Christopher Johnson (Sheffield) 1928

[Jack Black]

Really interesting. People today would have a hard time doing any of that work, monotonous all day long for very low pay.

I wonder how many of the grinders died young because of silicosis. And I saw how they handled the etching solution bare-handed.

I reckon so, and often fuelled by little more than tea and bread. I love to read old accounts of the Sheffield cutlery works, but those people really didn't have an easy life, or a long one. A generation earlier, most grinders didn't reach 30, with silicosis being known locally as 'Grinder's Asthma'.

I've seen people at the grocery store in pajamas. I have restrained myself from saying anything to them.

I've seen it here Vince, sometimes it's nearly lunchtime too

Great video

My edc for the last couple of months has been a little CJ western works 2 blade jack

Nice

Yes, it seems that most were unsure or a bit nervous, but I love the shot where a young gal broke out with a beautiful smile. That made me smile as well.
Another nice example from your end with those really cool pinched bolsters, such a nice touch.

That's always nice to see Locally, the Buffer Girls were known as Diamonds in Brown Paper after the brown paper they used to try to keep their clothes a little cleaner. It was certainly a very filthy job.

 

[waynorth]

Wonderful slice of history - a different world from today!!
Scary lack of protective eyewear!!

 

[Jack Black]

Wonderful slice of history - a different world from today!!
Scary lack of protective eyewear!!

Even when I first started work in the 70's, older blokes wouldn't wear any form of protective equipment - dust masks, safety glasses, ear protection, gloves, etc - as they considered it effeminate - silly sods! In the 90's, I knew a cutler who cut off his thumb with an unguarded circular saw! The next thing he had his teenage son working alongside him

 

[Prester John]

Even when I first started work in the 70's, older blokes wouldn't wear any form of protective equipment - dust masks, safety glasses, ear protection, gloves, etc - as they considered it effeminate - silly sods! In the 90's, I knew a cutler who cut off his thumb with an unguarded circular saw! The next thing he had his teenage son working alongside him

I know a carpenter that cut his thumb off with an electric saw. My wife won't let me near electric tools--I cut myself once with a regular manual handsaw (is that redundant?)!

 

[Jack Black]

I know a carpenter that cut his thumb off with an electric saw. My wife won't let me near electric tools--I cut myself once with a regular manual handsaw (is that redundant?)!

I once worked with a guy who had a finger missing. He had been helping his dad out when he was a little kid, and his dad slipped and cut his finger off with a saw! He used to say that he was short changed because the only compensation he got was a comic and some candy from the shop across the road!

 

[waynorth]

A repairman cut off three and a half fingers on a thickness planer in our shop he was in a hurry to repair!! We couldn't find anything to sew back on!! I ripped off my t-shirt and bound up his hand and raced him to the hospital!!

 

[Jack Black]

A repairman cut off three and a half fingers on a thickness planer in our shop he was in a hurry to repair!! We couldn't find anything to sew back on!! I ripped off my t-shirt and bound up his hand and raced him to the hospital!!

If I'd torn off my T-shirt, we could have stretchered him to hospital in it Charlie!

 

[waynorth]

If I'd torn off my T-shirt, we could have stretchered him to hospital in it Charlie!

Ha Ha !!!
I was a little worried my T-shirt might have been bad for his health!
It was pretty dirty (I realized later!)

 

[Prester John]

A repairman cut off three and a half fingers on a thickness planer in our shop he was in a hurry to repair!! We couldn't find anything to sew back on!! I ripped off my t-shirt and bound up his hand and raced him to the hospital!!

For some reason, I'm reminded of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch.

 

[chuck4570]

I thought this silent film from 1928 would be of interest to fans of old Sheffield cutlery.

http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/c-j-co-cutlery

This is an awesome video, fans of cutlery in general would enjoy this. My dad worked for a specialty steel manufacturer and one of there customers was Queen Cutlery. He had toured the factory a couple of times and he always commented on the hand operations were involved in knife making and this was when the industrial revolution was full steam. There were just some things People had to do.