In the early years craftsmen used trip hammers like the one above to forge knives, scissors and other metal goods. The picture is from the Hartkopf shop probablyt around 1920.
The early trip hammers can be mill powered, using the swift waters of the Wupper river, or later steam powered.
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DID YOU KNOW?
The first Barlow pattern knife was made in England in 1667. Made by Obidiah Barlow in Sheffield.
This is the crew of men making Henckels knives in 1903.
Photo courtesy of The Rheinisches Industriemuseum and The Solingen City Archives.
I got this image in March 2008 while at the Rheinisches Industriemuseum doing research for my documentary. I believe it has never been published or probably never seen outside of Solingen. I will be posting a variety of images from my collection on a regular basis.
To see part I scroll down to June 19th, 2008.
The development of steam power emerged in Solingen in the early to mid 19th century. This allowed for larger manufacturing plants to be built anywhere in the city and did not limit production to the Wupper Valley. Previously the mills were limited to the rivers edge as they depended on the movement of the water to power them.
In some ways this new technology improved the work environment. It took the workers into an environment that was drier and warmer generally. But, it did lead to much longer hours exacerbating somehealth problems. Previously there were natural built in breaks in production that were beneficial to the overall health of the worker.
For example, the Wupper would sometimes freeze during the winter or dry up in the summer months. This allowed for unplanned “vacations” and rest from the tough work.
It would be fair to assume that technological developments lead to the loss of craft and jobs and quality. Although this may have been true to a small extent the overall industry benefited from a symbiotic relationship with hand-work and emerging machine work.
Dr. Jochem Putsh, curator of the Rheinisches Industriemuseum, calls this productive relationship “flexible specialization”. It describes the way in which the Solingen cutlery industry was able to adapt to changes in demand. Between the pool of experienced hand workers (grinders, polishers, assemblers ect.) and the emerging mechanization leading to increased production Solingen could handle jobs that other world cutlery hubs could not.
This ability to produce more of the right thing at better prices and higher quality made Solingen the single largest producer of knives, edged weapons and scissors in the world. During the turn of the century Solingen was responsible for producing a full 60% of the cutlery exported world wide!
Thanks for looking!
Chris Hyde
The knife is a tool. It is our oldest tool and more closely connected to human development and survival than any other implement. The knife more than any other tool has proliferated the world culturally and geographically and can be found in every ethnographic, economic and political strata without discrimination.
The utility of the knife exceeds that of any other tool both in longevity and application. As culture and technology have progressed, the ways in which we use the knife have changed in many ways. At the same time many of the uses are no different now than they were thousands of years ago. Part of what is so fascinating about the knife is this dynamic juxtuposition of the ancient and modern coming together in the same basic tool.
Because the knife has had so many vital applications for so long and has been so closely connected to our evolution and survival, more than than any other implement it is the most important example we have of organic design.
I define “organic design” as: the long term development of a utilitarian object towards effective real life utility. For example, a bucket is a vital object with a long history and many uses. It has developed and had modifications based on utility, available materials, specific uses and so on. This would be an example of organic design.
There are many examples of design that although culturally significant are more decorative than utilitarian – like paintings, sculpture and other mediums of “art for arts sake”. This is not to say that decorative design does not play a significant role in human development and culture; It is just a way to define a specific type design.
As I continue with my blog I will explore this idea in more detail and bring in visual examples to illustrate this idea.
Thanks for looking,
Solingen, Germany has the most dynamic history of any of the worlds “knife towns”. No other place has produced and exported as many cutlery items as has Solingen. According to some sources during the turn of the century close to 50% of all cutlery exported worldwide came from this one little German town. That’s production!
The origins of cutlery manufacture in Solingen can be traced to the Wupper river and the small grinding mills called Kottens (cottages) which used the swift moving Wupper to power their grinding wheels and trip hammers.
The Wupper Valley was not suited for agricultural purposes like much of the surrounding area. However the area was perfect for metal production. The soil was rich in iron for the production of raw material. The surrounding hardwood forests allowed for easy access to the coal necessary for the forging process. Finally, the proximity to powerful export companies allowed for easy export possibilities.
The kottens operated much like the early grist mills in New England. Harnessing the power of the swift Wupper river they allowed for increased production and created a much needed locus of industry for the area. Besides the obvious grinding and forging jobs there were several other jobs created.
Men and women were paid per piece for carrying metal goods from the Wupper Valley up the steep hillside to Solingen proper – sometimes in novel ways.
As much as a boon the emerging cutlery production was it held many of the dangers endemic to hard trade work. Unlike today the grinding wheels were made of natural stone material that was vulnerable to flaws. Many lives were lost when these large stones rotating at a high rate of speed would explode due to these natural fractures. This explosion would send sharp pieces of heavy stone in every direction injuring or killing those in close proximity.
The often cold and damp environment along with unnatural body position and grueling work would cause a host of physical problems for workers. In addition workers would suffer a form of Black Lung Disease from breathing the dust that came off the wheels while grinding.
In the coming days I will add part two and expound on the Kottens and the people who worked them.
Thanks for looking!
THE SOLINGEN PROJECT started with a book idea. I went to Solingen in 2006 with a notebook and tape recorder to do some preliminary research. It was a fascinating experience. When I got back I began to put some of the information together for a series of articles and eventually a book.
