The Hendrich's Drop Forge part of the LVR Industriemuseum is a museum in Solingen (German pronunciation: [ˈzoːlɪŋən] ), a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. The museum is an Anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage. [1]
The Hendrichs family firm was founded in 1886 during an economic boom in Solingen. Solingen in the “Bergisches Land” had turned out scissors, knives and weapons since the Middle Ages. External conditions were ideal as there were limitless supplies of iron ore from the hills while the surrounding forests provided enough fuel to keep the fires burning. The River Wupper and its many tributaries provided the necessary hydraulic power for all the forging and grinding operations. Solingen's drop forges caused the town to become the world's largest producer of scissors. [1]
The Hendrichs Drop Forge in Solingen is around 120 years old and it continued as a commercial concern producing scissors until 1986. The LVR Industrial Museum took over the complete site including the buildings, technical equipment and nine members of staff. [1]
The heavy, block-like forging dies were responsible for this: precision tools made of top quality steel into which the hollow outline of a scissor blade had been carved. The Hendrichs factory contained 33 drop hammers, which made it the largest drop forge in the area. The hammer only needed to be dropped a maximum of four times to forge a scissor blade from a narrow slab of steel.
Pattern welding is the practice in sword and knife making of forming a blade of several metal pieces of differing composition that are forge-welded together and twisted and manipulated to form a pattern. Often mistakenly called Damascus steel, blades forged in this manner often display bands of slightly different patterning along their entire length. These bands can be highlighted for cosmetic purposes by proper polishing or acid etching. Pattern welding was an outgrowth of laminated or piled steel, a similar technique used to combine steels of different carbon contents, providing a desired mix of hardness and toughness. Although modern steelmaking processes negate the need to blend different steels, pattern welded steel is still used by custom knifemakers for the cosmetic effects it produces.
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut. Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. There was an historical distinction between the heavy work of the blacksmith and the more delicate operation of a whitesmith, who usually worked in gold, silver, pewter, or the finishing steps of fine steel. The place where a blacksmith works is called variously a smithy, a forge or a blacksmith's shop.
Solingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located some 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and, with a 2009 population of 161,366, is after Wuppertal the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land. It is a member of the regional authority of the Rhineland.
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it is performed: cold forging, warm forging, or hot forging. For the latter two, the metal is heated, usually in a forge. Forged parts can range in weight from less than a kilogram to hundreds of metric tons. Forging has been done by smiths for millennia; the traditional products were kitchenware, hardware, hand tools, edged weapons, cymbals, and jewellery.
The Bergisches Land is a low mountain range in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, east of the Rhine and south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by forests, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains over twenty artificial lakes. Wuppertal is the biggest town, while the southern part has economic and socio-cultural ties to Cologne. Wuppertal and the neighbouring cities of Remscheid and Solingen form the Bergisches Städtedreieck.
Scissors are hand-operated shearing tools. A pair of scissors consists of a pair of blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles (bows) opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper, cardboard, metal foil, cloth, rope, and wire. A large variety of scissors and shears all exist for specialized purposes. Hair-cutting shears and kitchen shears are functionally equivalent to scissors, but the larger implements tend to be called shears. Hair-cutting shears have specific blade angles ideal for cutting hair. Using the incorrect type of scissors to cut hair will result in increased damage or split ends, or both, by breaking the hair. Kitchen shears, also known as kitchen scissors, are intended for cutting and trimming foods such as meats.
An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal, with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck.
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is an industrial museum in the south of the City of Sheffield, England. The museum forms part of a former steel-working site on the River Sheaf, with a history going back to at least the 13th century. It consists of a number of dwellings and workshops that were formerly the Abbeydale Works—a scythe-making plant that was in operation until the 1930s—and is a remarkably complete example of a 19th-century works. The works are atypical in that much of the production process was completed on the same site. A more typical example of water-powered works in the area can be found at Shepherd Wheel.
