There is no real record of the origins of rake making, but wherever agriculture has thrived so has rake making. Rake making became more industrialised in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, taking over from the individual makers who were usually seasonal makers.
Hand rakes were once an essential piece of farm equipment, used for collecting hay ready for loading into wagons, combing and straightening the sides of ricks, combing thatch etc. Until 1930, the hay harvest was a vast communal affair, and hay rakes were in considerable demand – and wherever there was suitable coppice wood, there would be a rake maker’s yard. Between c.1930-1965 the harvest was greatly mechanised and hand rakes were only required in limited quantities. By 1965 the demand was so low that it couldn’t occupy one craftsperson fully for a year – many makers gave up or developed secondary occupations making clothes pegs, hurdle and tool handles.
As hay rakes were primarily used at harvest time, it was a seasonal market with customers mainly buying April to July, and production was also seasonal (for example, Rudds Rake Factory used to employ a lot of people seasonally to meet the demand). Today the main outlet just isn’t there and people are using rakes for other purposes and buying all year round. Because the rakes are used less intensively, they tend to last for longer.
Today, production in any quantity is the reserve of Rudds Rakes Factory in Cumbria, who make about 5000 rakes a year, and small manufacturers such as David Wheeler in Norfolk, who makes about 100 rakes a year. The last full-time rake maker in the south of England was Trevor Austen of Smeeth, Kent, who died in 2010. Some members of the Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers make the occasional rake, and there are several courses run across the country in rake making. There has been a noticeable rise in interest in traditional rakes and rake making due to the resurgence of interest in scything, and the rising popularity of green woodworking.
A rake is a simple tool in its structure – the skill lies in selecting suitable timber and knowing the best orientation of grain to make the strongest possible tools that will last for several seasons. The skill also lies in knowing what a rake user needs and the conditions and environment in which they work, paralleled with recognising the best sources of wood and understanding the seasoning process.
A combination of hand tools and machines are used for batch production, including such items as a traditional tine maker, shave horse, and a rounding machine for producing handles more quickly.
Variations in the use of local materials and deviations from the standard can help identify regional types. The most common designs are the split handle or ‘swallow tail’ rake and the larger and heavier ‘bow’ rake.
The design and materials varied across the country: handles were short in Yorkshire and long in Hampshire; heads were usually at right angles but in Glamorgan they were at a 45 degree angle to cope with sloping fields; and in Hampshire tough springy willow was used whereas ash was used in Wales.
In northern and western Britain, where the grass was short and springy, the rakes were usually small and well-constructed, with the heads supported by braces and bows – they were expected to last for many years (bow rake). In southern England where the grass was lush, the rakes were much large and less well-constructed, with the butt end of the handle sawn along the centre to provide a pair of split ends morticed into the head (swallow tail rake) – these rakes were not expected to last for more than one season.
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The Coppice Products website has a list of rake makers in the UK
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