CUTLERY. 
tills is effected by laying upon the handle 
a composition of three parts of potash, one 
of minium, ten of quick-lime, and as much 
water as will make the whole into a pulpy 
mass. Those parts of the handle requiring 
darker shades, are covered thicker than the 
other. After this substance is laid upon 
the handles, they are placed before the fire 
for a few hours, the time requisite for giv- 
ing the proper effect. 
Penknives. The manufacture of pen- 
knives is divided into three departments, 
the first is the forging of the blades, the 
spring, and tlie iron scales ; the second, the 
grinding and polishing of the blades ; and 
the third, the handling, which consists in 
fitting up all the parts and finishing the 
knife. The blades are made of the best 
cast steel, and hardened and tempered to 
about the same degree with that of razors. 
In grinding they are made a little more 
concave on one side than the other ; in other 
respects they are treated in a similar way to 
razors. The handles are covered with 
horn, ivory, and sometimes wood, but the 
most durable are those of stag-horn. The 
most general fault in penknives is that of 
being too soft. The temper ought to be 
not higher than a straw colour, as it seldom 
happens that a penknife is so hard as to 
snap on the edge. 
Scissars. The beauty and elegance of 
polished steel is not displayed to more ad- 
vantage than in the manufacture of the 
finer kinds of scissars. The steel em- 
ployed for the more valuable scissars should 
be cast steel of the choicest qualities; it 
must possess hardness and uniformity of 
texture for the sake of assuming a fine pol- 
ish, great tenacity when hot for the pur- 
pose of forming the bow or ring of the 
scissar, which requires to be extended from 
a solid piece, having a hole previously 
punched through it. It ought also to be 
very tenacious when cold, to allow that 
delicacy of form observed in those scissars 
termed ladies scissars. After the scissars 
are forged as near to the same size as the 
eye of the workmen can ascertain, they are 
paired, and the two sides fitted together. 
The bows and some other parts are filed 
to their intended form, tlie blades are also 
roughly ground, and the two sides properly 
adjusted to each other after being bound 
together with wire and hardened up to the 
bows. Tiiey are afterwards heated till they 
become of a purple colour, which indicates 
tiieir proper temper. Almost all the re- 
btaining part of {he \york is performed at 
the grinding mill, with the stone, the lap, 
the polisher, and the brush. The latter 
consists of a circular piece of wood fitted 
upon an axis, and set upon the face with 
veiy strong bristles. It is used to polish i 
those parts which have been filed, and 
which the lap and the polisher cannot 
touch. Previous to screwing the scissars 
together for tlie last time, they are rubbed 
over with the powder of quick-lime, and 
afterwards wiped clean with a skin of soft 
sheep leather. The quick-lime absorbs the 
moisture from the surface to which the. 
rusting of steel is justly attributed. , Scis- 
sars are frequently beautifully ornamented by 
blueing and gilding, and also with studs of 
gold or polished steel. They are at pre- 
sent most elegantly ornamented by the 
gold being inlaid on a level with the sur- 
face of the steel, the gold surface being af- 
terwards increased. The very lai-ge scis- 
sars are partly of iron and partly of steel, 
the shanks and bows being of the former. 
These, as well as those all of steel which 
are not hardened all over cannot be pol,- 
ished, an inferior sort of lustre, however, 
is given to them by means of a burnish of 
hardened polished steel, which is very easily 
distinguished from the real polish by the 
irregularity of the surface. (For swords, 
see Sword.) 
Casting of Cutlery. From the great al- 
liance of pig -iron to steel, it has been long 
thought practicable to cast the steel into 
the articles required, and by that means 
save all the expence of forging, and at the 
same time make the articles much nearer 
their intended form than could possibly be 
done by tlie hammer. The steel in its 
perfect state is, however, incapable of this, 
advantage, though when in a state of fusion 
it is capable of being cast into large ingots. 
It is so imperfectly liquid at that temperature 
as to preclude the possibility of casting it 
into articles so small as knives or scissars. 
That species of pig-iron called N”. 1, is 
susceptible of so perfect a liquidity as to 
be cast into needles and fish-hooks, and has 
been employed for making a great variety 
of cutlery, particularly forks and scissars. , 
immediately after the articles are cast,, 
■vyhich is generally into wet sand, they are 
as brittle as glass, and in tliat state could not 
be used for any purpose. By being stratified 
with sand, and kept at a red heat for 24 . 
hours, they assume a degree of softness 
and tenacity, which will allow them to 
bend to a considerable angle. This pro- 
cess is called annealing. This branch 
