Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/770

734 CUTLERY shell, ivory, bone, mother-of-pearl, and numerous fancy woods are all brought into requisition for handles and other parts of cutlery, each demanding special treatment according to its nature. The essential processes in making a piece of steel cutlery are 1st, forging ; 2d, hardening and tempering ; 3d, grinding ; and 4th, polishing ; and to these of course are added the diverse operations of fitting and handling of various kinds. The following outline of the stages in the manufacture of a razor will serve to indicate the sequence of operations in making an article which, though simple in form, demands the highest care and skill in the departments which strictly appertain to cutlery. The first essential of a good razor is that it be made of the finest quality of cast steel. A razor must further, according to Mr Ebenezer Rhodes, a practical cutler who writes an Essay on the Manufacture of a Razor, present " due proportion, form, temperature, fitness, and regularity of concavity." The steel for razors is obtained in bars half an inch in breadth, and the thickness of the back of the instrument. Such a bar the forger takes, and, heating one end of it to the proper forging temperature, he, with great dexterity, fashions it upon his anvil, giving it roughly the required form, edge, and concavity. It is then separated from the remainder of the bar, leaving only sufficient metal to form the tang, if that is to be made of steel ; sometimes a tang of malleable iron is welded tt> the blade. The tang of the " mould, " as the blade in this condition is termed, is next drawn out, and the whole " smithed " or beaten on the anvil to compact the metal and improve the form and edge of the razor. At this stage the razor is said to be "forged iu the rough," and so neatly can some workmen finish off this operation that a shaving edge may be given to the blade by simple whetting. The forged blade is next " shaped " by grinding on the dry stone, in which opera tion it is considerably reduced in weight, and the oxidized scale is removed, which allows the hardening and temper ing to be done with certainty and proper effect. The shaped razor is now returned to the forge, where the tang is file-cut and pierced with the joint-hole, and into the blade is stamped either the name and corporate mark of the maker, or any mark and name ordered by the tradesman for whom the goods are being manufactured. The harden ing is accomplished by heating the blade to a cherry-red heat and suddenly quenching it in cold water, which leaves the metal excessively hard and brittle. To bring it to the proper temper for a razor, it is again heated till the metallic surface assumes a straw colour, and upon plunging it into water, it is ready for the process of wet grinding. The wet grinding is done on stones which vary in diameter from 4 to 12 inches according to the concavity of surface desired. The stones recommended by Mr Rhodes are from 6 to 8 inches in diameter, which produce, he says, " razors sufficiently hollowed or ground out for any service, however hard, to which they may be applied ; and they combine a desirable strength and firmness of edge, with a requisite degree of thinness." " Lapping," which is the first stage in polishing, is performed on a wheel of the same diameter as the wet-grinding stone. The lap is built up of segments of wood having the fibres towards the periphery, and covered with a metallic alloy of tin and lead. The lap is fed with a mixture of emery powder and oil. " Glazing " and " polishing," which follow, are for perfecting the polish on the surface of the razor, leather- covered wheels with fine emery being used ; and the work is finished off with crocus. The finished blade is then rivetted into the scales or handle, which may be of ivory, bone, horn, or other material ; and when thereafter the razor is set on a hone it is ready for use. The processes employed in making a table knife do not j differ essentially from those required for a razor Knife blades are made from shear steel, and, after forging the blade, a piece of malleable iron sufficient for the bolster or shoulder and tang is welded to it. The bolster is formed with the aid of a die and swage called " prints," and the tang is drawn out. The tang is variously formed, according to the method by which it is to be secured in the shaft, and the various processes of tempering, wet grinding, and polishing are pursued as described above. Steel forks of an inferior quality are cast and subsequently cleaned and polished, but the best quality are forged from bar steel, and the prongs are cut or stamped out of an extended flattened extremity called the mould or "mood." In the United States of America machinery has been extensively adapted for per forming the various mechanical operations in forging and fitting table cuttlery, and to some ex.tent machines have been introduced in Sheffield. In the making of a common pocket-knife with three blades not fewer than one hundred separate operations are involved, and these may be per formed by as many workmen. The diversity of quality and workmanship is probably greater in the cutlery trade than in any other, although differences are not readily apparent to the unskilled critic, and the range of prices is correspondingly wide. In the cutlery trade the division of labour is carried out to such an extreme degree as to exercise a very baneful influence on the operatives who, as a class, are socially and morally inferior to many of their fellows. Cutlery grinding, which is one of the most important and distinc tive departments of the trade, possesses the bad eminence of being one of the most unhealthy and deleterious of all occupations. Grinders are divided into three classes dry, wet, and mixed grinders, according as they work at dry or wet stones. This branch of trade is, in Sheffield, con ducted in distinct establishments called " wheels," which are divided up into separate apartments or " hulls," dry grinding being as much as possible separated from the wet grinding. Dry grinding, such as is practised in the shaping of razors described above, the " humping," or rounding of scissors, and other operations, is by far the most injurious and fatal process. Red-hot particles of steel fly off, injuring and sometimes blinding the eyes, unless they are protected ; and the atmosphere is loaded with fine dust of silica and steel, inducing inflammation of the lungs, pleurisy, and grinders asthma. The men work in a peculiarly con strained position, and under highly unsanitary conditions ; and although a fan has been invented and extensively in troduced which, placed behind the stones, by suction draws away a large proportion of the grinding dust, and renders the atmosphere comparatively pure, many grinders still neglect to keep it working or positively refuse to have , it. In a communication to the Social Science Association (Sheffield meeting, 1865) Dr John C. Hall stated that there were then 3090 men and 1073 boys employed in grinding, wet, dry, and mixed. " The average ages of all the fork grinders living," he says, " does not exceed 29 ; scissors grinders, 32 ; edge tool and wool-shear grinders, 33 ; table- knife grinders, 35 On taking down the ages of all the grinders wet, mixed, and dry at one of our largest wheels, I found the average 34 ; boys under 21 were excluded from this calculation." Dr Hall gives the accompanying table of the ages of 290 men over 21 years of age employed in razor grinding : Ages. Persons. 21 to 25 83 25 ,, 30 30 35 35 ,, 40 40 45 57 36 35 29 Ages. 45 to 50 50 ,, 55 55 ,, 60 60 65 65 .. 75 Persons. 29 9 8 3 1 The operation of the Factories and Workshops Acts

has, in recent years, exercised a beneficial influence on the