Drawknives By Ray Iles

Drawknives are a great way to get rid of a lot of material quickly. If you do a lot of curved work in solid wood, you probably use a drawknife for speed all the time.

Among chair makers, it’s the tool of choice for rapidly making spindles, stretchers, and all the long straight parts of a chair.

These drawknives are made of traditional carbon steel for the sharpest, easiest to maintain edge. The handles of the two regular drawknives are of air dried English beech, finished in linseed oil for long wear and a good grip. The “Gents” drawknife in the foreground has sculpted handles which are splayed out more than the regular drawknives.

Ground sharp but final honing is required for the best edge. Made in England.

“I had a number of recommendations on what drawknife I might enjoy most – but in the end, I went with this tool from Lincolnshire toolmaker Ray Iles. If you’ve bought tools from Ray before (as I have many times, through Tools for Working Wood) you know the deal – they are no-nonsense tools. In keeping with the Sheffield tradition, this drawknife is no different – great steel, simple design and comfortable handles. The knife shines particularly bright in the steel department – after being sharpened, it held a razor edge through hours of work. The handles, which are turned from beech and finished with linseed oil, are comfortable, but not so polished that you lose your grip. With an 8″-wide and 1 5⁄8“-deep blade, this drawknife was a bit larger than what other students brought with them to the class, but this was only a disadvantage when it came to carving a very tight radius. Otherwise, the longer cutting edge was very comfortable and allowed for a lot of lateral movement when taking slicing cuts. Since the class, I’ve used the tool in all manner of shaping tasks, and it’s held up wonderfully. ” – Brandon Aguilar, “Ray Iles Large Drawknife Tool Review,” Popular Woodworking, October 2021