55/37

Drawknives were used by coopers to shave the back and inside of the staves and for shaping the heads of the casks. This is a 'heading drawknife' and was used for the latter. It was probably made in the 1950s. Its blade is slightly curved, painted red and stamped 'Hargreaves' but due to a fault with the blade, this knife was never used. It came from the cooper's shop at H. & G. Simonds Ltd., known as the Bridge Street Brewery, in Reading.

1 draw knife: metal; wood

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'This slightly curved draw knife measures 22 inches in maximum length, with a blade 12 inches long and has two handles each 5 inches long. Due to a slight fault in the blade the tool was never used. The blade is painted red and marked 'Hargreaves'. // This particular type of draw knife is used by coopers for shaping the cask head. The head is held between the craftsman's body and the bench or splitting block and the side of the head is thinned all the way round so that it fits into the groove in the cask. This is done by pulling the draw knife, held in both hands towards the operator, paring away some 2 inches of the head all round.', MERL 'Catalogue index' card – [Coopering – General Card, 55/37–55/56 and 55/66–55/68] – 'This set of Cooper's tools came to the Museum from the Cooper's Department, Messrs H & G Simonds The Brewery, Reading. Although the majority of the tools are modern, indeed some of them were never used, the tools are nevertheless the same as have been used for centuries by both urban and rural coopers.', A cooper's heading drawknife is ‘A large, flat blade up to 2 ¼ in wide and 16 in long. There are two types, ‘straight’ and ‘circular backed’. One has a straight back and straight cutting edge; the other has a ‘circular’ blade (also known as ‘hog backed’) and a slightly concave cutting edge which helps to prevent the knife from slipping off the work. After rough-cutting the bevel round the heads with the Cooper’s Axe, the Heading Knife is used for smoothing and finishing.’ (R. A. Salaman, 1975, Dictionary of Tools used in the Woodworking and Allied Trades, c. 1700-1970, p. 180)

1950 - 1955

Wood, Metal