Cutlery once meant knives until forks joined the table set
Cutlery covers utensils for serving and eating—originally knives, while forks and spoons counted as silverware—within broader flatware or tableware. Before mid-nineteenth-century cheap mild steel, knife blades were welded steel strips on iron bodies, then ground sharp.
Sheffield trades split cutlers from razorsmiths, shearsmiths, and forkmakers by the eighteenth century. Canteens grew from basic knife-fork-spoon trios into specialised dozens of pieces, plus hybrids such as sporks. Blade mills replaced hand grindstones for finishing edges.
The word comes from Middle English cuteler, from Old French coutelier and coutel, knife, ultimately Latin culter, which survives in the plough's coulter. Makers and sellers are cutlers, and not all were men: Agnes Cotiller worked as a cutler in London in 1346 and trained a female apprentice named Juseana. Sheffield has been famous for cutlery since the 17th century, with an express train to London, the Master Cutler, named after the trade, and its rivals are Thiers in the Auvergne and Solingen in Germany.
Sterling silver was the traditional material for good cutlery because it reacts less with food, and gold, less reactive still, was reserved for the exceptionally wealthy. Steel served for everyday knives and pewter for cheap spoons, and electroplated nickel silver substituted for sterling from the 19th century. In 1913 Harry Brearley discovered stainless steel by chance, and cheap mass production in Sheffield made it the dominant cutlery metal; titanium, lighter and less heat-conductive, suits camping.
Disposable plastic cutlery grew into a huge market for catering and fast food, but Australia has banned it and the European Union did so from 3 July 2021, with bans planned in Britain and Canada. Alternatives include wooden and bamboo sets coated in plant oils, waxes and lemon juice, and edible cutlery baked from rice, millet or wheat that decomposes in about a week.
Source: Cutlery
