Ken Hawley
Ken Hawley
The Legendary Tool Collector
Credit YouTube
Ken was a prolific collector of hand planes, saws, anvils, cutlery, tools that made other tools, and in my mind the most important - catalogs. He had over 5,000 of them. Catalogs are so important to cutlery history as most of the knives are now gone and the catalogs not only detail what was made and how it generally looked, they include other tidbits of culturally significant information that help us, generations removed, better understand the times!
Many videos from Ken’s estate were recently released in the fall of 2020 on YouTube and they provide a fascinating glimpse of the past. More importantly, they give us insight into the people in the cutlery trade that is now completely lost. I’ve collected some of my favorites and listed below for your viewing pleasure. For those of you here for the pocket knives - the great Stan Shaw is featured!
Quintessential Ken Hawley Video: (8:40 is multiblade cat)
Sheffield Knife Maker Identification website: great new tool to research marks.
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Pen Knife Cutler - Stan Shaw (1993)
Table Knife Cutler - Frank Carr (1993)
Hand Forged Silver Cutlery - C.W. Fletcher (Silversmiths) Ltd (1980)
Blade Forger - Albert Craven (1979)
Knife Grinders - Eric Tingle & Rowland Swinden (1979)
Fork Polisher - Gilbert Hukin (1978)
Mirror Polishing [Buffing] - Ethel Grayson & Edna Stone (1993)
Jobbing Grinder - Brian & Tom Alcock (1993)
Mark Making - Basil & Mary Walker (1993)
Grinding, Setting In and Whetting of Open Razors and Using a Razor - Billy Hukin (1966 & 1993)
Hand Forging Butcher & Fish Knives - Ernest Drice & Harry Drabble (1965)
Hand Forging Knife Blades - Tom Merrill (1966)
Hand Forging Scissors - Harry Sorby (1965)
The Making of a Sheffield Knife - George Watts, Joe Murray, Fred James & Sandy Lowe
Stainless Steel and the Sheffield Cutlery Trade
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Sheffield Cyclops Steel Works (Do you know a famous US Cutlery that is in an old building occupied by a company called “Cyclops Steel”?