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In the Supplement for March, relating to Steel-Works of Sheffield, we had occasion to notice some of the peculiarities of that town as a centre of manufactures. But we must now view it more closely. We must regard it as one great workshop for the production of cutlery and edge-tools — a huge factory which scatters its separate departments in different parts of the town, but still retains them all, like so many links in a chain. If we take a Directory of Sheffield as an index to the employments of its inhabitants, we shall see that, although the distinct occupations are very numerous, there is yet a tie which connects most of them together: cutting instruments, of some kind or other, being the objects to which most of the manufacturing arrangements relate. There are Cutlery Casters, Table-knife makers, Fork-makers, Penknife-makers, Lancet-makers, Razor-makers, Scythe-makers, Saw-makers, Edge-tool makers, Scissor-makers, Shear-makers, Spade and Shovel makers: preparatory to all these are the operations of the Steel-converters, and Tilters, and Rollers, and Casters; subsidiary to them are those connected with the making of handles, such as Ivory, Tortoiseshell, and Pearl-dealers, Ivory-cutters, Horn Merchants and Dealers, Horn-pressers, Bone Merchants and Dealers, Bone-pressers; and lastly, there are numberless minor occupations which contribute in various ways to the manufacture of cutlery, such as Casting-pot makers, Mark and Figure makers, Razor-strop makers, Studders and Handle-ornamenters, and many others. It is true that other manufactures are carried on to a considerable extent: for instance, the immense supply of steel at hand affords facilities for the production of various articles, such as fenders, wire, anvils, hammers; the large use of horn for handles has led to the settlement of the comb manufacture at Sheffield; the supply of bone for handles has given rise to button- mould making; and there are considerable manufactures in white metal, including silver and its various imitations. But still all these are so far outweighed by the arrangements connected with cutlery, that the latter must be deemed the staple, the characteristic, the distinguishing feature of Sheffield industry.
Like as in other instances, Sheffield has grown up to its present distinction by gradual advances. At the time when archery supplied the use of fire-arms throughout England, Sheffield is staled to have been celebrated for the manufacture of iron heads for arrows: and it was known by Chaucer as a place where blades of knives were made; for a character in one of his poems is mentioned as being furnished with a "Sheffield thwytel" (whittle), a kind of knife which used in those days to be carried about the person. Rather more than two centuries ago the principal cutlers formed themselves into a body corporate, for the protection of the trade, and especially for the protection of the “marks” belonging to each individual, with a view to guard against the piracy of these marks by persona to whom they do not belong. It was about a century ago that the cutlery of Sheffield began to acquire such decided excellence as to raise it to a high rank. But it was not until the introduction of the mode of making cast-steel that this reputation reached its height; and at the present day it is not merely in the making of the steel, but also in the mechanical details of the manufacture, that the quality of the Sheffield steel goods is shown and appreciated. Perhaps the mode in which we may best glance at the cutlery manufacture is to take, one by one, a few cutting instruments as examples, and see what are the chief processes which they undergo. The limited space at our command will not admit of all the varieties being noticed; nor is this necessary, since the broad features of manufacture are pretty much the same in all. We will commence with a notice of Saws; which, whether included or not in what we generally term cutlery, hold an importance place among Sheffield manufactures.
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