Round Shave - metal with 2 wooden handles. Borer damage. Stamped Wm Greaves & Sons Sheaf Works. 10cm diameterflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village

William Greaves was once a prolific company that highly prospered in the 19th century during the boom of the tool and cutlery trades in Sheffield England as steel became more commercially available. William Greaves's works were situated at the Sheaf Works in the heart of Sheffield, at Maltravers Street, opening in 1823 and was known to be the largest business in this area at this time. The Sheaf Works made a range of tools and saws including cutlery, penknives and razors and also even made its steel in-house. The factory used its perfect position for water power being built on the edge of the Sheffield canal and also used the railway line nearby giving them the perfect opportunities for transporting its goods. The factory itself was also a revolution because it attempted to bring together as many cutlery manufacturing processes as possible together in one place, something that had not been attempted before. The money to build these huge works came from Greaves' trade with America, where they sent razors, table cutlery and sturdy Bowie knives. This allowed the Greaves’ to build the factory and expand their production, which made them even more money. This made William Greaves very rich indeed, and it was reported that when he died in 1830 he left each of his five surviving daughters £30,000 each, an astronomical sum at the time. In today’s money that is approximately £2.3 million. The firm finally dissolved in 1850, but Sheaf Works continued to be used by many cutlery manufacturers until the 1980s. With most of the buildings still standing today.A significant item made by a successful cutlery manufacturer in England during the first half of the 19th century. This company undertook many new processes to streamline cutlery production and introduced innervations regards working with steel that are still in use today. This item is now regarded as a collector's item given the company ceased trading in 1850. jigger/hollowing knife with internal bevel, Electro Boracic Steel. Stamped 3.1/2″ William Greaves, Sheaf Works, Sheffield flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, cooper's jigger, howeling knife, wm greaves & sons