Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

7^"* MMMS^aijag 118 BRITAIN AT WORK. HAFTING TABLE KNIVES. (Photo kindly supplied by Messrs. Mappin & Webb, Sheffield.) very notable art in Sheffield. All sorts of pretty designs, such as monograms, with decorative engraving of flowers or birds, were carved on the bow and shank; and for exhibition purposes a workman would sometimes spend four months ornamenting one pair of scissors in this way, the value of the finished article being one hundred pounds or more. The delicate tracery of some of these patterns resembled lace. With the decline of fancy work for ladies of title elaborate scissors have practically gone out, but such little ornamentation as remains in vogue is still done by hand filing. The razor is another important item of cutlery which Sheffield still supplies to all parts of the world, except America. Until the passing of the McKinley tariff, about twenty years ago, America was a great customer for Sheffield razors as well as other classes of cutlery. Indeed, it is said that a greater proportion of people shave in America than in any other part of the world ; and the effect upon the Sheffield manu- facturers of the Act referred to may be imagined when, by a single stroke of the pen, this lucrative connection was annihilated. All that Sheffield exports to America now is a few high-class, expensive pocket knives, of a kind so little in demand that it is not worth the while of the Yankee maker, with his peculiar methods of production, to tackle. The discovery of hollow grinding by the Germans about thirty years ago revolutionised the razor trade. It was some time before the Sheffield manufacturers appreciated the significance of the new departure, and when they did for a long time they bought hollow- ground razors from Germany, and in some cases imported German grinders to teach the trade. The Germans introduced new and improved processes of polishing and burnishing superior to our own, and they ' are still regarded as leading the way in the matter of hollow-ground razors—though this is more tradition than anything else, inas- much as Sheffield can now turn out an article of this class equal to anything on the market. In this branch of the cutlery trade, also, the scarcity of apprentices con- stitutes a serious danger. Razors are forged and ground in a similar manner to knives