Hopper referenced James Slinn’s desire to procure skilled artisans in File Making, a common trade for discharged convicts in New York in the 1840s. For example, a newspaper ad published in the Schenectady Reflector on July 25, 1845, specifically targeted convicts discharged from Mount State Pleasant Prison with file making capabilities.[1] However, Slinn was not the only entrepreneur seeking trained artisans, for the trade was becoming increasingly more prominent.

The history of the file, a tool used to remove fine amounts of material including rust, dirt particles, or dull metal fragments, dates to prehistoric times. In colonial America, files were imported to the United States from European and Asian countries, although it is likely that there were some trained file artisans producing small quantities of files for local use.[2] Prior to the 1840s, the production of the file was relatively innocuous in the United States; however, in 1845, John Rothery started a small scale filing business in Matteawan, New York. The business grew exponentially which encouraged others to learn the trade. While manufacturing of files grew exponentially, Europe remained the primary provider of files until 1864, when the production process transformed from a hand-design process to a mechanical process.[3]

Producing a file by hand was strenuous, laborious, and required great bodily exertion which often was injurious. To begin artisans annealed, or heated, the blank steal in order to create a smooth surface free of impurities. Next the artisans chose a chisel, or a triangular metal, based on the design of the file teeth /grooves –  short or long, or deep or shallow. The artisan then used the chisel and a hammer and create grooves in the blank steal by placing the chisel at slight, regular intervals and using the hammer to rapidly and succinctly hit the chisel. Ultimately, “the chisel held at an angle, cut the groove and at the same time raised one edge of the metal, thus making a tooth.”[4] The process of making grooves differed based on the type of file, as files used for industry or sawing required greater coarseness when compared to files used for woodworking.[5] In all, file making was a growing trade in the 1840s, and served an important, although laborious industry, for discharged convicts in New York.

[1] Schenectady Reflector (Schenectady, New York), July 25, 1845: 3. Readex: America's Historical Newspapers. Accessed March 7, 2019 from https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANX&sort=YMD_date%3AA&fld-base-0=alltext&val-base-0=%22file%20making%22&val-database-0=&fld-database-0=database&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=1845%20-%201865&docref=image/v2%3A14464F54E94953C7%40EANX-14CC789C7A682600%402395138-14CC65E0BB06AFF0%402-14CC65E0BB06AFF0%40&firsthit=yes

[2] Henry Disston & Sons INC. The File: Its History, Making and Uses. (Philadelphia, PA: Keystone Saw, Tool, Steel, and File Works, 1920) 18.

[3] Disston, 18-19.

[4] Disston, 20.

[5] Disston, 20-21.