Making Files in Sheffield

[dunsbyowl1867]

Came across this sorry if it's been posted before!

http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/filemak.txt

MAKING FILES in SHEFFIELD, EARLY 1840s

Excerpts from "A Day at the Fitzalan Steel and File-Works,

Sheffield," The Penny Magazine Supplement, Volume XIII, March

1844, pages 121-128.

"... we have been favored with access to the Fitzalan Steel-

Works of Messrs. Marriott and Atkinson, which besides exhibiting

the various processes of steel-making... file manufacture (one of

the most important in which steel is employed) is there conducted

on a large scale.

"These works are situated at Attercliffe, an eastern suburb of

Sheffield... Sheffield is in a hollow, nearly surrounded by

hills; and several small rivers flow between these hills into the

hollow, thus affording moving power for a large number of water-

wheels. Attercliffe is situated at a part of the district where

all these streams have become one, and where also a canal opens a

communication between Sheffield and the port of Hull, so there is

both motive-power and transit-power at command.

"The Fitzalan Works occupy a quadrangular space surrounded by

buildings on the north bank of the Sheffield Canal. When within

the entrance-gates we find a quadrangle having a large tank or

reservoir near the centre, and around it are the various

workshops for conducting the manufacturing processes. On the

right hand are the 'converting' furnaces, where the iron is first

made to assume the form of steel; opposite are the 'tilting' and

'shearing' houses, the 'rolling-mill,' the 'casting-house,' the

'engine-house,' and other buildings pertaining more or less to

the manufacture; on the left are the 'file-forges,' where pieces

of steel are brought into the rough form for files; while on the

north or entrance side of the quadrangle are ranges of shops in

which these pieces go through the numerous stages of progress

incidental to the production of a file. Southward of the group of

buildings is a wharf on the banks of the canal, where barges

bring the iron from Hull and other places, and whence the

finished goods are dispatched by similar conveyance. On the

opposite banks of the canal are little patches of garden-ground,

held by the proprietors of the Works, and let out to their

workmen on the allotment system..."

"We must now transfer our attention to that portion of the

works which is appropriated to the File-manufacture.

"These tools, simple and unimportant as they may seem... to

those who never enter an artisan's workshop, are among the most

note-worthy articles made of steel. They are the working-tools by

which every other kind of working-tool is in some degree

fashioned. Whether a man is making a watch or a steam-engine, a

knife or a plough, a pin or a coach, he would be brought to a

stand if he had not files at his command. It may be a file with a

hundred serrations to an inch, or with six or eight; it may have

straight cuts like most files, or angular holes like a rasp; it

may be two inches long, or a yard long; it may be round, or half-

round, or triangular, or square, or flat; blunt or pointed,

straight or curved; but a file of some sort or other will be

found in almost every workshop.

"The first place to which we have to follow the file-makers is

the forge... There is on one side a forge-fire, with a hearth on

which to place the fuel, and bellows placed behind, much in the

same way as a common smith's forge, but with more attention to

neatness and order. The workman's bench... is a large block of

hard stone, weighing about three tons... On this are fixed one or

more anvils... There are also hammers of various sizes and

peculiar shapes, and other small implements necessary to the

operation...

"Except for the smallest files, there are two men employed at

each forge -- a striker and a forger, one of whom manages the

fire, heats the steel, and acts as a general assistant; while the

other is the superior workman, who hammers the file into shape,

and is responsible for its quality. There are various notches,

ridges, curvatures, and gauges, on and about his small steel

anvils, which enable him to work the piece of steel into the

proper form for a file, including the narrow handle, or 'tang.'

The rate of working is such, that at the whole of the sixteen

'hearths,' about fifty thousand dozens of files are made in a

year. Each man accustoms himself to the making of one particular

size of file... From the thickness and softness of the heated

metal, there is very little rebound to the hammer, and this

renders the work of the striker rather laborious, especially for

large files, where a hammer of nearly twenty pounds weight is

used.

"The files are then annealed or 'lighted,' in order to bring

the steel to a state of softness fitted for the cutting of

teeth... Next succeeds the process of grinding, where the...

'blanks' are ground down to a true and regular surface, whether

that be flat or curved...

"Then ensues the very important and curious operation of

cutting the files, one which has hitherto defied the powers of

machinery... In one of the buildings of the works is a long room

in which file-cutters are ranged around the sides in front of the

windows... each one having a small bench before him with a simple

apparatus for fastening down the file while being cut...

"The file being slightly strapped down, the cutter takes a

sharp tool or chisel in the left hand and a hammer in the right.

This tool is a very hard, sharp, and tough piece of steel, having

an edged fitted to produce the required kind of tooth, and a head

to receive the blow of the hammer.

"The hammers employed (the heaviest of which weigh about nine

pounds each) have the handles placed... at such an angle that the

cutter can, while making the blow, pull the hammer in some degree

towards him, and thus give a peculiarity to the shape of the

tooth. If the file is a flat one... the cutter places the small

steel tool on it at a particular angle, and with one hammer blow

cuts an indentation. He then, by a minute and almost

imperceptible movement, changes the place of the tool, and makes

another cut parallel to, and a short distance from, the first;

then a third, a fourth, and so on to the end of the file,

shifting the file slightly in its fastening as he proceeds.

Generally the file is cut doubly, one set of cuts crossing the

other at an angle... In this case he reverses the position in

which he holds the cutting tool, and proceeds as before. If the

file be round or half-round, or have a curved surface of any

kind, he still uses a straight-edged cutting tool; but as this

can only make a short indentation, he has to go round the file by

degrees, making several rows or ranges of cuts contiguous one to

another.

