What is a kiridashi knife?

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2. A rather ingenious knife, the kiradashi!
   “Kiradashi” is what the Japanese call the design. The same tool was also traditionally used in the west, where we call it a violin knife. The only difference I can see is that most violin knives are mono steels, while most kiradashi are laminated steel.
   These are kiradashi. Flat, single bevel, skew edged knives. Don’t look like much, do they:

   

   

   
   (This pair was Czech made, so I guess they’re technically “violin knives”)
   Kiradashi make extremely deft carving knives. They’re used to carve the inside curves and f-holes on violins for example:

   
   They make excellent marking knives. They scribe extremely crisp and fine lines in wood to precisely locate cuts:

   
   They fit into tight spaces few other knives will:

   

   
   Because the knife is basically a flat piece of metal and only sharpened on one side, you can use the flat side to scribe really accurately.
   Marking the thickness of one board onto another without bothering with a ruler:

   
   Scribing past the edge of a board to layout an angled dado:

   

   
   And, of course the flat registers dead on against a square:

   
   Basically, take an exacto knife, make it 50% sharper, 1000% stronger, and cross it with a skew chisel.
   Kiradashi are great little knives! Especially if you make a removable handle to make carving more comfortable, there’s few more versatile utility knives.

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3. It’s the non-folding Japanese version of a Western utility knife. If is almost always a flat straight edge, one-sided, and angled to run from a sharp point (narrowest) almost all the way bak to the handle (widest). They’re used for marking, scoring, sharpening, and in some cases artwork.

   

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