Collection of file-cutters tools

Collection of file-cutters tools, consisting of: 34 file cutting chisels; 10 file blanks; 1 iron mooding boss; 1 hammer head wedge; 7 files; 1 iron anvil; 9 file cutting hammers; 1 oil stone for chisels; 2 file forging hammers; 17 file cutting leads

From the late eighteenth century, some doctors saw the widespread ill health of the urban poor as the product of debility caused by failings of diet, housing, warmth, clothing, long working hours and the fumes and airlessness of many workplaces. Textile workers risked catching limbs in complex machinery. But even small workshops, where only hand tools were employed, such as parts of the metalworking trades, carried a burden of early death. File-making was one such trade, where the use of grinding stones produced fine dust which, breathed in, caused breathing difficulties.