"Such is the art of file-cutting; and it contains many points

worthy of remark. First, the angle at which the cuts are made

depends greatly on the purpose to which the file is to be

applied... Next, the cut is not a mere indentation... it is a

triangular groove of particular shape... The strict parallelism

of the several cuts can only be brought about by practised

accuracy of hand and eye, since there is no guide, gauge, or

other contrivance for regulating the distance... As an instance

of what skill and long practice can effect in this respect, we

have before us a file about ten inches long... The flat side is

cut with a hundred and twenty teeth to the inch, so that there

are about twelve hundred teeth on that side; the round side has

such an extent of curvature, that it required eighteen rows of

cuts to compass it; each little cut on this side is not much

above a twentieth of an inch in length; and the number is thus so

great, that for the whole file there are twenty-two thousand

cuts, each made with a separate blow of the hammer, and the

cutting tool being shifted after each blow! ...the whole of the

files made at Sheffield (the headquarters of the trade) are cut

by hand...

"When the files are cut, they are brought into the warehouse to

be stamped with the corporate mark of the firm. They are next

hardened... the proper working of the file depends a good deal on

the manner in which it is done... and while yet warm is

straightened by a small apparatus at hand...

"The files are then scrubbed clean by women with sand and

water; and lastly pass into the hands of the foreman, who tests

every file singly in a way which brings both the hearing and the

touch into exercise... A firm which has once acquired a

reputation for good files is extremely solicitous not to damage

it by the sale of even one that is defective."

NOTE: THE FULL ARTICLE IS ABOUT 7 TIMES THIS LONG; THE FILE PART

IS MORE THAN TWICE AS LONG.

http://www.knife-expert.com/

MAKING FILES in SHEFFIELD, EARLY 1840s

Excerpts from "A Day at the Fitzalan Steel and File-Works,

Sheffield," The Penny Magazine Supplement, Volume XIII, March

1844, pages 121-128.

[Guest Gramps]

Great find....there's another article on that site on the making of pen-knife blades but rather short.

The Fitzalan Works were between the canal and Effingham road where it joins Attercliffe road, - opposite the old Non-Pots club, but in those days Effingam road was known as Blast lane.

The article does bring home just how hard people had to work for their living in those days. Imagine having to accurately hit a chisel many thousands of times a day with a 9lb hammer :o

[DaveH]

An excellent description of file making in the 19th century. I am sure there are some pictures of this being carried out in existence and there is something about it at the Kelham Island museum.

The work of the hand made filemaker was not without its share of industrial injuries. The way in which the hammer had to be brought down while the file cutting tool was held at the right angle against the file (not a natural angle to hold a tool) frequently resulted in deformed wrists after years of doing this work.

Files have names depending on the coarseness of their cut. One particular cut of file is called, without swearing or using bad language, a "bastard". Having read the above article on what the filemaker had to do I can well imagine how it got that name! (missed the tool end with the hammer, hit his thumb instead)

However, - I am sure we have someone who can tell us the REAL reason how this file got such an unusual name.

[RichardB]

I missed this when first posted

Charles Atkinson, Merchant and Manufacturer (Marriott and Atkinson), home Crabtree Lodge (1849 & 1852)

[SteveHB]

British Medical Journal:

Sheffield File-Cutters' Disease. 1857,

By John Charles Hall, M.D., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh;

Physician to the Sheffield Pubic Dispensary, etc.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. link to .. pdf

[RichardB]

A fascinating read, Thank you Steve.

Lead in your food, lead on your clothes, water delivered in lead pipes and urines and faeces dripping through your windows (especially on Bailey Street - link at some point) it's a wonder anyone survived at all.

[Bayleaf]

Came across this recently;

"The quality of Messrs Turton & Sons files is amusingly illustrated by the following extract from The Times of July 26^th 1851:-

"SHEFFIELD v FRANCE

At a public dinner given last week at the Cutlers' Hall, Sheffield, to the Great Exhibition Local Commissioners for that town, one of these gentlemen (Mr. Overend) related the following interesting anecdote:-

There was a French gentleman among the jurors, who very properly expressed great zeal in protecting the interests of his countrymen. He had admitted that Sheffield made very good files, but he maintained there was a house in France that could make better. He challenged Sheffield to the trial, and selected the house with which he would make the trial. It happened to be that of which my worthy friend, the Mayor ( Mr. Turton) is the head. He sent to France to have files made for that purpose. He brought over a French engineer to use them, and he challenged Messrs. Turton & Sons to the contest.

Two pieces of steel were selected upon which to try the files, and they were fixed in two vices. Messrs Turton accepted the challenge, but they did not send to Sheffield to have any files made specially for the occasion. They merely went to a London customer whom they supplied with files, and took files indiscriminately from his stock. They chose a man from among the Sappers and Miners in the Exhibition to use their file against the French engineer and the French files made for the trial.

The two pieces of steel being fixed in the vices, the men began to work upon them simultaneously. The Englishman, with Messrs Turton's file, had filed the steel down to the vice before the French engineer had got one-third through.

When the files were examined, Messrs Turton's file was found to be as good as ever, while the French file was almost worn out. The French juror then said, no doubt he was beaten in that trial, but Messrs Turton's file must have been made to cut steel alone, whereas the French file was better adapted for iron.

A new trial then took place upon iron, and the result was still more in favour of the English file."