Franz Güde

Franz Güde GmbH
legal form	GmbH
founding	around 1910
Seat	Solingen , Germany
management	Karl Peter Born
Number of employees	25th
Branch	Cutlery industry
Website	www.guede-solingen.de

The Franz Güde GmbH (proper spelling GÜDE) is a manufacturer of cutlery based in Solingen . The origins of today's company go back to around 1910 or the second decade of the 20th century and to the master grinder Karl Güde.

Guede is now considered manufacturing in the third generation quality forgings and stampings cooking and Knife ago. In the area of special editions, top-quality products in the luxury segment are manufactured, for example in cooperation with Damascus steel maker Markus Balbach.

history

Güde around 1915

According to the company's current presentation, Karl Güde founded a company in 1910. As a master grinder, Güde took on the work of local larger producers as a homeworker to grind their raw blades. The subsequent operations of so-called “pulling” and “making up” the knife handles (handle assembly and handle adjustment / grinding) were not carried out. In 1913/14 he acquired a piece of land on Kanalstrasse for this purpose and set up a first production facility ("Schleifkotten") there as part of the house.

After the founding period, Franz Güde (1898–1968), Karl Güde's son, took over the manufacture from 1920 to 1923 and pioneered the actual company and the Güde brand - with the introduction of the “Three Palms” as a protected trademark . Güde had previously learned the trade of knife sharpener from his father. Under his leadership, the company developed as an independent producer of full products. On the one hand, this resulted in a corresponding business registration, expansion of the Kanalstrasse plant and finally, in 1935/36, the move to a new, more suitable production facility on Katternberger Strasse, which is still the company's headquarters today. While Franz Güde concentrated on the technical management and product development, his wife Milly took over the bookkeeping and sales, she also took over the ownership from Franz Güde in 1934. Milly Güde successfully organized the contacts to distributors and retailers, so that the favorable relation of Quality and pricing of Güde knives, in addition to the introduction of product innovations (serrated edge / bread saw), the demand has increased continuously. During the Second World War, the company was obliged to produce equipment for the Wehrmacht: studs for horseshoes. For this purpose, the drop forging hammers that were available but not in use were used - the facility on Katternberger Straße was a former drop forge, which was also equipped with punching.

In the post-war period, production and business developed rapidly after initial difficulties, as generally with the economic boom in the 1950s. New sales channels such as renewed production for other brands and special wholesale customers led to the stabilization of the development of the own brand, such as the innovation of the GÜDE universal knife. During these years the son Franz Dietrich Güde (* 1928) joined his parents' company as a trained businessman (since 1948 silent partner) and in the following years took on more entrepreneurial responsibility; from 1956 as managing partner. After his parents withdrew, Güde took over both areas of responsibility of his parents, and in 1975 the company was converted into an OHg with the ownership of Milly and Franz D. Güde. The company invested in the production facilities in order to be able to meet the growing demand and to guarantee and secure the high quality demands on the products.

Karl Peter Born (* 1955), grandson of Franz Güde, joined the company in 1983 to take over the management of Franz D. Güde as part of the succession plan. For this purpose, the company name was changed to today's GmbH in 1984; Born became a partner and Güde also shared management responsibilities with him. In 2006, when Güde left, Born became the sole partner in the manufacture. With the entry and subsequent takeover of management and ownership by Karl Peter Born, the previous character of the products changed from the steel blades stamped in-house to the current series of almost entirely drop-forged blades. The forged raw blades are prefabricated by the Solingen-based specialist company and supplier Julius Kirschner & Sohn GmbH & Co. KG. based. The Damascus blades are pre-produced and supplied by the central Hessian specialist manufacturer Schmiedewerkstätte Markus Balbach from Laubuseschbach .

Inventions

Güde Chai Dao knife

Franz Güde invented the serrated edge for bread knives in 1931 , a feature of almost every bread knife today. In 1935 Franz Güde developed a circular knife with set teeth, which is suitable, for example, for soft goods. This invention has significantly influenced the development of bread slicing machines.

In 1989 Güde manufactured two copies of a 3.12 meter long knife, which was entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest knife in the world . The knives are exhibited today in the German Blade Museum and in the LVR Industrial Museum.

range

Güde primarily manufactures knives and sells additional accessories such as knife blocks, gift sets, knife manuals, knife aprons and knife sheaths. The range is sold through a broad sales network from various partners and distributors in Europe, Asia, South Africa and New Zealand. Forged knives now make up almost the entire production, but Güde still offers products from stamped manufacture, in particular household knives such as kitchen and vegetable knives as well as professional knives, for example for slaughterhouses and craft businesses.

Forged chef's knife series

Karl Güde (handle made of cherry wood)
Franz Güde (Damascus steel)
Alpha (POM plastic handle "Hostaform" for professional catering needs)
Alpha "Olive" (olive wood handle)
Alpha "barrel oak" (handles made of oak wood)
Alpha "pear" (handles made of pear wood)
Kappa (all metal)
Delta (inlaid grenadiel wood handle)

Die-cut knife series

Güde universal knife
Sigma (small kitchen knife with fine wood handle)
Gamma (kitchen / household knife with fine wood handle)
Beta (kitchen / household / professional knife with POM plastic handle "Hostaform")
Omikron (kitchen / household / professional knife with PPN plastic handle)