Hides intended for covering coaches are shaved nearly as thin as shoe hides, and blacked upon the grain.
CUTLERY. (Coutellerie, Fr.; Messerschmidwaare, Germ.) Three kinds of steel are made use of in the manufacture of different articles of cutlery, viz. common steel, shear steel, and cast steel. Shear steel is exceedingly plastic and tough. All the edge tools which require great tenacity without great hardness are made of it, such as table knives, scythes, plane-irons, &c.
Cast steel is formed by melting blistered steel in covered crucibles, with bottle glass, and pouring it into cast-iron moulds, so as to form it into ingots: these ingots are then taken to the tilt, and drawn into rods of suitable dimensions. No other than cast steel can assume a very fine polish, and hence all the finer articles of cutlery are made of it, such as the best scissors, penknives, razors, &c.
Formerly cast steel could be worked only at a very low heat; it can now be made so as to be welded to iron with the greatest ease. Its use is consequently extended to making very superior kinds of chisels, plane-irons, &c.
Forging of table knives.—Two men are generally employed in the forging of table knives; one called the foreman or maker, and the other the striker.
The steel called common steel is employed in making the very common articles; but for the greatest part of table knives which require a surface free from flaws, shear steel is generally preferred. That part of the knife termed the blade, is first rudely formed and cut off. It is next welded to a rod of iron about 1⁄2 inch square, in such a manner as to leave as little of the iron part of the blade exposed as possible. A sufficient quantity of the iron now attached to the blade, is taken off from the rod to form the bolster or shoulder, and the tang.
In order to make the bolster of a given size, and to give it at the same time shape and neatness, it is introduced into a die, and a swage placed upon it; the swage has a few smart blows given it by the striker. This die and swage are, by the workman, called prints.
After the tangs and bolster are finished, the blade is heated a second time, and the foreman gives it its proper anvil finish; this operation is termed smithing. The blade is now heated red-hot, and plunged perpendicularly into cold water. By this means it becomes hardened. It requires to be tempered regularly down to a blue colour: in which state it is ready for the grinder.
Mr. Brownill’s method of securing the handles upon table-knives and forks, is, by lengthening the tangs, so as to pass them completely through the handle, the ends of which are to be tinned after the ordinary mode of tinning iron; and, when passed through the handle, the end of the tang is to be spread by beating, or a small hole drilled through it, and a pin passed to hold it upon the handle. After this, caps of metal, either copper plated, or silver, are to be soldered on to the projecting end of the tang, and while the solder is in a fluid state, the cap is to be pressed upon the end of the handle and held there until the solder is fixed, when the whole is to be cooled by being immersed in cold water.
Mr. Thomason’s patent improvements consist in the adaptation of steel edges to the blades of gold and silver knives. These steel edges are to be attached to the other metal of whatever quality it may be, of which the knife, &c. is made, by means of solder, in the ordinary mode of effecting that process. After the edge of steel is thus attached to the gold, silver, &c., it is to be ground, polished, and tempered by immersion in cold water, or oil, after being heated. This process being finished, the other parts of the knife are then wrought and ornamented by the engraver or chaser, as usual.