A whitesmith is a metalworker who does finishing work on iron and steel such as filing, lathing, burnishing or polishing.
The term also refers to a person who works with "white" or light-coloured
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
s, and is sometimes used as a synonym for
tinsmith
A tinsmith is a person who makes and repairs things made of tin or other light metals. The profession may sometimes also be known as a tinner, tinker, tinman, or tinplate worker; whitesmith may also refer to this profession, though the same wo ...
.
History
The first known description of Whitesmith is from 1686:
Whitesmithing developed as a speciality of blacksmithing in the 1700s, when extra time was given to filing and polishing certain products. In 1836 the trade was described by Isaac Taylor:
Process
The principal manual skills of the whitesmith were in filing and turning (the use of lathes).
Using cross-cut files the whitesmith could achieve a flat, smooth finish on iron or steel products where the less skilled might only achieve a convex effect.
For very large items, the whitesmith might even file when red hot using a two-person operated
float file.
This profession is also related to a
bell hanger
A bell is a struck idiophone, directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be ...
and locksmith as they perform much file work. In Great Britain this type of worker was affiliated with a union. The Amalgamated Society of Whitesmiths was founded in 1889. It was renamed the Amalgamated Society of Whitesmiths, Locksmiths, Bell-hangers, Domestic Engineers, Art Metal Workers and General Iron Fitters in 1891, the Amalgamated Society of Whitesmiths, Locksmiths, Bell-hangers, Domestic Engineers, Art Metal Workers and General Iron and Pipe Fitters in 1894, and the Amalgamated Society of Whitesmiths, Domestic Engineers and General Pipe Fitters in 1904. In 1908 it merged with the Amalgamated Society of Kitchen Range, Stove Grate, Gas Stove, Hot Water, Art Metal and other Smiths and Fitters connected with the above Trades, the Amalgamated Society of Kitchen Range, Hot Water and General Fitters and the Birmingham Society of Hot Water and Steam Engineers to form the National Union of Operative Heating and Domestic Engineers, Whitesmiths and General Iron Workers
Products
James Watt
James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...
employed a whitesmith in the 1760s when working on his experimental steam engine. The first cylinder was made by this whitesmith using hammered iron and solder. Although this technique proved insufficient, when this whitesmith died soon after Watt wrote to
John Roebuck
John Roebuck of Kinneil FRS FRSE (1718 – 17 July 1794) was an English inventor and industrialist who played an important role in the Industrial Revolution and who is known for developing the industrial-scale manufacture of sulphuric ac ...
greatly lamenting the loss of his "white iron man".
With the industrial revolution, in the same way that many blacksmiths became specialised as
farriers
A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjus ...
making horse shoes, so many whitesmiths became
lorimers making spurs, stirrups, bridle bits and buckles.
Typically whitesmiths made products that either required a decorative finish such as fire grates, or that needed cold-working such as screws and lathed machine parts.
References
{{Wiktionary
Metalsmiths