DECLINE OF A CRAFT

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4800, 21 June 1939, Page 7

DECLINE OF A CRAFT

HAND FORGED SCISSORS AND POCKET KNIVES. In less than thirty years’ time handforged Sheffield scissors and pocket knives will be more rare than precious stones.

It was stated at a recent meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Old Sheffield Tools that there are no more than twenty craftsmen in the city—the youngest over thirty—capable of making hand-forged scissors, and there are only fifty to sixty pocket knife forgers —none of them young.

There is still an appreciable demand for hand-forged articles, the secret of their superiority being the more steel is hammered the better it becomes, the finer and more durable 'its cutting edge. A handsome pocketknife blade is hammered probably 100 times in forging, whereas a dropstamped blade is hit only once —a heavy pressing blow.