The Turning of the Tide; Or, Radcliffe Rich and His Patients

by Elijah Kellogg

"Why not, then, when decarbonizing the cast iron, leave just enough in, and save the labor of three processes?"

This has been attempted, but the results have not given satisfaction. It is not so easy to ascertain when the right amount is left in as when it is put in. The latter can be determined very accurately by means of try-bars, the ends of which are left protruding from the troughs. When, upon drawing one of them out, it is found to be blistered, the process is done. Although blistered steel be so superior to iron, it has imperfections, that impair the quality of edge tools manufactured from it—the result of imperfections in the iron of which it is made. At times there will be differences even in the same bar; one portion will be softer than another, or there will be flaws and shelly places.

When the steel made from such iron is wrought into a tool and ground, the edge is uneven, serrated, softer in one place than another. This amounts to a fatal defect in those articles where great and uniform hardness is required, as in screw-taps, wire-drawers, plates, dies, and stamps for coining and engraving. It is evident, as the carbon is introduced from the surface, that there will be less in the middle than at the outside of the bars; thus the steel is not of a uniform character. In order to obviate this, the bars of steel are made into a fagot heated in a great forge, welded together with a hammer worked by machinery, and drawn into bars, which closes up all the fissures and renders it tough and compact. It is now called shear steel, because shears for dressing cloth were made of it, and it will take a better polish than blistered steel. But the process is not yet completed. Bars of blistered steel that have been the most highly charged with carbon, and are therefore the hardest, are broken into short pieces,—those being put together that are of a like hardness,—and placed in pots of fire-clay, about thirty pounds in a pot, with covers fitting perfectly tight. The pots are placed in a furnace, and the steel in them melted, when it is poured into cast iron moulds, and made into ingots. These are under a tilt-hammer drawn into bars of all sizes. This is cast steel, and it is evident, must be of uniform quality and hardness. This process was discovered in 1750, by a citizen of Sheffield, and for many years kept a secret. It is of this steel that the best tools, swords, knives, and instruments of all kinds are manufactured. But not even shear steel was within the reach of most of the smiths at the date of our story, very little being imported, save in the form of tools.

There is another property pertaining to steel. When heated to a white heat or cherry red, according to its quality, and quenched in water, it becomes hard as glass, and very brittle. The higher the temperature, and the more suddenly it is cooled, the harder and more brittle it becomes. It is this quality that renders steel the "king of metals," and has given to the smith power over all material substances. Even the diamond is forced to yield the palm, for recently steel has been tempered to take its place in cutting glass.

The result of William's reflections was, that, in order to draw and work the large iron now in his possession, he must have better tools and a heavy sledge, as he could upon occasion get one of his neighbors to strike for him. John Bradford lived nearest: he knew that John would be glad to accommodate him, and take his pay in blacksmith work; besides, by employing the same person all the time, that individual would acquire facility, and learn to strike fair.

Commencing with the churn-drill, he cut it off just below the great bulb in the middle, "upset" the end by striking it endwise upon the anvil, and by the aid of Clem, with his stone-hammer, formed it into something like the proper shape for the face end of a sledge. He then partially formed the "pean," or top portion, that in a smith's sledge is wedge-shaped. He wished to punch the hole for the handle before cutting off the rest of the drill, in order to hold it by that part, as he had no tongs that were large enough. To make this hole in so thick a piece needed, he thought, a steel punch, or at least a steel-pointed one. The material was at hand in that part of the drill he had just cut off, only wanting to be pointed.

There was more length than was either necessary or convenient; but he resolved to point first, and shorten it afterwards. Ignorant of the nature of steel, or the degree of heat it will endure, he supposed, as it was very hard, it should be made all the hotter, blew up the fire, and treated it just as he would a piece of wrought iron. The drill had been imported from England,—as were nearly all the tools in that day,—was pointed with the best of double shear steel, and hardened all that it would bear. The result was, that the moment he struck it with his hammer, it crumbled and fell to pieces, like so much brick, till, as there was but about four inches of the steel, nothing remained except the iron to which it had been welded.

Richardson stood looking at the fragments in utter despair. To lose that steel was almost like losing a limb; but it was gone past redemption. It had cost him something to learn that steel will not bear so much heat as iron. Afraid to meddle with the other end of the drill, he resolved, since it needed very little alteration, to take off the corners and square the end on the grindstone; but it proved so hard that he soon gave up the attempt, and felt that he must run the risk.

"I'll try it," he said; "no doubt John Drew spoiled plenty of steel when he was apprentice, and had a master at his back, to boot."