George Butler & Co Trinity Works ‘ART’ Table Set Carbon Steel Horn Sheffield 1861-1864

1860s made mid 19th century style stick tang table knife and three tined fork marked George Butler & Co Trinity Works ‘ART’ with forged carbon steel blade and fork handled in horn. This is a larger sized set for it’s day and is relatively unused, not looking to have been re-sharpened and still in its original footprint. There are a few bug bites to the pressed horn handles but is otherwise a great example of a mid to late 19th century table set.

Butler was famous for high quality table wear and by 1860 the ‘Butler’ mark was being pirated enough that a new marking ‘ART’ was added. This mark in use while Butler was at the Trinity works only lasted until 1865 when Butler moved dating this knife to the narrow period between 1860 and 1864. Coincidentally this marks the American Civil war and the end of the period of time that Sheffield dominated the American market. 

Butler did well making razors and all sorts of other cutlery, supplying the royal family (hence the VR cypher) as well as a large section of the British market as well as  exporting to Australia. Later in the century they would occupy a very large workshop at the Trinity Works and be one of Sheffields biggest makers.

While not specified this knife likely uses a laminated shear steel in the blade which shows a ‘puddle weld’ near the bolster at the beginning of the blade opposite side as markings, almost looking like a thumbprint, this is where the hard shear steel is forge welded to the mild steel or iron bolster and tang. Forks were forged in a small mold and ground by hand and knife blade forged by hand to shape and then hand ground on a saddle grinder to finish the geometry being finished on smaller buffing wheels. Many of these process were in use for hundreds of years in Sheffield which really held its strength through the massive amount of low priced skilled labor available in Sheffield. 

Double shear steel was a 19th and early 20th century steel that was made by case hardening bars of iron in ceramic boxes packed with charcoal, large numbers of these were heated for days on end at high temperatures and the resulting bars were broken up (it would break or shear rather than bend once carbon added hence ‘shear’ steel) and forged welded into a larger mass. This process was done twice on double shear steel creating a steel with a higher carbon content. 

knife 10.5″, fork 8.25″ overall