Old Sheffield Workshop - Forging, Grinding, Riveting

While looking for inf on MOP scales on the British Blades forum, I came across two youtube videos that I thought would be of interest. Although the subject is knife-making, the same processes were used for razor manufacture.

The most interesting one to me is the oldest one, featuring the work of a little mester. At one point he sits astride his 'horse' (grind-wheel), powered by belt-drive. The soundtrack is a bit abysmal!

YouTube - A Sheffield Knife

The next one is more modern and shows a woman riveting scales:

YouTube - riveting

Regards,
Neil

I was reading one of Geoffrey Tweedale's fascinating books about Sheffield and came across a picture of the chap featured in the first film, so I thought that it would be only fitting that we remembered his name. He was called George Watts, and was a traditional 'little mester.' Tweedale calls him the last hand knife forger in Sheffield. He died in 1985.

Regards,
Neil

Interesting stuff thanks !

ian

Cheers Neil, very interesting. I enjoyed the soundtrack, that 'posh' yorkshire accent has pretty much disapeared now.

I will have you know that I still speak with a posh Yorkshire accent. :w
Very interesting post Neil

I thought it was interesting how none of the craftsman wore gloves. I assume so they can feel how hot the steel is getting from the grinding and polishing.

Hi Shooter,

In all the old pictures I have seen (including older ones than the first video), none of the workers wear gloves. Whether that is because they didn't want to risk the glove getting snagged-up and pulling them into the machine, or to feel the heat of the blade against the wheel or whether they were just tougher characters than today I don't know.

I'm not certain, but the pressure stick used for the initial grinding looked like it was getting wet, so maybe the bottom of the coarse grinding wheel ran in a water trough? That wouldn't have worked for the buffing/polishing operations though - I think water would have removed the grit/emery/rouge from the wheel, even though they were mixed with suet fat and spread on the wheels.

I got another book full of old workshop photos the other day - "Made In Sheffield" its called - I'll have to have a careful look through it to see if there is any evidence of water.

Regards,
Neil

I have looked carefully at the book and the grinding hulls do seem to revolve in a trough of water. I also found this:

"..."The rooms," says Dr. Hall, "in which the grinders work at the various wheels are called "hulls", the literal meaning of which is a stye. In each room are placed a number of "trows" (troughs), more or less, in proportion to its length. Some rooms will have ten, some not more than two or three. The trough, which is made of cast metal, which is received into the floor of the room, and contains the water in which the grinding-stone revolves. When the stone is run dry, the water is removed from the trough..."

It comes from a transcript of the London Illustrated News dated 1866. The article also goes on to describe the various wheels and how they were made-up for lapping and polishing.