Two of MARPLES’ most unusual products are these implements to aid in the opening of Cigar Boxes.

First listed as item #1139C in 1897 the Rosewood scaled tool remained unchanged until it was de-listed c.1930.  The number appears as #3631 in 1909 and changed again to #3651 in 1928. Peculiarly enough it is listed in the index of 1938 but does not appear on page!!
The Beechwood handled Opener started life in 1909 as #3632 and was changed to #3652 in 1928, but no more.
Both of these openers do not appear in the 1921 Catalogue.

These are some of the most basic tools employed by Carpenters and probably among the first manufactured by the William Marples Company.

In this section I will only be dealing with the Draw Knives that were and are still used by Carpenters today, other styles of Draw Knives may be found under other headings  [e.g. Coopers’ Tools.]  As far as I can tell these tools were listed as ‘Drawing Knives‘ until 1965 and then were called ‘Draw Knives.’

Here are the 1862 Listings…

Here are the listings from 1873:

Next are the 1888 listings:

The 1897 listings are next:

Next are the 1909 Listings, with again, item number changes:

The 1921 Listings show the usual post-war decrease in item availability:

And then to 1928:

The 1938 listings were very similar:

1959 shows only these listings:

While 1965 shows only this and that the name has been reduced to ‘Draw Knives’:

And at last 1972 is the only catalogue to show this:

Table below shows availability since 1909:

Item #	09	21	28	38	59	65	72	Description
1160	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Cast Steel
1161	Y	Y	Y	Y				London Pattern
1162	Y	Y	Y	Y				Cast Steel Egg handled
1164	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Cast Steel American Pattern
1167	Y	Y	Y	Y				Carpenters’ Common
1173	Y							Amateurs’ Common Beech
1174	Y							Amateurs’ Common Box
1175	Y	Y	Y	Y				Amateurs’ Cast Steel Beech
1176	Y	Y	Y	Y				Amateurs’ Cast Steel Box

Individual size availability by years:

#1160:   Was 8-16″ in 1909 and reduced to 8-14″ in 1921.   Was 10-12″ 1959-1965 and only 10″ in 1972. In production until at least 1979.
#1161:  Was 8-16″ in 1909 and reduced to 8-14″ in 1921 , delisted just pre-war. [1938?]
#1162:  Was 8-14″ in 1909 and reduced to 8-12″ in 1928, delisted just pre-war. [1938?]#1164: Was 8-14″ in 1909 and reduced to 8-12″ in 1921 and 10-12″ in 1965.  de-listed c. Sept 1969.
#1167:  Was 8-16″ in 1909 reduced to 8-14″ in 1921. De-listed just pre-war.[1938?]
#1173 and #1174:   Were both available as 5; 5.1/2; 6; 6.1/2 & 7″  in 1909 and de-listed before 1921.
#1175 and #1176: Were both available as 5; 5.1/2; 6; 6.1/2; 7; 7.1/2; and 8″in 1909 , reduced to 6 & 7″ in 1921 and increased to 5; 6; and 7″ in 1928. De-listed just pre-war.[1938?]

Gallery of some Draw Knives:

The next photos are of a very rare item #1164 still wrapped up in the factory papers:

Above is a W.KENT 5 inch Boxwood handled Drawknife c.1909.  Item #1174  W.KENT name was used on Second Quality tools for many years, William Kent Marples being the son of William Marples Jnr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is a Geologists’s hammer #3566:

The hammer below is only 7 inches in total length and I believe came from a Gentleman’s set of tools from around 1900.

REPOUSSE Hammer:

Only offered for sale in the 1928, 1938 and 1959 Catalogues and available until Nov 1963 this hammer was always Item# 9091.
Here is the whole Repousse line and it is the same in all 3 Catalogues.

I have noticed that the older Repousee hammers have a backward facing poll, see image above.

This next one is a Mystery…It seems to indicate that later MARPLES hammers may have been produced in the USA!!??

I have no answer for this!!

BOXMAKERS Hammer:

The Boxmakers hammer was first seen in Cat. 1909. as 14,16 and 18 ounce versions. It was not available in 1921 Cat. but was re-introduced in the 1928 Cat.  as 14;16;18 and 20 ounce. The 1938 Cat. shows the same but the sizes available were reduced in the 1959 Cat to just 14;16 and 18 ounce again. Amazingly this hammer was still available as 14 and 16 ounce versions in 1965, but were available only until around 1967/8, showing as being withdrawn in the Price List of Nov 1969.

