Marking knife

A marking knife or striking knife is a woodworking layout tool used for accurately marking workpieces.^[1] It is used to cut a visible line, which can then be used to guide a hand saw, chisel or plane when making woodworking joints and other operations.^[2] They are generally used when marking across the grain of the wood, with scratch awls better suited for marking with the grain.^[3]

Marking knife

Marking knife with a spear point blade
Other names	Striking knife Shirabiki
Classification	Woodworking hand tool Knife
Used with	Straightedges, squares, scratch awls, pencils

Description

The blades on marking knives are made of tool steel, have either a skewed end or a spear point, and the knife edge is bevelled on either one side of the blade or both sides.^[4] On single-bevel skewed knives the side of the blade that is bevelled dictates whether the knife is for left-handed or right-handed use, while single-bevel spear point knives are suited to both.^[5]

Some marking knives incorporate a marking knife blade at one end, and a scratch awl tip at the other end – but because of this they are sometimes considered dangerous to use.^[3][1]

Marking knives are either made from a single piece of steel, or additionally have a handle made of wood or plastic.

Some woodworkers make their own marking knives, for example from spade bits or planer blades.^{[6][7]: 179}

Use

Marking knives are usually held like a pencil, and are guided using a straightedge or square.^[7]: 175 Sometimes woodworkers will gently run a sharp pencil along the line afterwards to make it more visible.^[1]

Marking knives are sharpened in a similar manner to chisels or other bladed tools – using sharpening stones, files or sandpaper.

Shirabiki

A shirabiki is a Japanese marking knife made from a single piece of steel with a skewed single-bevel blade.

A double-bladed shirabiki is used for marking parallel lines. They are made with two parallel blades and a thumbscrew for adjusting the distance between the blades.^[8]

Gallery

• 
  Marking knife with a skewed blade, made from a spade bit.
• 
  Combination marking knife and scratch awl
• 
  Japanese shirabiki marking knife.

See also

• Scratch awl

References

1. Blackburn, Graham (1998). Traditional woodworking handtools : a manual for the woodworker (1st ed.). New York: Lyon Press. pp. 31–32. ISBN 1-55821-874-2. OCLC 41029219.
2. Rae, Andy (1 March 2008). Choosing & Using Hand Tools. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. pp. 63–64. ISBN 978-1-60059-274-4.
3. Salaman, R. A. (1975). Dictionary of tools used in the woodworking and allied trades, c. 1700-1970. Internet Archive. New York, USA: Scribner. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-684-14535-8.
4. Liberman, Yoav (2015-05-28). "An Intro to Marking Knives: Part One". Popular Woodworking Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
5. "Spear-point Marking Knives". Popular Woodworking Magazine. 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
6. Liberman, Yoav (2013-09-30). "Making a marking knife from an old planer blade - part 1". Popular Woodworking Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
7. Thiel, David, ed. (2007). Hand tool essentials: refine your power tool projects with hand tool techniques (1st ed.). Cincinnati, Ohio, USA: Popular Woodworking Books. pp. 174–179. ISBN 978-1-55870-815-0. OCLC 76871452.
8. Ōdate, Toshio (1998). Japanese woodworking tools : their tradition, spirit, and use (1st Linden Publishing ed.). Fresno, California: Linden Publishing. pp. 29–30. ISBN 0-941936-46-5. OCLC 38286556.