CHAP. II.

RAZORS.-LONDON BRIDGE METAL. RHODES.-GRINDING AND POLISHING. KINGSBURY.— FORM AND THICKNESS OF BLADES. FRAME-BLADED. STAINING OF HANDLES. -ORNAMENTING BLADES.- - KNIGHT'S STEEL SHARPENER. SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS. SCISSORS AND SHEARS.

SNUFFERS.

THERE is no description of cutlery in the manufacture of which the attainment of perfection is so difficult, and yet so indispensable, as in the article of razors. For this reason hardly any price is thought too high for a good razor, while a bad one is worse than useless. A person may contrive to make a pen with a bad knife, or eat a good dinner, however indifferent the table cutlery may be; but the daily misery of smarting under the infliction of an indifferent razor, is a trial to which few can patiently submit. Yet the assertion, that there are more bad razors than good ones, will hardly come with the force of novelty to the knowledge or the experience of many persons. Although it is a fact that razors, with blades cast of pig-metal, have been made "to sell," the number of these detestable scrapers, that find their way into the market now-a-days, bear no comparison with the quantities that are made of bad steel, still more badly managed in the workmanship.

As might be expected in an article of such universal necessity among all classes from the peer to the peasant in our own country, as well as of such large demand in the foreign market, considerable attention has, of late years, been paid to the manufacture and the whetting, or, as it is technically denominated, the setting of razors; and the public have been made acquainted with the subject by means of three or four ingenious pam

phlets, which, within a few years, have been published by individuals more or less qualified for the task.

In the process of manufacture the blade of a razor is, in the first instance, formed upon the anvil from a bar of the very best highly carbonated cast steel, much in the same manner as that already described in connection with the fabrication of other descriptions of cutlery. The blade, properly so called, is first moulded or shaped by the hammer upon the rod of steel, the edge being brought out, and the concavity formed by working the material on the rounded edge of the anvil: it is then chopped off; the tang or tongue, by which it is fastened into the handle, is drawn out; it is lastly smithed and hardened. As there is generally such a large disproportion between the thickness of the back and the edge, the steel ought to be of an excellent quality in order to allow of the beating necessary to produce the thinner part. Some workmen are so expert in accomplishing this, that they will produce on the anvil an edge so sharp and even, that whetting alone will be required to prepare the blade for the purpose of actual shaving. The performance of this feat, however, furnishes an indubitable proof that the material so operated upon is necessarily otherwise than sufficiently malleable, because a blade of pure soft iron may be so forged and whetted as that it will for once remove an ordinary beard with considerable facility. Whatever effect may be produced upon steel by decarbonisation through the process of rusting in the air or under ground, a belief in the value of some such process for improving the material of cutting instruments is generally entertained, and sometimes turned to curious account. On the removal of old London Bridge, it was stated, that the wrought iron with which the piles were shod was found to be of such fine quality, and so malleable, that some tons of it were contracted for by Weiss, the cutler, for converting into steel, — the action of the moist clay, without exposure to the air, having had such an effect upon the metal as to render it almost equal to steel.

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"So," said one of the metropolitan journalists, 66 may one day mow our beards with a relic of old London Bridge."

"To what strange uses may we not return!"

In the forging of razors, as in all cutting instruments, it is of importance that the article be well smithed, or hammered after it has become cool, in order that the pores may be closed, and the structure be rendered as compact as possible. The shape, or profile, of the blade is variously formed, to meet the different tastes or pre-' judices of purchasers, ‚— some preferring it quite straight on the edge, others convex ; many broader at the heel than at the end, or vice versa. This variety, although not unworthy of attention, is of small importance compared with the more essential qualities of prime material and perfect temper.

