GT Knives

Early Sheffield Cutlery History

First documented in a 1297 tax return appeared the use of the term “cutler” in Sheffield. And, fifty years later within the possessions of the King in the Tower of London, a Sheffield knife was listed. In fact, several knives on display at the Cutlers’ Hall in Sheffield date back to the 14th century.

There are many places in the world that make cutlery. However, by the late 16th century, the industry in England was concentrated in and around Sheffield and Birmingham. But, the industry in Birmingham started concentrating mostly on swords, made by so-called “long cutlers”, as well as other similar edged tools, and in Sheffield, the industry concentrated on making knives.

During this period, the trade of cutler in Sheffield soon became divided with the formation of new trades such as razormaker, shearsmith, awlbladesmith and forkmaker springing up as separate and distinct trades in and of themselves by the 18th century.

Prior to the mid 19th century, cheap mild steel was more readily available because of advancing ways of steelmaking. Many knives and similar edged tools were fused together by welding a strip of steel and iron together, which was then formed and created into a knife by sandwiching a piece of steel inbetween two pieces of iron.

This was done because steel was a lot more expensive commodity than was iron. Modern knife blades are also laminated sometimes, but for different reasons. Hard steel is brittle, so it was customary to lay the hard steel between two layers of a milder, less brittle steel, which gives you a blade that holds a sharp edge longer and is less likely to break.

After fabrication the knives were sharpened originally on a grindstone, but during the late medieval period it was in a blade mill or a cutlers wheel, as it was known in the Sheffield region.

Sheffield Utility Knife

Filed under: Types of Knives