Scissor and knife trade.

[tara 10]

anyone here work in the scissor trade in the 70s.

george ibberson, surmanco.or the one off upwell st that i can never remember the name of.

Also helped to make knives in 70s still got glistening hands to prove it.lol.

anyone worked in these trades.

[MobileB 10]

I worked for my father in the 80's in the scissor trade. He was a borer and hardener doing sub contract work for Cockers, Whiteleys, Eric Stones and a few others whose names escape me.

[Cycleracer 10]

I left school in 75 to be an apprentice Toolmaker at Spear & Jackson on Prospect RD but lasted just 18 months.

It was'nt for me, sort got in there through my family who all worked for Spears in the 1970s.

[tara 10]

Even though i had no choice but to work in these places then,

I would never let my children anywhere near a factory.

it was low paid dangerous, slavery. most of the time.

I can easily understand you not taking to the tool trade cycleracer.

BUT i never had any encouragement to do anything else.

or the confidence.

a little encouragement makes all the difference, my lads are doing something they really want to do. the only good thing about these factories was the comradeship all the friends you made.

But alas friends are made anywhere.

 

.

[Cycleracer 10]

Originally posted by tara

Even though i had no choice but to work in these places then,

I would never let my children anywhere near a factory.

it was low paid dangerous, slavery. most of the time.

I can easily understand you not taking to the tool trade cycleracer.

BUT i never had any encouragement to do anything else.

or the confidence.

a little encouragement makes all the difference, my lads are doing something they really want to do. the only good thing about these factories was the comradeship all the friends you made.

But alas friends are made anywhere.

 

.

You know Tara I wonder if the remaining cutlery/tool factorys have any young people working in them today.

I can't even say that the lower educated school leavers would actually leave school to do them sort of jobs.

I would imagine these places are full of over 40s now.

I to was sort of expected to go into this trade because in 1975 they were apprenticeships but they were hard to get.

I tried for plumbing apprenticeships when I left school and never got a placing.

Now I would be put on to a training course of my choice, how things have changed, for the good I think.

Keep an eye on my new thread inspired by this one.

Do young people work in factorys.

 

CR

[Dana 10]

can any one give me any information about a cutlery factory on Pitt Street in Sheffield around 1930 or before. I believe it was owned by the Heald family.

[Timbuck 10]

Aprentices had a bad time in the old days in Sheffield..Read this,

it comes from a site called Reminicenses of old Sheffield.

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~exy1/fh_material/reminiscences_8.html

 

Twiss: Another Sheffield man, in describing the former condition of

apprentices, said that the bad treatment to which they were subjected

originated the saying, " He's treated as bad as ony 'prentice lad." "

They were," said this writer, 'I indifferently fed and worse clothed,

but it must be admitted that some good old ' dames' behaved well to

them. The masters, however, kept them in the smithy all the time

possible from early in the morning till almost bed time. This

confinement was very injurious to young lads, and from standing in awkward positions to do their work a great number of them became knock or 'knocker'-kneed. The growing'prentice in his smithy attire was a picture. Tall and thin, with looks that bespoke hard work and poor feeding, he would be encased in leather breeches that had been big enough three or four years before, but with which now he was on bad terms, they having run in and he having run out. The consequence was garments that did not cover to the knees, ludicrously tight, and shining with oil and grease. Or if they were of fustian, they were less constraining than the leather, and consequently needed a constant

'hitch' to keep them from slipping down altogether-for braces were not. On his head he would have an old hat crown, or a brown paper cap; his shirt sleeves doubled up would probably reveal a pair of old stocking legs on his arms. Sometimes, but not always, he enjoyed the luxury of stockings on their proper members, with a pair of old shoes of the ' mester's' or ' dame's,' by way of saying his own for Sundays. Add to these things a shirt unbuttoned at the neck, and a leather apron, and you have a picture of a cutler's 'prentice of former days. The regular diet of the lads was, in the morning a quarter of 'what (oat) cake,' and milk porridge, with not too much milk. To dinner there would be broth and meat from fat mutton or coarse parts of beef. A quarter of oat-cake to ' drinking' at four o'clock, and supper as

breakfast. It was considered the height of extravagance to eat oat-cakes that were not a week old. Monday was baking day, and a week's batch was done at a time, so that by the time they were eaten they were quite mouldy, and before the batch was finished they were nearly a fortnight old. The lads then called them biscuit. It used to be that to let the lads eat new bread would ruin a man with a hundred a year. After supper, the 'prentices had to fetch, on their heads, water for the house supply (sometimes from a considerable distance) ; to feed the pigs ; and then, if there were no errands to run, they might play till bed time. Before a lad was bound he generally ' went a liking' to his proposed master, and if this led to satisfaction on both sides he was taken to the Cutlers' Hall, where he was bound apprentice until he had attained the full age of twenty-one, the binding fee being half a crown, which Was paid by the lad's friends or the master. His seven years' service was no pleasant

thing to look forward to ' but there was the encouraging prospect of having a good trade in his fingers at the end of the time. That over he had to take out his mark and freedom before he could begin working as a-journeyman with! safety. His mark was registered by the Cutlers' Company for a fee of 2s. 6d., with 2d. annually as 'mark rent.' If he neglected paying this for seven years any other person might take the mark. Otherwise it was piracy for any person to strike a mark without the consent of the owner. Sometimes a mark was let for a sort of royalty- say 1s. per gross if it were a profitable one. There have been instances

of the right of mark being sold for as much as £150, when it was in good repute."

[Bellstar 10]

My hubby Frank Turton (Family name Toni)comes from generations of grinders, his dad frank (Jack) Turton, taught him all he knows. Frank has been in the trade from the age of 15 he is now 61. Im sure he would love to hear from anyone who knows him or knew his dad.

[Dana 10]

thank you, but we are looking for a family called Heald who once owned a cutlery factory in Sheffield.

[Janner 10]

Where did the tradition of giving a copper coin in return for a gift of knives , or scissors come from.

[retep 68]

thank you, but we are looking for a family called Heald who once owned a cutlery factory in Sheffield.

 

Heald cutlers in 1925,

Charles Heald (Charles Heald & Son) Table Knife Manuf.

Climax Wks. trading as -Climax -West Hill Lane

House 8 Reed Street

 

Herbert Heald -Cutlery Manuf.( C.H.& Son)

House 79 Havelock Square

[lazarus 68]

I have just retired from the Cutlery trade after 48years and I loved every minute of it apart from the last 13 years at David Mellors, the work I was asked to turn out was disgusting, most of the work I did was very high quality at George Butlers and British Silverware and I was proud to put my name to it but when a firm buys from abroad and sells it on as their product its wrong.