 

 

The vast majority of Vices produced by MARPLES were skewed towards metal work  with just a few woodwork oriented products being manufactured in later years.

First seen in the 1873 Catalogue and continuing through to the 1900s are many superb, heavy duty vices  [too many to detail here], so I have simply posted the Vices by catalogue year.  It is rare that any of these old vices will be found today as they would each have had a hard life!!  I will try to go into more detail about the available models from 1938 onwards.
[For COOPERS’ Vices please go to the Coopers’ Tools section.]

1873:

1888:

1897 Catalogue:

1909 Catalogue:

1921 Catalogue:

1928 Catalogue:

1938 Catalogue:

Around 1940 a small booklet was issued that contained some details of Vices that were then available:

Thanks to Mr. Hilter we must then jump to the next full catalogue of 1959 for details of the vices then offered:

Once RECORD TOOLS took over Marples the range was drastically reduced such that by 1965 only this entry is shown:

So the [Lancashire] Hand Vice was the longest produced vice since it appears  in 1873 and until its’ demise in c.12/1969

The following information tells you when the remaining vices shown in the 1959 Catalogue were delisted:

Vices delisted around Dec/ 1962:  #4970
Vices delisted around Dec/ 1963: #4426; 4659; 4660; 4671; 4678; 4681; 
                                                                    4682; 4684; 4696.
Vices delisted around Dec/1964:  #4673; 4674; 4675; 4676; 4677.
Vices delisted around Dec/1969:  #6275

Gallery:

The old vice shown here started out as #1937 in 1897 but the number changed to #4672 in 1909 and remained so until the last appearance in 1938. It started as being available as numbers  1; 2 and 3 but by 1909 a larger series was for sale…… 00; 0; 1; 2; 3; 4; 5 and 6, but #6 was not shown in 1938.  It was described as an ‘Eclipse‘ vice and was listed under ‘Amateurs’ Parallel Vices‘.

Due to the nature of the product it is rare to find any good examples of any vice  before 1930 as they were all subjected to a hard life.  So most of the examples that I can show here are of more modern vices.

4675.1/2:

4676:

4677:

4678:

4682:

You can see that the Photo above [right] is of an older version having the trefoil cast in.

And the 2 photos above show an even older version with Reg.#717731

4682.1/2:

I am still working on identifying this woodworkers’ Vice:

The wooden Vice below [#62] is shown in catalogues 1988 to October 1990 and is described as a ‘Tail Vice’.

Another vice is #61 and is described as a ‘Wooden Vice with double screws’. It too only appears briefly in 1988 to October 1990:

This file is not finished yet………….obviously…

This specialised group of tools was first introduced by MARPLES in the 1928 Catalogue, but was probably available slightly before that time. They seem to have survived the incursion of Mr.Hilter into civilised life and appear for the last time in 1959. All of these tools were available until the end of 1963, all except Item #3687 [Shears], which were de-listed c.1960.

1928:

1938:

1959:

Basketmakers’ Shave:

You may note that MARPLES employed the same drawing of this item in all the catalogues despite the attachment of the hinged plate being moved from a screwed into end grain position to being screwed into a cross grain position as shown in my above example. [date not known]
Below shows an example of an earlier version with end grain use.

The adjusting screw on my plane is original, but there seems to be no reason to have such a large diameter hole surrounding it!

CLEAVES:

These small Boxwood implements were to start 3-4 splits in green Willow cane so that strips could be had for Basket weaving. They came with or without a brass tip and were available c.1925-1962.  See the catalogue pictures above.

Basketmaker’s Shears

These were available from 1928 until late 1960. The 9 inch size is not shown in 1959…but at all other times they were sized 8″,9″10″12″ and 14″.

 

 

 

Under this title may be found the tools that ‘Masons’ used.
There is an overlap between  a Mason and a Bricklayer. The latter being primarily involved in laying courses of bricks for a building whereas a Mason was able to integrate/lay other building stones such as granite or limestone, and not necessarily in a uniform measure. There are therefore overlaps in the tools employed and I have tried to extricate just the tools used primarily by a ‘Mason‘.

The 1873 Catalogue seems to list the earliest Masons’ Tools:

Next are the listings from 1888:

The 1897 Catalogue sees these things:

From there we progress to the 1909 Catalogue:

1921:

1928 Catalogue:

From the 1938 Catalogue:

1959:

Many tools were discontinued between 1959 and 1965.