The Rheinisches Industriemuseum is a decentralized museum with six locations in Rhineland, western Germany. The locations are:
Kottenbutter or Kottenbotter is a sandwich consisting of buttered brown bread or Mischbrot, smoked pork sausage ("Mettwurst"), onion rings and a spread of spicy mustard. Other variants supplement pork with horse meat ("Kottenwurst") or Balkenbrij. The sandwich is common in the Bergisches Land region of Germany, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
WÜSTHOF is a knife-maker based in Solingen, Germany. Family owned for seven generations, the company's main products are mid-priced to high-end kitchen knives for domestic and professional use. WÜSTHOF is one of the leading manufacturers of chef's knives.
A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre-industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The feature that gave its name to these workshops was the water-driven trip hammer, or set of hammers, used in the process. The shaft, or 'helve', of the hammer was pivoted in the middle and the hammer head was lifted by the action of cams set on a rotating camshaft that periodically depressed the end of the shaft. As it rose and fell, the head of the hammer described an arc. The face of the hammer was made of iron for durability.
Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, swords, daggers and other blades using a forge, hammer, anvil, and other smithing tools. Bladesmiths employ a variety of metalworking techniques similar to those used by blacksmiths, as well as woodworking for knife and sword handles, and often leatherworking for sheaths. Bladesmithing is an art that is thousands of years old and found in cultures as diverse as China, Japan, India, Germany, Korea, the Middle East, Spain and the British Isles. As with any art shrouded in history, there are myths and misconceptions about the process. While traditionally bladesmithing referred to the manufacture of any blade by any means, the majority of contemporary craftsmen referred to as bladesmiths are those who primarily manufacture blades by means of using a forge to shape the blade as opposed to knifemakers who form blades by use of the stock removal method, although there is some overlap between both crafts.
WKC Stahl- und Metallwarenfabrik, formerly Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Cie., is a German sword manufacturing company located in Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The American Bladesmith Society, or ABS, is a non-profit organization composed of knifemakers whose primary function is to promote the techniques of forging steel blades. The ABS was founded by knifemaker William F. Moran, who came up with the concept in 1972 when he was Chairman of the Knifemakers' Guild; the following year, he introduced Damascus steel blades at an annual show. In 1976, he incorporated the organization, and it received non-profit status in 1985.
William Francis Moran Jr., also known as Bill Moran, was a pioneering American knifemaker who founded the American Bladesmith Society and reintroduced the process of making pattern welded steel to modern knife making. Moran's knives were sought after by celebrities and heads-of-state. The "William F. Moran School of Bladesmithing" bears his name and in addition to founding the ABS, he was a Blade Magazine Hall of Fame Member and a President of the Knifemakers' Guild.
The Wuppertal-Oberbarmen–Solingen railway is a line in the Bergisches Land in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which connects the three Bergisch cities of Wuppertal, Remscheid and Solingen. It is classified as a main line and is double track and non-electrified.
Wiha Tools is a manufacturer of hand tools for use in trade and industry, with its headquarters in Schonach im Schwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Zwilling J. A. Henckels AG is a German knife-maker based in Solingen, Germany. It is one of the largest and oldest manufacturers of kitchen knives for domestic and professional use, having been founded in June 1731 by Peter Henckels. It is also one of the oldest operating companies in the world. The brand's namesake was Johann Abraham Henckels (1771–1850), who renamed the brand after himself under his leadership. J. A. Henckels is one of the leading manufacturers of chef's knives. Since 1970, Zwilling is fully owned by Werhahn KG. The following brands belong to the Zwilling Group: ZWILLING, HENCKELS, Miyabi, BSF, Demeyere, Staub, Fontignac, Ballarini, Flammkraft, and Santos Grills.
A scissor grinder, sometimes also scissor and knife grinder or knife and scissor grinder, for short also knife grinder, is a craftsman who sharpens and repairs blunt knives, scissors and other cutting tools. It is an apprenticeship profession that nevertheless requires much experience.
51°10′16″N7°01′57″E / 51.1710°N 7.0326°E
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