As I looked through the information I realized that I had way more questions than I did answers. I realized my research had just begun and decided I needed to make another trip.
In the interim between trips I made friends with a man who, among a lifetime of other fascinating jobs and adventures, had been involved a documentary film maker for National Geographic. He suggested that when I go over I take a good quality video camera and document my trip on film.
I had some limited experience producing a couple of promotional films (in the distant past when editing suites still used tape!) but I had rarely found myself behind the lens of a video camera. But, I could not ignore my excitement at the idea of filming in Solingen.
In May of 2007 I bought a good quality video camera, a tripod and a Lavalier mic and had a couple of weeks to learn how to use them.
In June of 2007 I spent two weeks in Solingen, Germany shooting everything I possibly could related to the cutlery industry and its history. I set up interviews with the owners of many of the existing knife manufacturers in Solingen (including Boker, Puma, Linder, Hubertus and Otter-Messer. I filmed several interviews with them and other local historians. I shot footage of rare old blades and brand new designs. I shot in museums, shot in factories, shot the exteriors of defunct companies, shot personal collections; I shot and shot and shot.
The people of Solingen could not have been more gracious and helpful and I was granted unprecedented access to the museums, manufacturers and archives resulting in a plethora of fascinating and historically relevant material.
In March of 2008 I returned to Solingen to interview Dr. Jochem Pustch (curator of the Rheinisches Industriemuseum) and to take digital images of the museums extensive collection of archival material.
I started editing the material from the initial trip this past winter. I decided to create several documentary shorts to “get the ball rollingâ€. As of April 21, 2008 I have completed several of these shorts including The History of The Linder Company, a Virtual Tour of The Deutsches Klingenmuseum, a Short Tour of The Otter-Messer Factory and The Making of The Mercator K55K Knife.
Anyone interested in this project please contact me. I am also looking for producers and publishers for distribution of the documentary and a book.
E-mail: knifehistory@hotmail.com
Toll free: 866.862.5233
Website: www.chrishydeonline.com
Visitors to Solingen would be well advised to take a couple of hours and visit the Rheinisches Industrie Museum. It is easy to get to via public transportation. Visiting this museum is like traveling trip back to the Turn of The Century. You can see and experience what a knife and scissor manufacturing company would have looked like at that time.
The Rheinisches Industriemuseum is an example of historic preservation at it’s best. The main museum is an interactive working forge. Founded in 1886, the Hendrichs drop forge was a vital part of the Solingen cutlery industry. In the 1980s Dr. Jochem Putsch organized a group to purchase the declining business in order to preserve it as a “living†museum.
In addition to the Hendrichs drop forge facility there are several satellite sites in and around Solingen. The Wipper Kotten for example is on the Wipper river and is a renovated water powered grinding mill from the 17th century.
After posting the “stubby†knife in yesterdays offering I remembered a photograph that was in a short book about the Rheinisches Industrie Museum in Solingen, Germany. Here it is:
This knife tells us so much about the owner and the state of the German economy at this time (probably the 1920s or early 1930s). The economy in Germany began to get progressively worse in the mid to late 1920s until in 1930 there was a significant economic collapse. When it is hard to afford basic commodities a new pocket knife was an expense many people could not suffer.
More soon. Thanks for looking!
Knives always tell a story.
The first three pictures above are of an old Mercator from my personal collection. It is a very “German” knife – well constructed, rugged, utilitarian, stark. It’s a big knife measuring 5″ closed. I believe it is WWI era.
The knife is marked “Mills Sales, Co., Solingen, Germany”. It is likely a contract knife made by a Solingen manufaturer for an English or American company. I was able to find a Mills Sales, Co. in Michigan, but cannot definitively connect this knife to them.
What I like best about this knife is the patina. It is a subtle aspect of the overall knife, but it speaks volumes. The evenly worn surface is a clue to a facet of the history of this piece. The knife has obviously been carried and used for a long, long time, but it has also been well cared for.
Over the many years I have been looking at knives I have noticed that they often have this quality. It is a combination of long term use and above average care and maintenance that betrays ones special relationship to the oldest of tools.
The bottom image illustrates this perfectly. It is a Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & co. (1855-1960) probably from the 1920s or so. As you can see this knife has been used! Even the fingernail file is worn down to a nub. But, the exterior is pocket worn only and does not have a scratch on it. Also, the blades have plenty of snap and are still razor sharp. It makes me wonder: who was the meticulous owner of this knife?
I think that it is this this type of contemplation that makes people love history so much. Whether real or imagined, the story and what it says about people and their relationship to things is eternally fascinating. Knives always tell a story. They are a dynamic conduit for design, art, culture and history.
As an addendum to yesterdays blog I have added a couple of pictures of the Mercator style knife. These pictures are copies of catalogs I accessed at The Industrimuseum in Solingen this past March.
The photograph with the 5 knives is from a catalog dating about 1920 and shows several variations of the Mecator knife. Most examples and especially more contemporary Mercators have just one blade. As you can see versions were made that had several implements.
The top photo is from the Omega company catalog and is probably from the 1950s. Note the bottom model. It is a more unusual knife in that it does not have the “humpback” lock as most Mercators do.
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