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Isaac Greaves (Manufacturer)

This lathe tool is a turning chisel, for paring a smooth surface on the wood. It has a wooden handle and a steel blade with a bevelled end. The blade is stamped ‘Isaac Greaves Cast Steel’. The chisel came from the workshop of Mr T. Harris at Witheridge Farm in Hailey, Oxfordshire.

1 turning chisel: wood and metal [steel]; fair condition

MERL miscellaneous note, Greta Bertram, 10 January 2013 – Mr T. Harris had a smithy at Witheridge Farm in Hailey, Oxfordshire. Upon his death in February 1960, his daughter, Mrs M. K. Fenn, donated a large number of his tools to the Museum. Mr Harris had previously donated a number of objects to the Museum in 1952 and 1956., MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Museum of English Rural Life) – 'Standard museum name: … // Accession number: … // Classification: … // Negative number: … // Acquisition method: … // Acquired from: … // Date: … // Store: … // Condition: … // Recorder: … // Date: … // Description: Wooden handle, thicker towards tool end. Cavity about halfway along. Steel ring round end, metal chisel-shape, narrow at handle, and sharp at end opposite handle slowly tapers all along towards cutting edge. Inscription “Isaac Greaves Cast Steel”. // Dimensions: Max length 43cm. Length of handle 28.5cm. Length of blade 14.5cm. Width of blade 1.6cm. // Associated information: From the workshop of Mr. T. Harris, Witheridge Farm, Hailey, Witney. Donated on his death by his daughter, Mrs. Fenn. // (1) Wood-turning tools are distinguished from the usual carpenter’s Chisels and Gouges by their plain tangs with no bolster, and by being in general longer in both blade and tang. They are also fitted with a characteristically long handle, often turned with a bulb near the ferrule. Moxon (London, 1677) writes that the handles are made ‘tapering towards the end, and so long that the Handle may reach (when they use it) under the Arm-pit of the Workman, that he may have more stay and steddy management of the Tool’… The chisels are used for paring a smooth surface… [and] are ground with a slightly rounded bevel on both sides when new, but are usually ground flat afterwards by the woodturner himself. // References: (1) Dictionary of Tools used in the Woodworking and Allied Trades, c. 1700–1970: R.A. Salaman (George Allen & Unwin)'

Lathe tool, Chisel

Wood, Metal, steel

Fenn, M. K. (Agent)