Kiridashi – The Perfect Marking Knife for Ideal Woodworking
Kiridashi knives are marking knives, carving knives, leatherworking tools, and everyday carry (EDC) knives. In fact, they are probably the best EDC knives. 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 useful for cutting ropes and opening boxes, and they are used for pruning bonsai trees and detailed cutting. The purpose of this article is to introduce you to the kiridashi knife and show why you should add one to your toolkit.
What is a Kiridashi?
Kiridashi are simple and versatile single-bevel knives from Japan. They are often referred to in Japanese as “kiridashi kogatana,” meaning “small knife for cutting,” which is entirely accurate. Their design is also very minimalist. 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 cord 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 always had one handy when they needed to open a box or cut a rope.
Today, in Japan, they are most commonly used by woodworkers as marking and carving knives, kimono makers for cutting fabric, and bonsai horticulturists for pruning. However, the potential of these handy multifunctional tools is endless.
Design and Features
Kiridashi are long, straight steel pieces with a diagonal grind ending in a sharp point. They are available in various sizes, differing in blade width. Most kiridashi are 15 mm, 18 mm, 21 mm, or 24 mm wide, but they can also be found in 9 mm, 12 mm, 27 mm, and 30 mm widths. The length and thickness of kiridashi vary depending on the manufacturer and style – but they are usually 180 mm to 200 mm long and 2 mm to 4 mm thick.
Grind
The blade’s grind angle is important in determining both the blade’s strength and sharpness. A knife ground at a lower angle is sharper and less strong than one ground at a higher angle. Kitchen knives need to be very sharp but not as strong, as they typically cut softer materials like meat and vegetables.
Utility knives need to be stronger, as they come into contact with harder materials like wood and metal. Therefore, for utility knives, we usually choose a higher grind angle to prevent the knife from being damaged.
A kiridashi knife is typically ground at a 20-degree angle, meaning it is 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 difficult to find suitable knives. If you are left-handed, be sure to look for a specifically 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 cloth and rope. Even quite recently, children were required to bring them to school to sharpen pencils and cut paper and fabric in art class.
Beyond everyday uses, many professions had specific ways of using kiridashi, making them essential tools in many fields such as woodworking, gardening, and more. Let’s briefly look at some of these.
Woodworking
A good marking knife is hard to find for woodworking. You may find one that is great for delicate and fine marking, laying out patterns for carving or dovetail joints – but it’s useless for making deep cuts. You may find a large marking knife that can make deep cuts, but it’s difficult to use for delicate work. Most of them don’t last long. They are either disposable, with flimsy replaceable blades, or so over-engineered that if they chip, 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 slim profiles allow for clean and delicate cuts; you can lay out fine patterns, small dovetails, and other joinery. Their exceptionally sharp Japanese carbon steel blades allow for deep cuts with little effort. And their simple, user-friendly design makes them almost indestructible, easy to sharpen (though rarely needed), and easy to maintain.
They can not only mark complex spots but, in many cases, also perform complex processing. After using a kiridashi to mark your carving pattern, you may find yourself using the kiridashi for the processing instead of digging into your toolbox to find a suitable carving knife. After marking and cutting a dovetail joint, if it doesn’t fit perfectly, it’s easier to just cut off the excess wood with the kiridashi than to look for a chisel. You wouldn’t dream of doing these things with a regular marking knife – but kiridashi are not ordinary marking knives.
They are marking knives, carving knives, wood carving knives, and even chisels if you wish. They are extremely versatile and the best-bladed woodworking tools.
Sewing
Kiridashi are extremely useful tools for seamstresses and tailors. Even traditional kimono makers use kiridashi daily in their work to cut and trim fabric, as well as to cut threads and seams.
Since kiridashi are thin, low-profile, and single-beveled, they allow for extremely precise cuts. Therefore, tailors and kimono makers can rely on them to make detailed cuts for 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 one of the most common uses in the textile industry the quick and clean cutting of 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, cut threads and seams, and remove excess fabric with a few quick movements.
If you want to reduce your sewing kit, put away your thread snips, 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 kit.
Bonsai
Growing and shaping bonsai requires attention to detail, so using a very sharp and narrow blade is important, as it allows you to reach tight spots and make cuts that would be more difficult with a larger knife or scissors.
Since kiridashi are single-bevel knives, they are ideal for making intricate and detailed cuts. Therefore, they are essential tools in the delicate art of bonsai. The single-bevel blade’s cutting edge can be pressed directly against what it is cutting. So, when cutting 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 coexist with the living bonsai tree. To create a jin, a bonsai grower uses a kiridashi to peel 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 a shari, you do the same process as with a jin, but on the trunk instead of a branch. This creates a multicolored and multi-textured trunk with a very old appearance. Both jin and shari mimic things that happen to trees in nature when they are exposed to harsh environmental conditions. The image at the top of this section shows a bonsai with a large shari and several jins, creating a strong contrast between the dark living trunks and branches.
Finally, to create a 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 trim and shape your delicate trees and mimic nature by creating jin, shari, and uro.
Modern Uses
EDC Knife/Utility Knife
Kiridashi are great everyday carry knives. However, since kiridashi are fixed, open-blade knives, they need 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 don’t take up much space. You can keep one in your pocket, backpack, or glove compartment. They truly are the best EDC knives.
Their sharp points and very sharp edges make them useful for cutting ropes, opening packages, opening letters and boxes, and almost any other cutting task you need. They can do everything a retractable utility knife can do, only better, because 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 great for wood carving while camping. They make carving shavings for starting a fire very easy. And they can cut through fishing line, even braided line, without problems.
Leather
If you’ve done leatherwork before, you’ve probably noticed that kiridashi are very similar in design and nature to skiving tools.
The main difference between Japanese kiridashi and skiving knives you find at your local craft store is the quality of the steel. Skiving knives use low-quality carbon steels like 1085 and 12C27, with a carbon content of 0.6% to 0.8% and much lower hardness than Japanese Shirogami and Aogami steels. Therefore, Japanese kiridashi are much sharper and hold their sharpness much longer than a regular skiving knife.
Since skiving knives and Japanese kiridashi are sold at about the same price range and are also quite similar in shape, kiridashi are becoming very popular among professional leatherworkers and hobbyists worldwide.
The original version of this article is credited to Jacob Lynagh. Jacob has lived in Osaka for eight years. He is interested in Japanese history and contemporary literature,