Knife Templates

Free knife template maker

Choose a Japanese kitchen knife profile, adjust exact dimensions and print it at actual size (1:1).

  • Free to use
  • No account required
  • PDF, SVG and DXF export

Designing requires a desktop or laptop. The profiles and guides below are available on any screen.

Kitchen knife profiles

Start from a measured base profile, then shape every edge and dimension in the editor.

From profile to workshop

Type measurements, drag control points, add holes and marks, prepare tiled print sheets, export cutting files and arrange blanks on stock.

Print at actual sizePlan stock nestingHow the tool works

PrivacyTermsSupport

KnifeTemplates
File
Account
View & snap
drag points to shape · N adds a node · drag space to pan · alt ignores snapping · more under ?
Reference

Help

Printing at true size

  1. Print at Scale 100%. In Chrome: More settings → Scale → Custom → 100. The default “Fit to printable area” shrinks everything by about 4%.
  2. Set Margins: None. All artwork already sits inside a safe margin.
  3. Measure the ruler on the sheet. If it is not exactly 100 mm, the print is not 1:1. Fix the print dialog, never the design.

Or use Download PDF, on the print sheets screen and in the File menu. Its page size and artwork are both written in millimetres, so no print dialog can rescale it. This is also the file to send a print shop.

Shaping a curve

Every curve here, including the spine, edge, choil and both tang edges, is a chain of nodes with tangent handles, not a single arc. One arc has one inflection, so press N and click a curve to put a node where you need a second: a flat run at the heel and then belly, a recurve, a notch. Click a node with N to cycle it between corner, smooth and symmetric; hold alt and click to remove it. Curve nodes in the panel lists what you have added and puts any curve back to a single arc.

Press F and click a corner to round it, at the radius in the options band under the drawing; shift chamfers instead. Every corner on a template also has its own radius under Corner radii, and Choil shape offers the finger reliefs as one click each.

Thickness, taper and the grind

A profile is a plan for a shape; a knife is a shape and a taper. Set the bar stock thickness, then add a distal taper, with thickness at stations along the blade, interpolated in straight lines, which is what a taper jig grinds between two settings.

Print the plan view draws the blade seen from the spine, 1:1 and sharing the profile's x, so a caliper reading can be checked against the same ruler.

The bevel boundary can be a profile rather than one number, which is what draws a rising shinogi, an S-grind or a low bevel at the heel. On a single bevel, hollowing the ura also prints the flat uraoshi land along the edge.

Drawing by hand

Edit as free drawing, under Details, turns a template into the same knife as an editable node path. This lets you start from a base template, dial in the parameters that fit, and then shape the one detail the parameters cannot express.

Start with Line, Curve or Hole. For a curve, drag between its endpoints, release, then pull the edge in either direction. Select an edge for Flip curve and an exact bow. Finish line leaves a path open; Close outline joins its ends.

Measure takes two clicks. Choose Keep on drawing to retain a dimension, or place repeated dimensions from its options. Find the specialist tools under More tools, and pin favourites there.

On a drawing: band-select with Select and drag, shift + click to add to the selection, and drag any member to move the group. Pan with space, the middle button, or the Pan tool. The geometry inspector on the right takes exact millimetres. A node's coordinates, a segment's length and angle, the transforms and the offset. Keep geometry locks an intention rather than losing it to the next edit. Checks lists what a cutter would refuse or quietly get wrong.

Keyboard

A template offers five tools: Select, Pan, Edit points, Round corner and Measure. Only V, N, F, R and space do anything there. The rest need a free drawing.

V
Select: drag empty paper for a band selection, then use shift + click to add to the selection
L
Line
C
Curve; drag endpoints, then pull to bend (shift for the downward preset)
A
Circular arc: the same as Curve type → Circular arc, tangent from an open end or bowed by the stated amount
H
Hole
R
Measure: click twice, then choose Keep on drawing to print it
D
Place repeated dimensions (shift for a horizontal or vertical one)
N
Edit points: add a point, cycle its tangent rule, or hold alt to remove it
F
Round corner (shift makes a straight corner cut)
T
Trim to the nearest crossing
G
Construction geometry (shift + drag for a circle)
E
Eraser
M
Move entire drawing
S
Serrations
Enter
Close outline: join the ends of the open path
Esc
Back to Select, and closes an open menu
space
Hold to pan from any tool. The middle mouse button does the same.
Delete / Backspace
Remove everything selected
↑↓←→
Nudge the selection by the grid snap step
shift
Nudge by 0.1 mm
alt
Ignore all snapping (the Free toggle does the same)
ctrl/⌘ + A
Select everything on the drawing
ctrl/⌘ + Z
Undo, shift to redo (ctrl/⌘ + Y also redoes)
ctrl/⌘ + scroll
Zoom the drawing. An ordinary scroll still scrolls the page.

Saving

PrivacyTermsSupport
Frozen sharing

Manage links
Cloud library

Sign in
Knife Templates