CUTLERY. 
ing them red hot and plunging them into 
■water; they are afterwards heated over 
the fire till they become blue; they are 
then ground upon stones of large diameter 
for the purpose of making their sides flat, 
since it is the disposition of small stones 
to make the sides concave. The blades are 
finished upon an instrument called a gla- 
zor, which consists of a circular piece of 
wood covered with leather, and coated 
with glue and emery. The handles of table 
knives are made of ivory, plassed horn, 
bone, stag horn, and wood^ into which the 
blades are cemented with resin and pul- 
verized brick, and for ivory, instead of the 
latter, whitening. 
Forks are made almost altogether by the 
aid of the stamp and appropriate dies. The 
prongs only are hardened and tempered, by 
a method similar to that employed for the 
knives, being required of about tlie same 
degree of hardness. 
The shank and bosom of the fork are 
ground upon a thin stone, which is round 
upon the face ; it is of very rough and open 
texture and is employed in the dry state. 
The prongs are ground upon a stone which 
is broad and flat upon the face ; they are 
finished upon glazprs coated with emery 
and glue ; the insides of the prongs are 
dressed by means of a tliin leathern strap, 
coated with glue and eniei y ; for this pur- 
pose the fork is placed in an horizontal 
position, and tlie strap drawn backward 
and forward. Silver forks are a distinct 
branch of manufacture, being confined to 
the silversmiths : they are cast into moulds 
of fine sand, and finished in a manner simi- 
lar to that of other silver goods. 
Razors. Almost all razors are made of 
cast steel, the quality of which should be 
very good ; the edge of a raz^r requiring 
the combined advantages of great hardness 
and tenacity. After the razor blade is 
forged, it is hardened by gradually heating 
it to bright red heat, and plunging it into 
cold water. It is tempered by heating it 
afterwards till a brightened part appears 
of a stiaw colour. Though this is gene- 
rally performed by placing them upon the 
open fire, it would be more equally effected 
by sand, or what^ is still better, in hot oil, 
or fusible mixture, consisting of eight parts 
of bismuth, five of lead, and three of tin. 
A thermometer being placed in the liquid 
at the time the razors are immersed for the 
purpose of indicating the proper tempera- 
ture, which is about 600 of Fahrenheit. Ra- 
zors are ground crosswise upon stones, from 
four to seven inches in diameter, a small 
stone being necessary to make the sides 
concave. Razors having the concave form, 
have been thought to shave with more faci- 
lity, but if it be remarked that the canal 
formed by honing the razors, is a portion 
of a wedge, the length of which is equal to 
the breadth of the razor, and of a tliickness 
equal to that of the back, it will be readily 
seen that the concave form can not possess 
any other advantage, than that of saving 
time in sharpening the razor, owing to the 
small surface exposed to the action of the 
hone or the strap. After the razor has been 
ground into its proper shape, it is finished 
by two processes, one called laping, or glaz- 
ing, and the other polishing. The lap, or 
glazor, is formed of wood faced with an 
alloy of lead and tin ; after its face is turned 
to the proper form and size, it is filled with 
notches, which are filled up with emery 
and tallow. This instrument gives to tlie 
razor a smooth and uniform surface, and 
consequently a fine edge. The last process 
is that of polishing ; the polisher consists 
of a piece of circular wood running upon 
an axis, like that of the stone or the glazor. 
It is coated with leather, having fi om time 
to time its surface covered with crocus 
martis. The surface of the polisher when 
in motion, moves at the rate of 75 feet in 
a second. This is slow when compared 
with the velocity of the stone and the glazor. 
The surface of the former moving at the 
rate of 576 feet in a second, and the latter 
with about twice that velocity. The han- 
dles of high priced razors are made of ivory 
and tortoiseshell, but in general they are 
of polished horn, which are prefered on ac- 
count of their cheapness and durability. 
The horn is cut into pieces and placed be- 
tween two corresponding dies, having a 
recess of the shape of the handle. The 
dies are previously heated to about 500° of 
Fahrenheit, and placed with the horn in a 
process of such power, that allowing the 
man’s strength to be 20016. it will be equal 
to 43000/6. By this process the horn ad- 
mits of considerable extension ; if the horn 
is not previously black, the handles are 
dyed black by means of a bathe of log- 
wood and green vitriol. They afterwards 
require to be dressed first with sand and 
water, and lastly upon a buff, which is a 
species of glazor covered upon the face 
with buff leather, and smeared over with rot- 
ten-stone and oil. 
The clear horn handles are sometimes^ 
stained so as to imitate the tortoiseshell j 
