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.
