When dressing the millstones the hardness of the French burr would often cause small flakes of metal to break away from the point of the mill pick, some of these would become embedded in the backs of millstone hands and fore arms. If it was not removed it cause a bluish discoloration of the skin much like a tattoo. It was possible to tell from an examination of his hands, just how much experience the millstone dresser had of dressing millstones, but at lease he had done it before. Hence the phrase show us your metal, mettle! Are you worth your mettle? --angelfire/journal/millrestoration/millstones.html Copyright 2001 by T. R. Hazen
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 17:02:50 +0000
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