Knife making tools and methods of the mid 1800's?

D

deermaster

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I was wondering if anyone could tell me the tools that makers of the Civil War and western era had available to them? I did a google search and couldn't find specifics. After the forging, what did they use to shape the bevels? Did they use files and hand turned grinders? Were the files similar to what we have today like the Nicholson's? Thanks for any info, I'd appreciate it or any links to articles on this subject.
 
Today people "cheat" HEAVILY by using grinders.

Most sword and knife makers shaped the knife almost completely (98%) by forging and used hand or foot crank stone wheels to put the edge on it.

this is why most earlier knifes look so simple , its rare that they put out knives that were complex in shape.
 
In the mid 50's through the civil war and beyond, the majority of knives were probably made in factories. At least those made in the US. They used steam engines and water wheels to power their hammers and turn their grinders. During that time Russell Green River was one the premier manufacturers (at least in quantity) of cutlery in the US. Files in that time frame were hand cut and superior to machine made files (at least until Nicholson developed a method of mimicking the hand cutting on a machine). As such some knife makers would have used files to finish their knives. At Sheffield the steps of making a knife seemed to be different than they are today. Being; forge to shape and heat treat, finish grind, and then add the handle. At Russell the steps were probably the same. Today the blade is ground to almost completion before the heat treatment.
Individual makers, probably blacksmiths would have used what they had available, including files that they made themselves and the leg powered stone wheels.
 
Many people assume that before electricity all work was done by hand with hand tools. Far from it! In factories and large shops, line shafts were powered by water, wind, and steam. They powered drills, lathes, hammers, and grinders. Large diameter water wheels ( 5-7') were the norm then, and the knife grinding people lay down on a bench and ground hundreds of knives a day.
 
I read about the grinders laying on their stomachs grinding on stone wheels that turned thru water that was channeled thru the shop. Pneumonia was common among the men that breathed the cool moist air. Where's OSHA when you need them? When the Schrade Walden plant was razed they found thousands of defective blades in the sluiceway. The grinders would just toss their mistakes into the trough. The sluiceway was filled in with concrete when modern methods were adopted. This was long after the Civil War as you know. But hey, it's free.
 
Grinding with those large wheels was dangerous work. These wheels would occasionally break and crush the grinder to death, or maim him for life.
 
That is also why the European "knife capitals" are cities that are on a large and fast flowing river.
Sheffield, Solingen, etc. That is how the grinding stones were powered.
I´ve read an article on such a factory in France. The workers would rent there space on there stone and would lie on ther bellie, grinding on top of the stone. Many workers had a dog laying on there legs to keep them warm.
Life was hard back then
 
Bot has it right for the vast majority of knives built during the period were made by factories (just like today) mostly in England, Germany, and the USA. Although written in 1813 the free download book - Circle of Mechanical Arts in the chapter on Cutlery has good description of how knives, razors, and scissors were made

http://books.google.com/books?id=6_...a=X&ei=bj9sUb-FNIXzqQHIzoCoCQ&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA

On the other hand there were also knives made locally in the USA - these were most often built by blacksmiths (most were not dedicated cutlers), gunmakers, as well as a few (by comparison) dedicated cutlers who were most often in larger cities such as Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco.

The blacksmiths and most gunmakers would have forged, then mostly used either treadle/pedal grinders, grinders run by water wheels, or hand cranked grinders run by the forge rat aka apprentice.
 
Written in the early 1770's.

I am going to shamelessly link to a thread I posted awhile back. The pictures are in the Volume 1 part 6, and they reference the number call outs from the text. I had to re-enable the links to make them work again, google keeps locking them back up for some reason.

L'art du Coutelier

I like the pictures, all of those tools were handmade by the maker back then. The pictures are in depth and everything from files, to drill bits are there. The french text details how polishes and compounds were made to finish forged blades. Bernard Levine has translated the important portions into english and has them linked on his website in easy to read .TXT format.

I hope those pictures are enjoyed.

-Ron
 
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