The premier site for William Marples & Son's Tools.
Category: Coachmakers’ Tools
Bag Hooks
These items were needed to offload goods [in bags] at the Docks and other locations.
The first Catalogue entry I can find is in 1888:
At that time only single and double Prong hooks were available with no speciality.
By 1897 there are more choices:
And more by 1909:
1921:
1928:
1938: A Malleable version of #3662 has been introduced as #3664
By 1959 the range has been whittled down to the Basics, no specialties.
And these 3 tools were themselves de-listed by December 1963
These tools may be difficult to find these days as they were probably discarded quite often, or lost. The following example may be either 3662 or 3664. I have no way of currently knowing the difference between SMALL and LARGE sizes.
Pig Scrapers
Since the first MARPLES ‘Pig Scraper’ is to be found in the 1888 Catalogue [Item #1899], I can only surmise that prior to then, no pigs needed to be scraped!
This first tool, like its’ descendents, had an included Hook, the purpose for which eludes me. The first description does not state that it was ‘handled’ but I think it must have been.
The same number and increased description is to be found in 1897 :
In 1903 the Hooked version [#6863] and a non-Hooked version [#6864] are found and repeated in 1909 below:
1921 below is similar:
In 1928 the Hooked version is #6863, whereas the non-Hooked version is now #6853.1/2. The handle is described as being made of Ash and is ‘Through Tanged’:
1938:
1959:
The Catalogues of 1938 and 1959 show the same information.
This tool was de-listed around December 1963 and then there was a huge uproar of delight from the piggies!!!
Shipwrights’ Tools
I will try to add other tools in this category as I find photos of them, but I will start with Caulking Mallets as I have one in my collection….
Caulking Mallets
These were introduced to aid in the use of the Caulking Irons that themselves were used to insert the caulk material that waterproofed the sections of wood that were used to make a boat, at that time. Up till that time we can only surmise that a large hammer/maul was used that would have deformed the head of the Caulking Iron. It was probably less expensive to buy Caulking Mallets of Lignum Vitae than destroy sets of steel Caulking irons?
The first mention that I can find of this tool comes in the 1888 Cat. as Item# 295A Round Head Lignum Vitae Caulking Mallet.and #296 ‘London Pattern Lignum Vitae Caulking Mallet’ but with no pictures! At this time I cannot describe the differences between these two.
In 1897 it is listed as the same; #296 and #295A.
1909 sees another number change to #4016 and described as ‘London Pattern Lignum Vitae Caulking Mallets’ and this is echoed in 1921.
In 1928 the number has changed slightly to #4016B because the London Pattern Mallet made of Beech is added to the system, but 4016 remains the same.
In 1938 both Lignum Vitae [#4016] and Beech [#4016B] woods are still listed.
In 1959 only the Lignum Vitae 4016 is shown and the tool was discontinued in December 1963.
Mason’s Tools
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:
#4310 Pointing Trowel:
#4349 Paviors’ Hammer:
Mystery Tools
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???
Coachmakers’ Other Tools & Wheelwrights’ Tools
It was not until the publication of the 1888 Catalogue do we see that MARPLES got into the manufacture of specialised Coachmakers’ Tools.
Also included on this page will be Wheelwrights’ tools, as they are listed together by MARPLES.
There we see a Coach Side Axe:
Strong Wrought Iron Cramps5″-12″:
Draw Borers:
T-Plane irons up to 2″ in 1/8th increments, but no plane bodies:
Also listed, but with no images, are ‘Iron Stock Squares‘ in sizes 6″;8″ and10″, and a Trimmers Hammer in #2 size.
The 1897 Catalogue shows the following:
Please note that Side Axe; Cramps; Draw Bore pins; Trimmers’ Hammers and Squares are as per 1888 listings. The T plane irons#194 are only listed as being available 1″-2″. New listings are for Coachmakers’ chisels; 14″ Iron Stock T bevels; Solid Cast Steel Framing hammers [#1126 @ 10 pence per lb!!] ; Routers and ‘Spider MorticeBevels‘ [no image]. With other Wheelers’ tools.
