Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-03-09
HOW CORK is CUT.
The Cutting Knives Must Be Made
From tho Hardest Steel.

1t was Saturday afternoon and the
men had gone off for a half-holiday.
The proprietor of the cork-cutting bust
ness was also taking a rest; a meager
half-hearted sort of a holiday, however
since the shop door was open and the
goods were spread out for inspection
and sale. Only the silence of the three
machines in the background served to
show the day Of the week. All around
scattered about the floor were shallow
rush baskets filled with corks of differ
ent shapes and sizes. each particular
article having a basket to itself. There
We're Corks of substantial, even alder
manic. proportions: there were corks
with beautiful slim figures and tapered
waists; there were long lengths of cork
| in the rough. just as it had arrived in
this country; and there was also the
same material cut into short pieces, i'm
preparation for the shaping that would
follow.
| In fact, all stages in the life of
cork were there; and because his Gus
\ toners betrayed symptoms of the in
| tereSt they felt, the cork merchant
offered to give a demonstration Of the
whole process of turning the rough ma
| terial into the finished article. First of
| all there was the cork cutters knife to
| be inspected; formidable affair, with
a heavy blade measuring about six
| Inches across, and with a bevel at least
one inch wide. The center of the blade
was very heavy, and the reason for so
much weight was at once obvious as
soon as the cutter proceeded to use the
no. Low 80
rough cork. he held it firmly against a
metal knob set into the side of table:
then having introduced the sharp edge
OF the knife into the material. he threw
the whole weight Of his body against
the handle and literally drove the blade
through the cork. There was no saw
ing backward or forward; nothing but
the steady pressure; yet so tremend-
ously sharp was the blade that the
Knife pushed increasingly forward and
IN moment or two the piece Of cork
lay In two fragments on the floor.
The wide beveled edge Is necessary in
order to prevent the cork from tearing.
while the knife has to be heavily
weighted to stand the strain of that
amount of pressure. This knife has 4
small hole near the back, about half
way down the blade; this was for the
gauge. which is fastened on by means
Of nut. The gauge is set according to
the width of strips required-this width
being the length of the finished cork
and so insures each strip being cut to
the exact measurement. After the
gauge has been set the workmen can
cut up lenght after length OF cork
without further measuring; for the
gauge. projecting over the back of the
blade. runs along the freshly-cut edge
and thus causes the next cut to he
parallel with the one last made. And
the audience was Informed that the
: gauge could be set to the seventh mar,
of an inch! When the cork had hea-
cut into long, narrow strips the cutie,
took up one of these same strins ,n5
without altering the gauge on the knif,
} began dividing it into number ~ III.
, tie cubes. The first cuts Ito prod,c.
: the long strips were done across m,
e grain: the others ran with the pra;n
! these latter being the way of tho an
a ished cork.
"The grain must run down the art;