The Perfect Marking Knife for Ideal Woodworking
Kiridashi knives serve as marking knives, carving knives, leather tools, and everyday carry (EDC) knives. In fact, they are likely the best EDC knives available. They are inexpensive, easy to use, and extremely durable. Woodworkers love them as marking knives, leatherworkers use them for detailed cutting and skiving, they are handy for cutting ropes and opening boxes, and they are used for pruning bonsai trees and detailed cutting. This article aims to introduce you to the kiridashi knife and show why you should add one to your toolkit.
What is Kiridashi?
Kiridashi are simple and versatile single-bevel knives from Japan. Often referred to in Japanese as kiridashi kogatana, which means “small cutting knife,” they are precisely that. Their design is very minimalist as well. They are diagonally sharpened carbon steel plates on one side, creating a narrow, fine cutting edge. They can be inserted into bamboo sheaths or wrapped with string to form a handle, but they are often used simply as a single piece of steel.
In the past, kiridashi were among the most commonly used tools in Japan. Children kept them in their school pencil cases to sharpen pencils and use in art class. Adults had them on hand for opening boxes or cutting string. Today, in Japan, they are most commonly used by carpenters as marking knives and carving knives, by kimono makers for cutting fabric, and by bonsai horticulturists for pruning. However, the potential of these handy multifunctional tools is endless.
Design and Features
Kiridashi are long, straight pieces of steel with a diagonal grind ending in a sharp point. They come in various sizes, differing in blade width. Most kiridashi are 15mm, 18mm, 21mm, or 24mm, but they can also be found in widths of 9mm, 12mm, 27mm, and 30mm. The length and thickness of kiridashi vary depending on the manufacturer and style, but they are usually 180mm to 200mm long and 2mm to 4mm thick.
Grind
The angle of the blade grind is crucial for determining both the strength and sharpness of the blade. A lower angle grind results in a sharper but less strong knife, while a higher angle grind produces a stronger but less sharp knife. Kitchen knives need to be very sharp but not as strong, as they typically cut softer materials like meat and vegetables.
Tools need to be stronger because they encounter harder materials like wood and metal. Therefore, for tools, we usually choose a higher angle grind to prevent damage to the blade. Kiridashi knives are typically ground at a 20-degree angle, making them strong, sharp, and well-suited for everyday use. If you want to learn more about grind angles, you can read our knife sharpening guide.
Sharpening
Kiridashi knives are single-bevel knives, meaning they are sharpened only on one side, while the other side is completely flat. This does not affect use for right-handed individuals, but left-handed individuals may find it challenging to find suitable knives. If you are left-handed, make sure to specifically look for a left-handed kiridashi. Additionally, a single-bevel knife is easier to sharpen than a double-bevel knife.
Traditional Uses
Kiridashi were traditionally used as carving knives in Buddhist temples, where monks carved wooden statues for worship. They spread throughout Japan, becoming multipurpose utility knives. People used them to carve spoons and small toys for children, as well as to cut fabric and string. Until recently, children had to carry a kiridashi to school to sharpen pencils and cut paper and fabric in art class.
In addition to everyday uses, many professions had specific uses for kiridashi, making them indispensable tools in various fields such as woodworking, gardening, and more. Let’s briefly look at some of these.
Woodworking
Kiridashi as carving and marking knives.
A good marking knife is hard to find for woodworking. You might find one that is great for making delicate and fine marks, outlining patterns, or making dovetail joints, but it is useless for making deep cuts. You might find a large marking knife that can make deep cuts, but it is hard to use for delicate work. Most of them don’t last long. They are either disposable with fragile replaceable blades or so over-engineered that if they break or dull, it’s easier to buy a new one than maintain the existing one.
That’s why kiridashi are great. Their fine points and narrow profiles allow for clean and delicate cuts; you can outline fine patterns, small dovetail joints, and other wood joints. Their exceptionally sharp Japanese carbon steel blades allow for deep cuts with little effort. Their simple, user-friendly design makes them nearly indestructible, easy to sharpen (though rarely necessary), and easy to maintain.
Not only can they mark intricate spots, but in many cases, they can also perform complex treatments. After using a kiridashi to mark your carving pattern, you might find yourself using the kiridashi for the treatment instead of digging through your toolbox to find the right carving knife. After marking and cutting a dovetail joint, if it doesn’t fit perfectly, it’s easier to trim the excess wood with the kiridashi than to look for a chisel. These things you wouldn’t dream of doing with a regular marking knife—but kiridashi are not regular marking knives.
