Shell cutter

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Staple and shell cutter is a craft for the manufacture of handles for knives or tools in the form of staples or shells, which is extinct in the Bergisches Land and the foothills of the Rhineland .

General

A staple and shell cutter made two different types of handles for knives or tools. On the one hand, these were booklets made of a piece of wood, which were provided with slots , into which a blade was later inserted. On the other hand, these were (half) shells that were attached to a blade or a tool on both sides and thus formed the later handle. The craft of stapling or shell cutter emerged in the course of industrialization and specialization in the 19th century, particularly in the Solingen area. In small, partly part-time craft businesses , staple and shell cutters made their products as suppliers for the Solingen cutlery industry. Illustrative material for this occupation is offered in particular by the shell-cutter kotten of Wilhelm Jacobs from Wiescheid, which was rebuilt in the Volksgarten in Langenfeld next to the Wagner house in a glass exhibition hall . The procedures described here are based on the Friends of the City Museum in Langenfeld developed information as well as the representations of the Office for Regional Studies rotated 1989 in the cotta film .

  • Big saw

  • Panel saw

  • Milling machine

  • Small saw

The workflow

From the tree trunk to the handle

The work of the staple and shell cutter began with sawing the delivered tree trunks using a shot saw (two-man pull saw) in the yard to a manageable length. Then these trunk sections were brought to the length of the later booklets with a circular saw in the Kotten . Then rounds and bark of the trunk wood were removed and disks (so-called plates ) were made from the pieces . After this sawing work on the width, another one was carried out to determine the thickness of the later booklets. The panels were divided into cuboid wooden sections, called edges , which were very similar to the later booklets or bowls.

The pieces were then dried on large frames , which Wilhelm Jacobs had covered with rabbit wire, in a drying chamber heated with wood waste . A milling cutter with corresponding templates which the stapling and Schneider shell from sheet anfertigte itself then served as a pattern for the subsequent milling operation. The wooden edges were clamped in a milling shoe and guided past four rapidly rotating knives on the milling table using the template (called 'Facon'). The future handle of the knife was given its recognizable shape. Then the handle or shell was sawn to its final length. The end into which the knife blade was to be inserted was also processed with a topping machine.

The finishing

The staple and shell cutter Wilhelm Jacobs processed native beech wood or cherry wood , but also tropical wood such as rosewood or teak . If booklets or bowls had to be colored, this was done by bathing in a stain . For this purpose, the workpieces were boiled several times for about seven days and left in the stain until the booklets and bowls were completely colored. The workpieces were then dried on drying frames in the air, or in the case of rush jobs in the heated drying room. The next step was the waxing of the pieces of wood in a drum (cylindrical drum, comparable to a washing machine) by adding wax . After removing the wax spheres occurred in the drum by means of addition of wipes or the polishing of the workpieces. The cutting of the handle to insert the blade (not necessary for bowls) then ended the staple and bowl cutter's activity.

The Reider

Video: Solingen cutlery industry - the Einsteckreider.

The work of the staple and shell cutter was continued by the so-called Reider , who brought together the staple or shell on the one hand and the blade or tool on the other. This profession was also a supplier trade, which was often done at home .

useful information

(From a leaflet of the development association :) The lower part of the knife blade, to which the knife handle is attached, was called Erl in technical jargon . If the handles were not well dried and the wood shrank after inserting the blade, the experts called it: The tang grows out. To counter this, many knives had three holes in which the blade could be attached. This should allow the blade and handle to fit together even if the wood should warp. Good knives are today, moreover, even with completely passing through the handle Erl made.

  • Rommel for dyeing

  • Partial view of Kotten

  • Saw and drying oven

  • Booklets and routing templates

To the exhibition object

Tools and drive

In addition to various saws (two-man train-saw, circular saws ) came a drum (dyeing, waxing and polishing drum), a milling machine with chuck ( Frässchuh ) and various cutting blades (four formed a set), a so-called Pliestscheibe ( grinding wheel from Wood with leather and sandpaper for processing straight knife handle ends) as well as two so-called topping machines are used. The latter were used to machine the upper end of the knife handle into which the blade or tool was later inserted. One of the machines was used for tapered knife handles, the other for straight handles and angled bowls. All of these machines were built by Wilhelm Jacobs himself in 1920 and operated in his Kotten until the end of 1987. They were driven by an electric motor via transmission belts .

About history

In the Kotten the shell cutter Wilhelm Jacobs made knife handles from wood for the Solingen cutlery industry with the support of up to six people from the family and the neighborhood until 1988. When he died at the age of 90, his workshop was supposed to be demolished. But Fritz Clees then deputy, sat mayor of the city of Langenfeld committed that the technical monument remained. On his initiative, the city gave a report on the evaluation of the house in order. Under the direction of J. Eberhardt from Cologne, the research group came to the conclusion that the Kotten is a very unusual technical monument. Therefore, with the support of scientists from the Office for Regional Studies in Bonn, the city decided to demolish the house stone by stone, including all equipment, and to take an inventory . Before that, in 1989 the Office for Regional Studies shot a film with the work processes in the house with former employees of the shell cutter . At the suggestion of Mayor Magnus Staehler, the city ​​council decided on December 19, 2006 to rebuild the Kottens in a glass exhibition hall as a branch of the city museum. The hall , the inauguration of which was celebrated on August 12, 2008, is now available for visits once a month on Sundays or by appointment.

To Halle and Kotten

The hall to the Kotten around measures by twenty meters and ten from aluminum - Paneeldach spans. The Kotten itself is 15.60 by six meters. The cost of construction amounted to EUR 355.000.-. Information boards on the panes of glass enable visitors to find out more about the profession of staple and shell cutter even outside of the tour times.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Claus-Peter Peters, " Langenfeld im Wandel der Zeiten ", self-published 2013
  2. ↑ The Reider on YouTube , accessed December 22, 2019.

Web links