The Complete Online Guide to Knifemaking, CHOLE and JIMPING
Chole Notch and Jimping
Before heat treating, it’s important to add any jimping or a choil notches. Jimping is a series of half holes on the spine of the blade. They act as a thumb rest and provide extra grip to prevent the blade from sliding. A Choil Notch acts as a starting point for the bevel of the blade. In either case, they are usually milled with a small diameter end mill prior to heat treating. They can also be ground with a Dremel grinder or file. Some commercially available knife blanks are available with jimping and choil holes already provided.
Check out our Knife making tools, huge assortment of topic specific how-to knife making videos, our Complete Online Guide Knife Making and our New Book Introduction to Knifemaking by Dan Berg and Jason Northgard.