They are marking knives, carving knives, wood carving knives, and even chisels if you want. They are extremely versatile and the best-bladed woodworking tools.
Sewing
Kiridashi are extremely useful tools for tailors and seamstresses. Even traditional kimono makers use kiridashi daily in their work to cut and trim fabric and cut threads and stitches.
Since kiridashi are thin, low-profile, and single-bevel, they allow for extremely precise cuts. Therefore, tailors and kimono makers can rely on them for making detailed cuts on their intricate patterns and designs. Their simplicity and sharpness make them easy-to-use tools that can be quickly grabbed and used without special preparation, making them a common choice for quickly and cleanly cutting excess fabric after making a seam.
Kiridashi help kimono makers create beautiful and intricate designs with precision and accuracy. They allow tailors, seamstresses, and dressmakers to cut fabric to the desired size, trim threads and stitches, and remove excess fabric with a few quick movements.
If you want to reduce your sewing kit, put away your thread cutters, utility knives, and fabric scissors, and replace them with a single kiridashi. Along with needles, thread, and pins, a kiridashi can quickly become one of the most important tools in your sewing supplies.
Bonsai
Growing and shaping bonsai requires attention to detail, so using a very sharp and narrow blade is important, as it allows reaching into tight spaces and making cuts that would be more difficult with a larger knife or scissors.
Since kiridashi are single-bevel knives, they are perfect for making intricate and detailed cuts. Therefore, they are indispensable tools in the delicate art of bonsai. The cutting edge of a single-bevel blade can be pressed directly against what it is cutting. So, when you cut a bonsai branch with a kiridashi, you can cut it flush with the trunk, leaving part of the branch behind.
Bonsai enthusiasts often use kiridashi to create jin, shari, and uro. These all refer to different forms of deadwood that exist alongside a living bonsai tree. To create jin, a bonsai grower uses a kiridashi to strip the bark from one of the tree’s branches, which kills the branch. The branch stops growing and turns whitish while the rest of the tree continues to live.
To create shari, you perform the same process as for jin, but on the trunk instead of a branch. This creates a multicolored and multitextured trunk with a very aged appearance. Both jin and shari mimic things that happen to trees in nature when exposed to harsh environmental conditions. The image at the top of this section shows a bonsai with large shari and several jin, creating a strong contrast between the dark living trunks and branches.
Finally, to create uro, you cut part of the trunk with your kiridashi, creating a hollow. This also happens in nature with mature trees. When a branch dies and decays, it often leaves a hollow where it once was.
Kiridashi are essential tools for bonsai enthusiasts as they allow you to easily prune and shape your delicate trees and mimic nature by creating jin, shari, and uro.
Modern Uses
EDC Knife/Utility Knife
Kiridashi are excellent knives for everyday use. However, since kiridashi are fixed, open-blade knives, they require something to cover the blade to be safely carried in a pocket. Kiridashi makers often sell simple bamboo sheaths, or you can make a small sheath from thick fabric or leather. Due to their low profile, they do not take up much space. You can keep one in your pocket, backpack, or glove compartment. They are truly the best EDC knives.
Their sharp points and very sharp edges make them useful for cutting ropes, opening packages, letters, and boxes, and almost any other cutting task you need. They can do everything a retractable utility knife can do, only better, as their blades are sharper and last much longer.
Many people keep a kiridashi in their camping or fishing gear. Since they are traditionally carving knives, they are perfect for wood carving while camping. They make carving kindling for starting a fire super easy. And they can cut through fishing line, even braided line, without any problems.
Leather
If you have worked with leather before, you have likely noticed that kiridashi knives are very similar in design and function to skiving tools. The main difference between Japanese kiridashi and the skiving knives you find at your local craft store is the quality of the steel. Skiving knives use lower quality carbon steels such as 1085 and 12C27, which have a carbon content of 0.6% to 0.8% and much lower hardness compared to Japanese Shirogami and Aogami steels. Therefore, Japanese kiridashi are much sharper and retain their edge much longer than typical skiving knives. Since both skiving knives and Japanese kiridashi are sold at around the same price range and are quite similar in shape, kiridashi knives are becoming very popular among professional leatherworkers and hobbyists around the world.
This story originally belongs to Jacob Lynagh. Jacob has lived in Osaka for eight years. He is interested in Japanese history and contemporary literature and loves woodworking and Japanese tools.