Sheffield grinders

[robin wood]

I was in town today picking some wood up for a spoon carving course and leaning on the wall noticed many of the coping stones were made form old grindstones.

Also where they apeared in the wall they were in groups of 4 showing that they had presumably been rolled to the site from a close by mill and split into quarters.

It is really very common to see these stones, they are everywhere, grindstones and grinders were literally the fabric of the city. This is a friends house on the outskirts of the city, next door to an old mill where they made needles. The garden wall.

And a few spares, anyone who has done much grinding will know that each of these stones represents thousands of hours work.

As far as I know there is only one full time self employed grinder left in Sheffield, Brian Alcock is a lovely bloke. This is a short film Nicola made a couple of years ago when he was teaching Grace pen knife blade grinding. With a suitably Sheffield soundtrack.
http://www.youtube.com/user/watcherknives#p/u/8/SlO-fo_xLRU

Bigger images on my blog http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.com/

 

[Tjurved]

Unreal. Have you tried some of those stones?

 

[robin wood]

Unreal. Have you tried some of those stones?

No one uses these natural stones today. When they did then occasionally the stone would explode and if it did then it could kill several people. They also created a lot of dust in the air so grinders did not live to be old, lots of lung disease. Nowadays the wheels like Brian is using are man made composite stones. I have had a go on them but never used one for long. Stu Mitchell has one but does most of his grinding on smaller wheels and more recently belts.

 

[stuart m]

This is the kind of thing....

 

[salad]

My My stu, you ave got a big one

 

[Silverhill]

Cracking photos there Robin, I love the industrial history of Sheffield. I worked in Tinsley for a while and loved being so close to the industries that were still operational in the area. There surely must be some call for small scale cutlery crafting or metalwork akin to the 'Little Mesters' in Sheffield having all fallen by the wayside in recent history.

 

[Tjurved]

Why didn't they use lots of water, that would have reduced the dust. Lack of water?

 

[Laurentius]

My dad used to sharpen the carving knife for the Sunday roast on the porch step. He was by profession a grinder, so I guess he knew what he was doing.

 

[robin wood]

This is the kind of thing....

That's a proper grinder Stu

There surely must be some call for small scale cutlery crafting or metalwork akin to the 'Little Mesters' in Sheffield having all fallen by the wayside in recent history.

There is certainly call or demand for quality, small scale production in Sheffield, Stuart would be an example of someone doing it well. There is a lot more potential for these old industries to become vibrant small businesses and the Heritage Crafts Association are working hard to encourage just that.

Why didn't they use lots of water, that would have reduced the dust. Lack of water?

They did use water but natural stones still create more dust and they had no extraction.

 

[stuart m]

Why didn't they use lots of water, that would have reduced the dust. Lack of water?

Lots and lots of water in Sheffield, that's the reason of course, or at least a major factor, why the industry that grew there did so....

Natural stones were dangerous things, not only the dust but they were literally hung between two flat sided plates, they didn't like the winter time, freezing temperatures did them no good at all... The new composite ones are better, they are even morticed into the side plates, even if they break they tend not to leave the building through the roof, that is good

 

[Ratbag]

Robin, do they still run demos on the one at Shepherd's Wheel in Bingham park in Sheffield? I believe they used to.

Rat