Sword sweeper
A blacksmith who carries out the final assembly of swords , rapiers , sabers , daggers and similar weapons is called a sword sweeper (also Schwerdtfeger ) today . He puts the blade and the hilt together, protects them against corrosion with grease and inserts them into their sheath . Some of the knife sheaths were also made by a sword sweeper.
history
However, the original meaning of the term sword sweep was different. After the blacksmith and hardener had done their job, it was the task of the sword sweep to sweep the sword or the blade bright, to grind them on a whetstone and to polish them if necessary. For polishing he used polishing steels , polishing agates , emery powder and polishing woods .
Before the High Middle Ages, blacksmiths sharpened the blades of their swords themselves. Since the 12th century, the craft of sword sweepers could be found. The grinders sat or stood at a rotating grindstone. Smaller ones were driven by a foot board, larger ones by cranks. Since the 14th century, whetstones up to two meters in diameter have been driven by water power.
Other countries
in Japan e.g. B. we call the grinder and polisher of blades, especially of katanas , wakizashis and tantos togishi .
See also
Today's surnames
The surnames Schwerdtfeger , Schwertfeger , Feger and Föger, commonly used today, are derived from the profession of sword sweeper .
literature
- Johann Christoph Adelung ; Dietrich Wilhelm Soltau ; Franz Xaver Schönberger : Grammatical-critical dictionary of the High German dialect, with constant comparison of the other dialects, but especially the Upper German , Verlag BP Bauer, Vienna, 1811, p. 1747 Online
- Hans-Peter Hils: Master Johann Liechtenauer's art of the long sword. Frankfurt 1985, especially p. 190 f. (to the sword sweeper Antonius Rast, who died in 1549).
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Georg Krünitz ; Friedrich Jakob Floerken; Heinrich Gustav Flörke; Johann Wilhelm David Korth; Carl Otto Hoffmann; Ludwig Kossarski: 1. Economic Encyclopedia , or General System of the State, City, House and Agriculture, in alphabetical order; Verlag Joachim Pauli , Berlin, 1782, volume 89, p. 241 online