Hi knifers,
I'm a proud knife geek, and new to the forum and Scrapyard Knives. So far I'm pretty amazed of what I've seen, but since all (we) geeks have always some "but", here's my question about SY Knives.
It looks to me that the size of the choil in the knives is too long in detriment of the cutting edge, above all in the shorter models. Is there any reason why there is so much waste of cutting edge?
My preferences have always been medium sized knives 6" to 8" as all round survival/bushcraft knives, but for delicate work, you need a cutting edge that starts almost at the handle; the far from the handle the more difficult to exert cutting pressure with good leverage.
I'm starting to think how to put together some bucks to get me a Scrapper 6 or 7.

I'll be waiting for your comments.

Cheers

Welcome to the Yard Queulat!

The large choil is something fairly common on Busse family blades...a bit of visual trademark if you will. On the smaller blade lengths yes the choil will remove some of your cutting edge and arguably serves less of a purpose.

However, the real benefit of a choil is that it allows you to "choke up" on the blade to retain better control of the cutting edge. The usefulness is more significant on the larger blade sizes (>=6")especially if it is your one and only camp knife.

Thanks for the welcome Kraz.
I definitely would recognize the brand just by the look, so I understand the trademark idea, but I would really feel more comfortable with a longer portion of the good old cutting edge. That's probably the main reason I have never bought a knife (and I have a good bunch) with a partially serrated blade (and probably never will), it doesn't make much sense to me, unless you want a bread knife. It makes sense though to be able to grab the knife from the part of the blade in the choil for certain crafts.

Thanks again for the welcome and the answer.

I really need to get me one of these!!

BTW, I was just reading about a selection that the Training Unit of the Recon Marines did out of a bunch of different knives, and the winner of the test was the Gamekeeper, from Bark River, that they finally modified into the Bravo-1. The rest of the participants were not disclosed, but I guess that Benchmade, Ka-Bar, Ontario, and others must've been there. Were Junk Yard Knives there?

Take care

Queulat:

Welcome to the Yard.

Get the SOD while you can. It will only be available to order for a few more days. Prices on the secondary market will be higher. They are for the Scrapper 6.

About the choils, you’re not alone. I for one agree with you. There is some use for a big choil on a medium size knife. For a short knife such as the Scrapper 4 or a long one like the Dogfather, I’d rather have an edge that runs right up to the handle. Dan came closest to that with the Yard Keeper. But it’s his house and his rules. He mostly likes big choils. I’d rather have a Scrap Yard knife with a big choil than no Scrap Yard knife at all.

About the Bravo-1, nobody knows. Our only source for that Marine knife test is Bark River. Nothing in the story identified the Marine Recon unit in question. None of the other knife companies or models tested were listed. The only source we have for the story of the origins of the Bravo-1 is Mike Stewart.

Post Scriptum:

Who is this Junk Yard Knives of whom you speak? Is there a new knife shop in town?

LOL..."Junk Yard Knives"...that will get you off to a good start! Anyway..welcome Queulat...as it happens I have just been re-profiling a convex edge on a Dumpster Mutt D/C and a Yard Keeper Sand Combat finish this morning...personally for fine work I think the larger choil in the DMDC lets you get more comfortable and close to the edge for a chest assisted power grip...the Yard Keeper still has a little choil and like you I think the blade would benefit with coming right back to the handle...because it is neither one or the other...you cannot choke up as comfortably as with the DMDC...but it is still some distance from the handle to the edge. Just my opinion though...

OMFG. I don't know what the heck was I thinking...!!!
Probably in a TV program that I like: "Junk Yard Wars". Have you seen it?
I'm so sorry SCRAP YARD pals. It slipped, probably because it was also like 3:00 AM when I wrote that last post.

It won't happen again.

Thanks for all the responses. I guess that ultimately is a matter of get used to the edge shape right? That doesn't take away from the overall quality of the knife.

I also found very weird the Bark River thing. If you say that the only source is them, the first thing that comes to mind is why weren't you invited guys. SY Knives are probably a good match to Bark River in every respect. And I don't know about you guys but I wouldn't take as my only survival knife a Bravo-1, that is less than 5" long... but I think that that is also a matter of personal choice.

Take care... and sorry again for the gaffe.javascript:void(0) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif" alt="" />

Welcome.

Thanks. Glad to be around.

Anyime, and I really would grab a SOD soon because you will regret it if you don't.

Welcome to the Yard, Queulet. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The Choil has it's advantages and disadvantages depending on who you ask. I like it on some knives and not on others, generally I've been happy with the way the Choil's are on the Scrappers and haven't found them to be a disadvantage.

Yes- welcome to the " yard" . (lol) Don't know anything about the " Bark River" incident ?

Welcome to the yard. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />