1. Under the head of cutlery, is comprehended a great variety of
instruments designed for cutting and penetration, and the business of
fabricating them is divided into a great number of branches. Some
manufacture nothing but axes; others make plane-irons and chisels,
augers, saws, or carvers' tools. Others, again, make smaller
instruments, such as table-knives, forks, pen-knives, scissors, and
razors. There are also cutlers who manufacture nothing but surgical
instruments.
2. The coarser kinds of cutlery are made of blistered steel welded to
iron. Tools of a better quality are made of shear steel, while the
sharpest and most delicate instruments are formed of cast steel. The
several processes constituting this business may be comprised in
forging, tempering, and polishing; and these are performed in the
order in which they are here mentioned.
3. The general method of _forging_ iron and steel, in every branch of
this business, is the same with that used in the common blacksmith's
shop, for more ordinary purposes. The process, however, is somewhat
varied, to suit the particular form of the object to be fashioned; for
example, the blades and some other parts of the scissors are formed by
hammering the steel upon indented surfaces called _bosses_. The bows,
which receive the finger and thumb, are made by first punching a hole
in the metal, and then enlarging it by the aid of a tool called a
_beak-iron_.
4. The steel, after having been forged, is soft, like iron, and to
give it the requisite degree of strength under the uses to which the
tools or instruments are to be exposed, it is hardened. The process by
which this is effected is called _tempering_, and the degree of
hardness or strength to which the steel is brought is called its
_temper_, which is required to be _higher_ or _lower_, according to
the use which is to be made of the particular instrument.
5. In giving to the different kinds of instruments the requisite
temper, they are first heated to redness, and then plunged into cold
water. This, however, raises the temper too high, and, if left in this
condition, they would be too brittle for use. To bring them to a
proper state, they are heated to a less degree of temperature, and
again plunged into cold water. The degree to which they are heated,
the second time, is varied according to the hardness required. That
this particular point may be perfectly understood, a few examples will
be given.
6. Lancets are raised to 430 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature is
indicated by a pale color, slightly inclined to yellow. At 450
degrees, a pale straw-color appears, which is found suitable for the
best razors and surgical instruments. At 470 degrees, a full color is
produced, which is suitable for pen-knives, common razors, &c. At 490,
a brown color appears, which is the indication of a temper proper for
shears, scissors, garden hoes, and chisels intended for cutting cold
iron.
7. At 510 degrees, the brown becomes dappled with purple spots, which
shows the proper heat for tempering axes, common chisels, plane-irons,
&c. At 530 degrees, a purple color is established, and this
temperature is proper for table-knives and large shears. At 550
degrees, a bright blue appears, which is proper for swords and watch
springs. At 560 degrees, the color is full blue, and this is used for
fine saws, augers, &c. At 600 degrees, a dark blue approaching to
black settles upon the metal, and this produces the softest of all the
grades of temper, which is used only for the larger kinds of saws.
8. Other methods of determining the degree of temperature at which the
different kinds of cutlery are to be immersed, a second time, in cold
water, are also practised. By one method, the pieces of steel are
covered with tallow or oil, or put into a vessel containing one of
these substances, and heated over a moderate fire. The appearance of
the smoke indicates the degree of heat to which it may have been
raised. A more accurate method is found in the employment of a fluid
medium, the temperature of which can be regulated by a thermometer.
Thus oil, which boils at 600 degrees, may be employed for this
purpose, at any degree of heat which is below that number.
9. The _grinding_ of cutlery is effected on cylindrical stones of
various kinds, among which freestone is the most common. These are
made to revolve with prodigious velocity, by means of machinery. The
operation is therefore quickly performed. The _polishing_ is commonly
effected by using, first, a wheel of wood; then, one of pewter; and,
lastly, one covered with buff leather sprinkled with an impure oxyde
of iron, called _colcothar_ or _crocus_. The edges are set either
with hones or whetstones, or with both, according to the degree of
keenness required.
10. Almost every description of cutlery requires a handle of some
sort; but the nature of the materials, as well as the form and mode of
application, will be readily understood by a little attention to the
various articles of this kind which daily fall in our way.
11. A process has been invented, by which edge tools, nails, &c., made
of cast iron, may be converted into good steel. It consists in
stratifying the articles with the oxyde of iron, in a metallic
cylinder, and then submitting the whole to a regular heat, in a
furnace built for the purpose. This kind of cutlery, however, will not
bear a very fine edge.
12. The sword and the knife were probably the first instruments
fabricated from iron, and they still continue to be leading subjects
of demand, in all parts of the world. The most celebrated swords of
antiquity were made at Damascus, in Syria. These weapons never broke
in the hardest conflicts, and were capable of cutting through steel
armor without sustaining injury.
13. The fork, as applied in eating, is an invention comparatively
modern. It appears to have had its origin in Italy, probably in the
fourteenth century; but it was not introduced into England, until the
reign of James the First, in the first quarter of the seventeenth. Its
use was, at first, the subject of much ridicule and opposition.
14. Before the introduction of the fork, a piece of paper, or
something in place of it, was commonly wrapped round some convenient
projection of the piece to be carved; and, at this place, the operator
placed one hand, while he used the knife with the other. The carver
cut the mass of meat into slices or suitable portions, and laid them
upon the large slices of bread which had been piled up near the
platter, or carving dish, and which, after having been thus served,
were handed about the table, as we now distribute the plates.
15. The knives used at table were pointed, that the food might be
taken upon them, as upon a fork; and knives of the same shape are
still common on the continent of Europe. Round-topped knives were not
adopted in Paris, until after the banishment of Napoleon Bonaparte to
Elba, in 1815, when every thing English became fashionable in that
city.
16. In France, before the revolution of 1789, it was customary for
every gentleman, when invited to dinner, to send his knife and fork
before him by a servant; or, if he had no servant, he carried them
himself in his breeches pocket. A few of the ancient regime still
continue the old custom. The peasantry of the Tyrol, and of some parts
of Germany and Switzerland, generally carry about them a case,
containing a knife and fork, and a spoon.
17. The use of the fork, for a long time, was considered so great a
luxury, that the members of many of the monastic orders were forbidden
to indulge in it. The Turks and Asiatics use no forks, even to this
day. The Chinese employ, instead of this instrument, two small sticks,
which they hold in the same hand, between different fingers.
18. The manufacture of cutlery is carried on most extensively in
England, at Birmingham, Sheffield, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and London.
London cutlery has the reputation of being the best, and this
circumstance induces the dealers in that city, to affix the London
mark to articles made at other places. In the United States, there are
many establishments for the fabrication of the coarser kinds of
cutlery, such as axes, plane-irons, saws, hoes, scythes, &c., but for
the finer descriptions of cutting instruments, we are chiefly
dependent on Europe.
[Illustration: GUN-SMITH.]