had) and the meat kinds slipped beyond the edge and into the choil making it kinda snag instead of slice.

Not trying to be contentious here, but does anyone else have stories of when (in use) they found the choil to be a negative?