1909 Catalogue sees these entries:
The Side Axe is now #1274 The Cast Steel chisel is now #650; the B/E chisel is #655 and the Incannelgouge is #660. The Bent Iron G cramp is now #4724 and a new item WeldedIron G cramp8″-18″is #4725. The Trimmers’ hammer is now #3908. Many other tools have been listed as shown above, but I do not see a listing for the T plane irons. The Framing hammers, now #3390, are available in 2.1/2-4lbs.
The 1928 Catalogue shows these pictures:
The above extract shows us, for the first time, an actual image of the Squares and Bevels. It also introduces Wheelers’ or Coach Shaves and 18″Panel Gauges.
I do note that the Trimmers’ hammer is still available, but it has been moved by MARPLES to be listed under ‘Upholsterers’ Tools‘!
They did this just to confuse me 55 years later!!
Next are the 1938 tools:
As seen above the B/E chisel is no longer offered.
The Side Axe and Cramps are the same as 1928 and Trimmers’ Awls and Hammer are still to be found under Upholstery Tools.
The 1959 Catalogue listings show a drastic reduction in the availability of these specialised tools:
And then all three of these tools were discontinued at the end of 1963.
Wheelers’ Rounder:
The early version was cut from one solid piece of wood, whereas the later [time unknown] Rounders were made utilising inserted ‘dowel’ handles.
Fork Shaft Rounder…Brass Bushed:
Coachmakers’ Planes
The first reference that I have about MARPLES producing Coachmakers’ Planes is in the 1897 Catalogue, although I am sure that they were introduced before then.
So in 1897 we see the following entries:
In 1909 the Item numbers have been changed and the listings follow here.
[Of note is that in 1921 the listings are exactly the same, including prices.]
Jumping then to 1928 we find another item number change and that the Compass TRabbet Plane and Coach T Rabbet Plane are both available up to 1.1/2″. Previously there is no maximum width stated for these planes, but since I have a 2″ Coach T Rabbet plane I will assume that, prior to 1928, these planes were available up to at least 2 inches..
These planes were not produced much after 1928 as there are no listings in the 1938 Catalogue, obviously due to Coachmaking being a declining industry.
The Coach T Rabbet Plane was so called ‘T‘ Rabbet because the body shape resembling an inverted ‘T‘. [Some references state that it was because of the shape of the cutting iron, but there are a few other planes that use this shape blade, so I reject this theory.]
The CoachCompass T Rabbet plane has a convex sole in order to work concave shapes and there was never a Compass T Rabbet Plane having a concave sole. The only concave sole in the Coachmakers’ line was the ‘Smooth Plane’ as shown as #2992 in the 1928 listings.
The Coach T Rabbet shown below has a sole that is 6.5/8″ long x 2″ wide. The whole plane is 3.3/16″ tall and the vertical body is 13/16″ thick. The cutter is 7.1/4″ long and 2″ wide at the cutting edge, with no maker’s mark. [which is common to the majority of MARPLES wooden plane blades.]
The following planes , shown L to R in the photo are: #2992 Coach Concave Smooth Plane marked number ‘2‘ #2992 Coach Concave Smooth Plane marked number ‘4‘ #2991 Coach Compass Smooth Plane marked number ‘2‘ #2990 Coach Smooth Plane marked ‘1‘
Given that the curves were ‘numbered’ we must assume that various curvatures were produced and sold, but as yet I have no information to suggest what that range may have been. At least I can say that the number ‘2‘ concave and compass planes mate perfectly. Also that a number ‘1‘ is perfectly flat. All these planes [above] measure at a nominal6.3/4” long, so this must serve as a marker to help to separate these planes from the full size planes.
Therefore, at this time, I must conclude that these Coachmakers’ planes were only available c.1890- c.1935?