He left school a year later at the age of fourteen to assist in his father's business, which needed people to replace those workers who had been called up to the armed forces during World War 2.
The experience gave him an enduring respect for those who worked in the Sheffield cutlery and tool-manufacturing industries, which were then still famous throughout the world; it also instilled in him an abiding curiosity for how they had achieved their status and produced their wares.
Perhaps the most significant single development to his collection came in 1965 when he paid a business visit to the William Marples company and discovered that the firm's plane-manufacturing workshop was being closed.
[2] But more than just collect the artefacts, what Hawley realised was that knowledge of the skills of wooden moulding plane-making would be lost with retirement of Albert Boch, the last plane maker at Marples.
[7] He also considered trade catalogues and other ancillary items an important record and illustration of the range of products, many of which have no surviving examples, and these were added to his acquisitions .
"[5] The Sheffield tool-making industry went into decline due to changes both in the economy and in technology and he acquired a reputation as the person to approach when a business was closing.
The tools include many examples of such things as planes, table knives, anvils, files, taps and dies, rules, micrometres, scissors, hammers, handsaws, and vernier and caliper gauges.
An exhibition titled The Cutting Edge was arranged that drew upon the material and this led to the formation of the Ken Hawley Collection Trust, whose objective was to acquire and conserve it.
[2] A further, much larger HLF grant in 2008 allowed more spacious and specialist premises to be formed by converting buildings at Kelham Island Museum in the city.