Article: Taunton's 175-year-old Reed & Barton still brings elegance to the table.

Thwack! The drop hammer slams just inches from Al Soares' fingers, held from harm by safety lines. He pulls out the freshly stamped piece of silver - on its way to becoming a fancy dinner fork - and replaces it with another. Thwack!

Nearby, Ray Gwozdz, Reed & Barton's new production coordinator, shouts above the din of machinery: "You can't automate this!"

Meanwhile, Jim Corliss scoops up what appears to be a handful of fireplace ash - it's actually a form of pumice. With his other hand he grabs a stack of forks and holds them - the pumice cascading over them in a gray rush - against a polishing wheel. This is sand polishing - "a lost art," explains ...

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