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 po ible. 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 neatne , 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. Brown ill’s method of securing the handles upon table-knives and forks, is, by lengthening the tangs, so as to pa them completely through the handle, the ends of which are to be tinned after the ordinary mode of tinning iron; and, when pa ed through the handle, the end of the tang is to be spread by beating, or a small hole drilled through it, and a pin pa ed 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 pre ed 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. Thomas on’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, . is made, by means of solder, in the ordinary mode of effecting that proce . After the edge of steel is thus attached to the gold, silver, ., it is to be ground, polished, and tempered by immersion in cold water, or oil, after being heated. This proce being finished, the other parts of the knife are then wrought and ornamented by the engraver or chaser, as usual. A patent was obtained in 1827, by Mr. Smith of Sheffield, for rolling out knives at one operation. In the ordinary mode of making knives, a sheet of steel being provided, the blades are cut out of the sheet, and the backs, shoulders, and tangs, of wrought iron, are attached to the steel blades, by welding at the forge. The knife is then ground to the proper shape, and the blade polished and hardened. Instead of this welding proce , the patentee proposes to make the knives entirely of steel, and to form them by rolling in a heated state between ma ive rollers; the shoulders the peripheries of the rollers; just as rail-way rails are formed. When the knife is to be made with what is called a scale tang, that is a broad flat tang, to which the handle is to be attached in two pieces, riveted on the sides of the tang, the rollers are then only to have rece es cut in them, in a direction parallel to the axis for forming the bolster. The plate of steel having been heated, is to be pre ed between the two rollers, by which the blades and the parts for the scale tangs will be pre ed out flat and thin, and those parts which pa between the grooves or rece will be left thick or protuberant, forming the bolster for the shoulder of the blade. But if the tangs are to be round in order to be fixed into single handles, then it will be nece ary also to form transverse grooves in the rollers, that is, at right angles to those which give shape to the bolsters, the transverse grooves corresponding in length to the length of the intended tang. When the plates of steel have been thus rolled, forming three or more knives in a breadth, the several knives are to be cut out by the ordinary mode of what is called slitting, and the blades and shoulders ground, hardened, and polished in the usual way. Forks are generally a distinct branch of manufacture from that of knives, and are purchased of the fork makers by the manufacturers of table knives, in a state fit for receiving the handles. The rods of steel from which the forks are made, are about 3 ⁄ 8 ths of an inch square. The tang and shank of the fork are first roughly formed. The fork is then cut off, leaving at one end about 1 inch of the square part of the steel. This part is afterwards drawn out flat to about the length of the prongs. The shank and tang are now heated, and a proper form given to them by means of a die and swage. The prongs are afterwards formed at one blow by means of the stamp; this machine is very similar to that used in driving piles, but it is worked by one man. It consists of a large anvil fixed in a block of stone nearly on a level with the ground. To this anvil are attached two rods of iron of considerable thickne , fixed 12 inches asunder, perpendicularly to the anvil, and diagonally to each other. These are fastened to the ceiling. The hammer or stamp, about 100 lbs. in weight, having a groove upon either side corresponding to the angles of the upright rods, is made to slide freely through its limited range, being conducted by its two iron supporters. A rope is attached to the hammer, which goes over a pulley on the floor of the room above, and comes down to the person who works the stamp: two corresponding dies are attached, one to the hammer, and the other to the anvil. That part of the fork intended to form the prongs, is heated to a pretty white heat and placed in the lower die, and the hammer containing the other die is made to fall upon it from a height of about 7 or 8 feet. This forms the prongs and the middle part of the fork, leaving a very thin substance of steel between each prong, which is afterwards cut out with an appropriate instrument called a flie-pre . The forks are now annealed by surrounding a large ma of them with hot coals, so that the whole shall become red hot. The fire is suffered gradually to die out, and the forks to cool without being disturbed. This proce is intended to soften, and by that means to prepare them for filing. The inside of the prongs are then filed, after which they are bent into their proper form and hardened. When hardened, which is effected by heating them red-hot and plunging them into cold water, they are tempered by exposing them to the degree of heat at which grease inflames. See Stamps . Penknives are generally forged by a single hand, with the hammer and the anvil simply. The hammer in this trade is generally light, not exceeding 3 1 ⁄ 2 lbs. The breadth of the face, or the striking part, is about one inch; if broader, it would not be convenient for striking so small an object. The principal anvil is about 5 inches, and 10 upon the face, and is provided with a groove into which a smaller anvil is wedged. The smaller anvil is about 2 inches square upon the face. The blade of the knife is first drawn out at the end of the rod of steel, and as much more is cut off along with it as is thought nece ary to form the joint. The blade is then taken in a pair of tongs, and heated a second time to finish the joint part, and at the same time to form a temporary tang for the purpose of driving into a small haft used by the grinder. Another heat is taken to give the blade a proper finish. The small rece called the nail hole, used in opening the knife, is made while it is still hot by means of a chisel, which is round on one side, and flat upon the other. Penknives are hardened by heating the blade red hot, and dipping them into water up to the shoulder. They are tempered by setting them side by side, with the back downwards upon a flat iron plate laid upon the fire, where they are allowed to remain till they are of a brown or purple colour. The blades of pocket knives, and all that come under the denomination of spring knives, are made in the same way. The forging of razors is performed by a foreman and striker, as in making table knives. They are generally made of cast steel. The rods, as they come from the tilt, are about 1 ⁄ 2 inch broad, and of a thickne sufficient for the back of the razor. There is nothing peculiar in the tools made use of in forging razors: the anvil is a little rounded at the sides, which affords the opportunity of making the edge thinner, and saves an immense labour to the grinder. Razors are hardened and tempered in a similar manner to penknives. They are, however, left harder, being only let down to yellow or brown colour. The forging of sci ors is wholly performed by the hammer, and all the sizes are made by a single hand. The anvil of the sci or-maker weighs about 1 1 ⁄ 2 cwt.; it measures, on the face, about 4 by 11 inches. It is provided with two gates or grooves for the reception of various little indented tools termed by the workman bo es; one of these bo es is employed to give proper figure to the shank of the sci ors; another for forming that part which has to make the joint; and a third is made use of for giving a proper figure to the upper side of the blade. There is also another anvil placed on the same block, containing two or three tools called beak-irons, each consisting of an upright stem about 6 inches high, at the top of which a horizontal beak projects; one of these beaks is conical, and is used for extending the bow of the sci ors; the other is a segment of a cylinder with the round side upwards, containing a rece for giving a proper shape and smoothne to the inside of the bow. The shank of the sci ors is first formed by means of one of the bo es, above described, leaving as much steel at the end as will form the blade. A hole is then punched about 1 ⁄ 4 inch in width, a little above the shank. The blade is drawn out and finished, and the sci ors separated from the rod a little above the hole. It is heated a third time, and the small hole above mentioned is extended upon the beak-irons so as to form the bow. This finishes the forging of sci ors. They are promiscuously made in this way, without any other guide than the eye, having no regard to their being in pairs. They are next annealed for the purpose of filing such parts of them as cannot be ground, and afterwards paired. The very large sci ors are made partly of iron, the blades being of steel. After the forging, the bow and joints, and such shanks as cannot be ground, are filed. The rivet hole is then bored, through which they are to be screwed or riveted together. This common kind of sci ors is only hardened up to the joint. They are tempered down to a purple or blue colour. In this state they are taken to the grinder.