A blade grinder puts the bevel onto knife blades, thinning them towards the cutting edge which will be sharpened only once the knife is complete. Before industrialisation, blades were roughly shaped when they were forged, but nowadays they are cut or stamped out of sheet steel leaving more of a task for the grinder.
Brian had begun working as an apprentice in 1957 when he was fifteen years old, apprenticed to his father who was the Gaffer in charge of a large industrial workshop. At that time the emphasis of the work was moving towards more mechanised approaches but, in his spare time, he was allowed on the grinding wheels and would hand grind. After three years he set up a grinding workshop on his own and continues hand grinding a wide variety of tools using large, circular stones which run in water, one of few remaining craftsmen practicing this trade in the city.
Work with Brian came at the start of the project and formed a pilot study which was used to deal with a number of problems. It was necessary to develop the partnership between the designer/researcher (Nicola Wood) and the expert leaner (Grace Horne) and to gain experience with the particular recording equipment/techniques and the environments that would be encountered. The pilot study also allowed the role of the expert learner to be explored and developed.
