Victorian or Edwardian kitchen knife. The blade
blackened with use as it was not stainless, and the edge needed to be
re-sharpened regularly. Knives became thinner and thinner with repeated
grinding down during re-sharpening, and eventually they became so thin
that they snapped.
The knife and scissor grinder was one of the
street merchants who came round the streets. He only came two or three times a year.
He was always welcome, because although knife and scissor blades were made of
steel, they not the stainless sort that kept their sharp edge. They blunted quite
quickly and needed to be sharpened regularly.
Victorian or Edwardian scissors, blackened and
blunted with age and use because they were made of steel which was not
stainless.
Women used
scissors and knives every day for making meals and most days for mending and
dress making. Men used knives for mending boots and for all sorts of odd
jobs. Carving knives were used on Sundays with the Sunday roast.
The knife and scissor grinder travelled on foot with a handcart with three wheels, one in front and
two at the back, and he covered a large area. Goodness only knows where he slept.
He had a grinder with a large wheel inserted into his cart.
Early 1900s knife grinder. Detail from a photograph
in the Willis Museum, Basingstoke.
The knife and scissor grinder would ply his trade around the streets.
First he would stand in the road and call out in his sing song voice:
"Any knives or scissors to grind?"
Then, having alerted the
women, he would knock at every door in the road with the same question. He worked
his stone grinding wheel with his foot using a treadle and he always wore on
an apron.
Knife grinder, who toured the streets for business in
the early 1900s. Cutting pinned to my mother's
recollections and probably photographed at a heritage fair.
This website Join me in the 1900s is a contribution to the social history of everyday life in early to mid 20th century Britain, seen through personal recollections and illustrations, with the emphasis on what it was like to live in those times. It is © Pat Cryer.