The processes of hardening and tempering razorblades require to be conducted with the utmost nicety; and hence the numerous failures. To secure success in ordinary manufacture, the course already noticed has been recommended, viz. instead of hardening the blade directly from the anvil, which is the usual practice, that it should be intermediately passed from the forger to the grinder, in order that the latter, by a slight application of the stone, may remove that scale, or coating, which prevents the uniform application of the water and heat in hardening and tempering. On account of the additional trouble and expense, this course is rarely adopted, even in cases where the ultimate price of the article is considerable.

The blades are then carried to the grinding-wheel, where they not only receive that proper and uniform concavity of surface which is one of their essential qualities, but that exquisite polish, which, without in the slightest degree improving the quality of the instrument, too often, by the manner in which it is communicated, deprives it of an essential property, which no subsequent operation can restore. Mr. Ebenezer Rhodes, of Shef

field, whose practical knowledge of the nature and working of steel cannot be doubted, says, in his "Essay on the Manufacture of a Razor," Form, weight, and justness of proportion, united with a proper degree of hardness, are certainly constituent parts of a good razor; yet its excellency depends likewise on its possessing a regularity and fitness of concavity. It is already almost generally known that this quality is produced by the stone, in the process of grinding, and by the use of stones of different diameters, varying from four to twelve inches, according to the price of the article required : and it cannot have escaped observation, that this alone constitutes a very essential difference of edge.

"The grinding of razor-blades on a four-inch stone has recently so much prevailed, that a few remarks on its superior pretensions may be admitted with propriety: It is easily discernible, that a razor thus manufactured must of necessity possess great thinness of edge; a circumstance which, independent of any other, renders it unfit for general purposes, even though it may be used in some cases with advantage. A strong wiry beard will put all its boasted excellence to the proof: here it will be found that a less degree of concavity, and, of consequence, a bolder and firmer edge, is indispensably necessary. From the observations here adduced, it appears, that the concavity of the blade should at all times be regulated by the formidableness of the object it has to encounter. Razors, however, ground upon stones of from six to eight inches diameter, or thereabouts, may be recommended as best adapted for general use; they are sufficiently hollowed, or ground out for any service, however hard, to which they may be applied; and they combine a desirable strength and firmness of edge, with a requisite degree of thinness. The concavity of a razor should likewise possess great evenness and regularity, otherwise a very unequal edge is produced; a defect which every application to the hone will rather increase than diminish, and which nothing but re-grinding in a more perfect manner can possibly remove.”

The blade being properly ground, is then glazed, as the workmen call the operation of smoothing after the stone, by applying it to the lap. This lap is a trundle of wood, upon the edge of which is attached a rim of alloy, consisting of lead and tin: the surface of this metal is covered with flour emery, and it revolves with the rapidity of 1500 feet in a second. From the glazier, the blade is transferred to the buff, or polisher, which is a solid wheel, differing from the glazier, chiefly in that it is covered with thick soft leather, dressed with crocus marti, and runs much slower than the lap, or even the grinding stone, generally about eighty feet in a second. Its operation produces that rich black lustre so peculiar to fine steel wares. In the process of glazing, a stream of sparks is produced; and the rapid motion of the surface of the lap or glazier evolves a considerable degree of heat, sometimes sufficient to blue the article. The temper of a blade is, in this case, likely to be affected, and this more especially with an instrument having a thick back and thin edge, like a razor. Against this there is no preservative beyond that extreme care, on the part of the workman, which either insufficient remuneration or indifference too seldom allows him to bestow.

A blade thus spoiled admits of no restoration by whetting or otherwise; nor can the purchaser discover by any test, short of actual use, whether a razor blade have this defect, or another hardly less common, viz. having been burnt, that is, overheated in the hardening, and therefore incapable of receiving a keen edge. Mr. Kingsbury, formerly a celebrated setter, or whetter of razors in the metropolis, in his ingenious "Treatise on Razors," recommends a magnifying-glass as "the only satisfactory and safe manner of determining the state of its edge without using it." This must, however, be a very fallacious criterion, even in the hands of an experienced observer. Kingsbury lays much stress upon the fact, that the edge of every cutting instrument, however exquisitely entire it may appear, does in reality