From the 1965 Catalogue [#15]:

In the Supplement to the slim 1971 Catalogue there is only this shown:

I did set about doing a Table for these tools, going from 1909 onwards, but there are simply too many tools and variables to do this successfully!  So I can only recommend that you peruse the shown pages from the catalogues [above] and draw your own conclusions.

GALLERY:

Here I will try to show as many of these Masons’ tools as I can find .

As far as I can tell,  a MASONS’ Drag Saw and Cocks’ Combs were listed as far back as 1897, but I must assume that you know what these tools were for, because I certainly do not!!

The 1897 information is below:

The 1909 listings [as before] show a change of item numbers:

These items were not listed [ along with many tools post WW1] after the war in 1921 but re-appear in the 1928 Catalogue:

The 1938 Lists the same tools at the same prices as the 1921 Catalogue..

But the 1959 Catalogue only lists this:

The last listing of these tools, that I can find, is in the Price List of November 1963

Here you can see a good Masons’ Drag, but I suspect that the ‘Combs‘ are now few and far between.

Here is a Masons’ Cocks’ Combs #4258 A&B :

#4222 Brick Cleaning Axe:

This item is first seen in the 1909 Cat. as #4222 and described as ‘with strong Ash handles.’ It was offered in 2 sizes, 1.1/4lb and 1.3/4lb through 1928 and 1938 but reduced to 1.3/4lb in the 1959 Cat. It seems to have been discontinued at the end of 1963

#4310 Pointing Trowel:

#4349 Paviors’ Hammer:

This is a page wherein I will show MARPLES tools of which I am unable to identify the tool or its’ use.

These may be tools that only appeared between major Catalogues and are therefore untraceable by the usual routes!

The singular posts will be removed when I have found [or been so advised!] of the identity of the tool. But until then they will remain a MYSTERY!!.

The first one here is this probable 1950’s type of Awl.  Or could it be another tool that has been modified to be an Awl?  The handle definitely states  MARPLES and I had initially thought that it was a sail makers tool.

Please help me!!!

And this one may be a garden tool???

 

 

This class of Woodworking tool was a very early, if not initial, addition to the William Marples company.  Gimlets first appear [in printed format] in the 1846 Trade sheet and were then called…GIMBLETS….  But this name had changed by 1861 to the more usual name of GIMLETS.

Here is the 1844 list :

Then the 1861 list: [No price increase!]

The 1873 entry follows:

Then the 1888 entries:

And here are the 1897 pages:

And then the 1909 listings:

The 1921 listings, as with all tools, was truncated after the war:

The 1928 listings show a return to production:

The 1938 listings may be very close to those of 1928:

1959 Catalogue shows the expected reduction in styles:

And the 1965 Catalogue shows an even more drastic reduction in styles available:

The last catalogue to show a Gimlet [#1762] is the mini catalogue of 1971. The exact same catalogue of 1972 shows that this tool was no longer manufactured:

Below is a table showing the availability of Gimlets starting with the 1909 Catalogue. This Catalogue was the last one to generally have  new Item numbers assigned.  Before that there were too many changes to realistically track the items [see the pages of catalogues above].
In this table;   G= Gimlets
Box = Boxwood
not 21 = not found in the 1921 Catalogue.

Special Note:  Item #s 1806;1807 and 1808 Bellhangers’ Gimlets  were all numbered in 1928, but after that the 5/16″ and 3/8″ sizes were not item numbered in the catalogues, all being shown as #1806 and they were  discontinued around 1/65.

GALLERY:

A Gimlet with a Steel handle was first shown in 1938 as item #1768
Sizes shown are 1-7 which means 1/16″ to 7/16″ diameter.
The 1959 Cat. shows sizes 3-8 and the 1965 Cat. shows 3-9.
Price Lists indicate that this gimlet was withdrawn from sale Nov 1969.

Below is a No.3:

Below Left is #1752 Shell Gimlet with Square Tang.
Below Right is #1790 Brewer’s London Pattern Shell Gimlet.

Below are #1791 Brewer’s London Pattern Twist Gimlets.

Below is #1793  Cooper’s or Wine Frets Boixwood head.

Below are #1762 Square Tang Twist Gimlets. Probably the most common found today.

