A Brazilian axe is made thus:--A piece of bar iron is taken and the middle part thinned out under a light steam hammer to the thickness required to form the edge of the tool. The blank is then doubled over upon itself and the bottom part welded together. A bar of hard cast steel is welded on to the bottom of the blank; the steel being then cut off from the bar to a width corresponding to that of the blank. The embryo axe, by means of a steam hammer, is forged under tools of suitable shape fixed in the head of the hammer, the final shape being given by hand tools. The tool is now ready for hardening and tempering--the steeled end of the axe is heated to a blood red in a slow furnace and is then plunged into cold water. It is now tempered by slowly heating till it assumes the required tint. The tool is now ready to be ground, polished on a succession of wooden wheels or bobs, dressed with emery of gradually increasing fineness, and then to have its upper part japanned black, blue, scarlet, or bronze-coloured, according to the taste of the consumer. The principal machinery employed consists of shears, “squeezers,” tilt and trip hammers, striking from 200 to 400 blows per minute, steam hammers, shearing and punching machines, stamps, rolls, and lastly, massive machines or presses of various construction, used for shaping the eyes of hoes, pickaxes, &c. The wood handles required for spades, shovels, &c., form a distinct branch of the trade. Hickory handles are almost exclusively used in the wedge axes so largely employed in India and the colonies; these handles are necessarily imported from the United States. Self-acting machines have during late years been introduced for the turning of ash handles for axes, hatchets, &c. The handles of spades, shovels, and forks are of ash sawn from planks, subsequently turned in lathes. To bend them, they are steamed and pressed into shape by powerful screws. The only waste products are the scale or dross which falls from the heated iron, and the shearings or scraps cut off the tools. Both are sold to the ironmaster--the former for fettling his furnace, the latter to be worked up again into bar iron. The number of persons employed in the trade in Birmingham and the district is probably 3,000 to 4,000.