HOW SCISSORS ARE MADE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10848, 15 December 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

HOW SCISSORS ARE MADE.

A writer m the Magazine of Commerce gives the following interesting account of the manufacture of scissors at Sheffield : — "Strange as it may appear, each blade, with its bow, is made out of a single piece of steel, and the manner m which the bow is formed is interesting. Whilst still hot, and after the blade has been roundly formed, a hole is punched at one endj then, by using larger and still larger punches, the hole is spread more and more till the steel, which is now drawn out finely, forms a large loop through Avhich tne thumb can easily pass, and thus welding and soldering is avoiding. The two blades are then made' to pair, and a hole is so driven through where the screws will bind both blades together. This hole is so made and varied m shape that the screw from the point to the broad head, is m perfect contact and forms an accurate fit. The blades are then tempered together m pairs so as to be uniform. Then conies the "setting," which requires considerable skill and experience, as on this will the "cut" of the scissors depend. Tho blades are made the proper bevel, right and left hand, and the whole length of their cutting edges is made perfectly straight one way, whilst on the opposite side there is a slight curvature, whic his so arranged that when the scissors are put together and m use the two cutting edges shall meet m one point only, which contact shall travel on to the extreme tip, or point, as the scissors are closed. They are then filed, ground, and polished, which processes arc similar to other branches ol cutlery, and a high burnish is given to the bows and other desirable parts of the scissors by rubbing them wjth another piece of steel of a denser and harder texture, the action being to flatten or bend over the softer steel, as m the manner of tightening a rivet. Under the microscope the fibre of the steel where burnished can be distinctly' seen with its top turned over like a mushroom and polished bright, exactly as can be always seen with the naked eye on a newly cold-hammered rivet; thus the thousands of these mushroom-top-ped fibres coming close together give the exquisite polish of burnished steel."