Cutlery

Cutlery is any hand utensil used in preparing, serving, and eating food. In the U.S. it is more commonly known as silverware or flatware. Cutlery can also have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments.

Cutlery derives its name from the term for a person skilled in making knives, a cutler. The Worshipful Company of Cutlers was one of the London livery companies, suggesting the importance of this trade in medieval times.

Cutlery first started out as sea shells and sharp pieces of flint used for cutting. People found that when flint was chipped into a sharp edge it was an excellent cutting tool so flint was the first material actually made into cutting tools. Later, when copper and bronze were discovered, these were made in to cutting utensils and then later after steel and alloys of steel, it was discovered this metal was perfect for making into cutting tools. During the 1600's those carrying daggers found they could also be used to cut their meat at the dinner table and it was considered bad manners to be invited to dinner and not bring your eating utensils.

The three major cutlery items in the western world are the knife, fork and spoon. Traditionally, quality cutlery was fashioned from silver, hence the U.S. name). Formerly steel was always used to make utilitarian knives, and pewter was used in some cheaper items, especially spoons. Today, since most silverware is not made from silver, the term tableware has come into use. Since the 19th century, Electroplated Nickel Silver (EPNS) has been utilized as a cheaper substitute. Most modern cutlery is fashioned from stainless steel.

High-carbon steel is used to make the best quality cutlery around and the great chefs' of the world use only the best.

Less expensive silverware are beveled from steel bars or stamped out of sheets of steel and then concaved in hollow ground. Afterwards, the steel is coated with chromium to make them stainless and most of the scissors we use today are casts in molds or stamped.

Plastic cutlery was developed for disposable use. It is frequently used at fast food and take-out restaurants, as well as for picnics. Two utensil forms have been developed that combining the functionality of various pairs of cutlery. The "spork" is combination spoon and fork and the "knork" is a cross between a knife and a fork.

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