GunnyGene
Hawkeye
I'll introduce this with the pic from the article, which is 5 pages long and includes several pics of hand forged cutlery, people, and etc.
This sepia photograph of a Sheffield hand forger – apparently at the leading pocket-knife firm of George Wostenholm & Son – is undated. But it is certainly pre-1914 and may be even earlier (perhaps from the 1890s). The photo is mounted on a small card and measures only about 10cm square. Nevertheless, one can see clearly into the forger’s workshop with its open hearth, array of tongs, forging block, and anvil. The forger himself holds a hammer with a wooden handle that has been worn to shape by years of use.
The posed stance, with the forger seeming to gaze wistfully through the unglazed window, only tells part of the story. Forgers at work never stood still or sat down. They were too busy working the bellows, moving blades in and out of the fire, and repeatedly hammering and manipulating them.
Hand forging was strenuous – indeed, it was one of the most arduous jobs in the Sheffield trades – though many forgers seem to have thrived on the work.
Before the First World War, some 600 hand forgers were employed in the table blade, pen and pocket blade, and scissors trades. They were an essential link in the chain of production that transformed a lump of carbon steel into a polished and finished item of cutlery.
More: http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib2/TweedaleG/hadForging/hadForging-01.asp
