What's in the works?
Who knows, not the steel industry that's for sure.
Long moved out.
Sheffield might well be producing more steel now than at any time in previous history, but it isn't flatware.*
Special steel, fancy steel.**
If you were to visit one of the steel stockholders you'd see it stacked in warehouses like gold bars.
Short lengths, different grades, different properties, in stacks often no more than a metre high.
The salespeople speak multiple languages.
Telephone trade in these businesses takes place constantly.
Trade with those that may have a requirement and trade with those that have asked for a specific product.
Every item is meticulously prepared, down to the finest metric tolerances.
Tiny piles of steel worth many thousands of pounds and shipped worldwide.
Not flatware.
That's history.
* 'flatware' is a term used in the USA, although in Sheffield it has been a common term used for cutlery since the 19thC, probably due to the US sales market.
** Special steels are particularly pure forms of steel in the variety of different alloy forms.
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