Below is #1806 Bell Hangers’ Long Shell Gimlet 12″.

Below is #1782 Spout, Gutter or Cabinet Twist Gimlet. 9″
#1782.1/2 was the 12″ version.

Steel handled Gimlet #1768 is shown below:

 

 

 

 

MARPLES Hand Drills were not really introduced into the line-up until 1984 and then they were only a ‘RECORD Tools‘ extension of their #423 and  labelled M423.  This drill had a  Jacobs 5/16″ chuck and key,  Black enamelled wooden handles and a Blue Malleable iron frame and parts. [See later for BT 92 variation.]

Around July 1989 I find that there are now 3 drills offered, M423; M422 and M421.  The M423 has a keyed chuck whereas the M422 was like the M423 but had a keyless chuck.   The lightweight for DIY M421 had a 3/16″ hand tightened chuck, was constructed of an Alloy and had plastic handles. The handles were highlighted with different colours [Blue and Green have so far been identified] and the handle had a screw fitted round end cap and could house drill bits in the hollow centre. It was nevertheless still double pinioned  and these were enclosed [see photos] The only identification that this was a MARPLES was the transfer name on the side of the gear wheel. The M421 also was not furnished with a side handle. It really was ‘cheap and nasty‘.

By January 1994 only the M423 and M422 are offered for sale. and by 1996 even these are not to be found listed anymore.

Below is the entry for Feb 1984 along with a catalogue photo.

Below is shown the 1988 entry showing just an M423 for sale:

The entry below is from July 1989 showing the introduction of M422 and M421:

Here is a breakdown diagram from 1991:

Gallery:

M422:

M423:

And then the M421 showing the enclosed gears and no side handle provision:

Later M22 and M23 drills were painted in Green, shown below:

Below is a purpose designated B92 M423 that was built for BRITISH TELECOM in 1992?? These seem to be lesser quality items…..

I started on this project and within weeks discovered that this subject cannot be totally dealt with on this page. There are simply too many tools, too many slightly different tools and too many entries in the catalogues to be able to actually put everything down on paper and keep all the tools in line and subject together.

Therefore the best that I can do with this subject is show all the pages that dealt with Coopers’ Tools over the years and let you sort it all out as to whether your tool fits this description.  Sorry!!

So we start with the first indication that Wm. MARPLES made tools for the Cooper Trade in the 1846 Price List:

From there we go to the 1862 Catalogue entries:

Then to the 1873 entries:

The 1888 Catalogue entries are next:

 

1897 Catalogue entries:

I am sorry that I cannot make these images larger to make them more easily read…I am restricted in the width by the programme.

1909 Catalogue entries:

 

The 1921 issues follow: 

The 1928 Catalogue entries are here:

1938 entries:

The 1959 Catalogue sees a drastic reduction in tools offered:

ALL of the tools above shown in the 1959 Catalogue were still available up to the November 1963 Price List.  The April 1964 Price List shows that none were then available, so when C&J Hampton [RECORD] took over, all the old non-profitable tools were abandoned as per the wishes of the bean-counters.

Coopers’ Straight Spokeshave:

Coopers’ Handled Tap Borer:

Gimlets…Shell and Twist:

1201 Belfast-Pattern Crum Knife: This pattern of ‘Jigger’ is first seen in 1909 and last listed c.1940  [It was not available in the 1921 Catalogue..like many other tools.]

COOPERS’ ROUND SHAVE:

It is hard to judge from just a description, but this Round Shave may have been listed in the 1846 List but definitely is shown as Item#162E ‘Best London Pattern Round Shave‘ in the 1888 Catalogue.  In 1897 the number has changed to #162, and in 1909 it changed to #1207 with this number enduring  until the last listing shown in 1938.

Only the #1206 Round Shave is shown in 1959.

COOPERS’ COMPASS:

Why Coopers needed a special compass is not known but they first appear in the 1873 Catalogue and at sizes by individual inches of 5-24.  Numbered 1123

In the 1888 Catalogue the range seems to be somewhat diminished to: 8;9;10;12;14;16;18;20 inches.

In the 1897 Catalogue the range was again reduced to 8,9,10,12,14,16,18 inches .  Item # 1164.  The number changed to # 3330 in 1909 and this number lasted until 1928 in the same sizes.  In 1938 there are no listings so we can assume that the product line was dropped c.1935?

Below is a nice example of a 10 inch Cooper’s Compass: