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One of the best accounts I have found of steel working is by Reinhold Rucker Angerstein. He seems have been an eighteenth-century industrial spy.  He recorded his findings and detailed observations in illustrated diaries and notebooks.   A translation of the Diary by Torston Berg  and completed his son, Peter was published by the National Museum of Science & Industry in 2001 ISBN 1 900747243.

There is a preview of the book at: Google Books.

Each nail was held in a sort of pin vice and the facets were cut in.

" For the polishing, white whetstone from the Levant and oil is first used then emery mixed with oil, and finally, tin oxide with good spirits. The emery and tin oxide are applied with special wooden sticks, but the last polishing is carried out by rubbing with the palm of the hand and fine tin oxide.

"I was told that it requires two weeks' work for one person to make a pair of buckles costing 2 guineas."

 

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