CUTLERY. Nearly all the cutlery used in this country, and a vast quantity of that which is met with in other parts of the world, is made at Sheffield. It is one of those curi ous examples which the history of manufac tures often presents, of the settlement of a particular branch of industry in one spot, where the skill of the inhabitants becomes habituated to that particular manufacture.
Cutlery is generally considered to comprise most steel cutting instruments, such as table knives, pen and pocket knives, lancets, razors, scythes, saws, scissors, shears, spades, edge tools, &c. Swords would also come under this classification ; but it is remarkable that swords are made principally at Birmingham, and not at Sheffield. The number of processes to make each kind of cutting instrument de pends on various circumstances. In making a table-lailfe, for example, a piece of bar steel is cut off; it is forged to a rough blade shape; a small piece of iron is welded to it, and forged to form the tang ; the shoulder, be tween the tang and the blade, is fashioned into shape by swaging or hammering it with a die; and the knife thus far finished, is tern. pered, ground, sharpened, and polished.
In making a fork, the end of a steel bar is first made red hot ; it is hammered so as to give a rough approximation to the shape of the shank or tang ; it is again heated, and a blow from a die or stamp gives the proper contour ; the prongs are cut out by a powerful blow from a stamp of peculiar form ; and the fork is finally annealed, hardened, ground, and polished. It is this process of fork-grind ing which has so often been made a subject I for comment ; the fork is ground dry upon a stone wheel, and the particles of steel and grit are constantly entering the pings of the workmen, thereby ruining the health and shortening the duration of life. Many con• trivances have been devised for obviating this evil ; but the fork-grinders have not seconded these efforts so zealously as might have been anticipated.
In making pen and pocket knives, a slender rod of steel is heated at the end, hammered to the form of a blade, and carried through many subsequent processes. But the putting
together of these hinged knives requires more time than the making of the blades, and affords a curious example of minute detail. When the pieces of ivory, pearl, tortoiseshell, horn, bone, or other substance, which are to form the outer surface of the handle, are roughly cut to shape ; when the blade has been forged and ground ; and when the steel for the spring is procured—the whole are placed in the hands of a workman, who pro ceeds to build up a clasp knife from the little fragments placed at his disposal. So many are the details to be attended to, that a com mon two-bladed knife has to pass through his hands seventy or eighty times before it is finished.
In making a razor, more care is required than in most kinds of knife making. A piece of steel is heated and hammered at the end; it is again hammered on a round anvil to make the blade concave; by cutting and forging it is brought to the peculiar shape which a ra zor-blade often presents ; it is ground upon a small grindstone, to ghe the concavity with out which it could not be sharpened to the requisite degree; it is tempered with very great care, and is finally polished. The re cently-patented Guard razors are somewhat complicated contrivances for shielding the skin of a clumsy user from being cut.
The making of handles for cutlery is a very large department of Sheffield industry. Mo ther o' pearl, ivory, ebony, bone, horn, &c., are purchased in large quantities ; and the making of each kind of handle or haft consti tutes a distinct employment.
A method was introduced a few years ago of ornamenting cutlery by transferring the impression of an engraving to the surface of the steel. The engraving maybe from a cop per plate or from a wood cut, printed in the one case by the roller-press and in the other by the printing-press. The ink is a composi tion of asphaltum and bees-wax. The im pressions on paper are applied to the steel, and an acid liquor fixes the device.
Solingen, in Germany, is designated the Sheffield of that country ; and it is expected that at the forthcoming Exhibition a trial of skill will be made in this as in other depart ments of manufacture.