American Cutlery is revered for many notable contributions to the greater global edged tool community. The Bowie Knife for example is found all over the planet and has been manufactured the world over since it became famous back in the early 19th century. But we live in a rather young country by global standards, and our traditions typically come from somewhere else. With respect to our interest in knives, those roots are found in Sheffield, England. Read on to find out more about this fascinating and historic place which contributed so much to American cutlery traditions.
Sheffield, England is a town in south Yorkshire which traces its roots to the first settlers on a clearing at the banks of the River Sheaf in the first millennium, AD. Following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, a castle was built, giving protection, control, and permanency to the settlement.
Sheffield’s proximity to iron ore, water power, and naturally occurring grinding stones made the area a natural fit for the rise of the cutlery trade. By the 1400’s, Sheffield was known for its knives, and in 1624 the Company of Cutlers was established. Sheffield Steel became well known all over England, as well as the continent, for producing the finest quality edged tools and weapons. When Daniel Dafoe completed, “A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britian” in 1724, he included a note on Sheffield, saying, “This town of Sheffield is very populous and large, the streets narrow, and the houses dark and black, occasioned by the continued smoke of the forges, which are always at work: Here they make all sorts of cutlery-ware, but especially that of edged-tools, knives, razors, axes, &. and nails; and here the only mill of the sort, which was in use in England for some time was set up, for turning their grindstones, though now ’tis grown more common.”
In the 1740’s, Benjamin Huntsman advanced metallurgy with the first use of the crucible, and after some initial local resistance, his methods were adopted by Sheffield Cutlers and the industry really began to boom. By this point in history, the north American colonies were growing, and the demand for high quality cutlery was intense. Although America had abundant natural resources, the colonies didn’t really produce “finished” goods. Therefore, Sheffield products made their way into most American households. These influences dramatically shaped American preferences, and when the American Revolution broke the colonial dependence on the mother country, American cutlers were quick to adopt stylistic and functional concepts in domestically produced products. But industry doesn’t develop overnight, and Sheffield continued to supply much of the cutlery used in the United States through the 19th Century.
The Bessemer Processes invented in the 1850’s further advanced Sheffield’s prowess as the epicenter for industrial scale steel production, and Sheffield Cutlers were in full swing supplying the American demand through the Civil War and Western Expansion. Sheffield steel would have been found in most pockets on the battlefield at Gettysburg, and on most chuck-wagons along the trails as the West was conquered by American grit and determination. In the 20th Century, stainless steel shaped Sheffield products, and the factories churned out millions of knives, axes, and tools for both World Wars.
Today, Sheffield has substantially diminished in its place as a leading global production center of cutlery. Cheap overseas competition has hurt the industry, but that can be blamed as much on “disposable-minded” consumers. There are cutleries still operating in Sheffield today, and the products they make are among the finest in the world. Enjoy this snippet of prose by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Ay by his belt he baar a long panade,
And of a swerd ful trenchant was the blade.
A joly poppere baar he in his pouche;
Ther was no man, for peril, dorste hym touche.
A Sheffeld thwitel baar he in his hose.
Round was his face, and camus was his nose;
— Geoffrey Chaucer, The Reeve’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales