Whetstone production (Schwarzachtobel)

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From Brocken to Bröckle to the ground natural whetstone from Schwarzach
Abrasive compasses from the Hefel company in Schwarzachtobel
Whetstone in use. Grinding mill owner Edwin Troll
Sharpening at the Troll company
The whetstone in the neck of the belt when mowing with a scythe
Hubert Hammerer breaking
Schlifarliad (song of the whetstone grinders) with explanations. The Schlifarliad is a song about whetstone production in the municipality of Schwarzach, Vorarlberg, Austria.

The whetstone production in Schwarzach in the state of Vorarlberg in Austria was an important branch of production in this community and the first industrial one until the end of the Second World War . The production of whetstones from Schwarzachtobler sandstone meant a weather-independent addition to agricultural production for the local population. The Schwarzachtobel with the formerly most important production facilities for whetstones runs across the municipal area of ​​Schwarzach, Bildstein and Alberschwende as well as Dornbirn ( Haselstauden district ).

History and production method

The whetstone production in Schwarzach is said to have been practiced in their community since "primeval" times, as did the whetstone producers and traders Joseph Troll, Joseph Breuss and Johannes Stadelmann on October 3, 1834 in view of a planned increase in tariffs on the export of whetstones to the Prussian Customs Association intervened at the kk district office in Bregenz: “Whetstones were originally produced in the community of Schwarzach and which are not only used domestically, but are mainly sent to neighboring countries. Not insignificant was u. is the intercourse that is made with the whetstones produced in Schwarzach, many gain employment and the like at home. Merit, others find income and Maintenance, where they are sent abroad to use the whetstones, also in the quarries etc. there are several occupations in the whetstone grinding. [….] " .

Before the production of whetstones in whetstone loops in the Schwarzachtobel, there was hardly any reliable knowledge of manual production. Around 1740, the Troll family was known to make whetstones. In 1798, Josef Anton Troll founded the J. Troll company, which was owned by the family until 1952 and, in addition to whetstones, also manufactured paving stones, sandstone steps, portal cladding, etc.

Franz Joseph Weizenegger described around 1815 to 1820 about whetstone production in Vorarlberg that these were a strong export item and that the sandy limestone between Hohenems and Dornbirn was broken, and “ carved in Schwarzach and placed in a slide in which gneiss blocks were placed directly on the water wheel Whetstones can be slid horizontally back and forth until they have a level surface after turning them several times ” . This Weizenegger report is the first reference to a specific production technique for whetstone production in Schwarzach.

In 1819 there were 10 grinding mills (whetstone grinding) in the community of Schwarzach, which generated an annual turnover of around 4,500 guilders . In 1839 there were 14 grinding mills producing around 250,000 whetstones (two thirds of which were for export) and thus around 4,000 guilders, with around 60 people and three two-horse wagons employed throughout the year. Around 1860, whetstone grinders can be found in at least nine locations.

With the invention of the circular whetstone loop (grinding compass), according to oral tradition by the Schwarzach mill builder Gebhard Dietrich (1851–1905), the production process should be carried out by the company Troll, Hefel & Cie. decisively mechanized and thus the production output increased significantly. A planning application from Johann Hämmerle dated July 2, 1878 for the conversion of a saw into a whetstone grinding shop in Haslach in Dornbirn is the first verifiable mention of a circular whetstone loop in Vorarlberg, although it is not certain whether other grinding circles had already existed in Vorarlberg.

Around 1900, only five whetstone factories, but now only with circular loops, produced whetstones in the Schwarzachtobel. In the municipality of Schwarzach these were: Johann Troll with five grinding compasses, Heinrich Troll's children with three grinding compasses Joseph Anton Hefel & Co. with six grinding compasses and in the municipality of Dornbirn the Gmeiner siblings with three grinding compasses and Jakob Stadelmann with two grinding compasses. In the municipal area of ​​Bildstein and Alberschwende there are no more whetstone grinders to be found around the turn of the century.

Export became increasingly important. In the most successful business year 1926/27, 1.62 million whetstones were produced. In addition to Austria, whetstones from the Schwarzachtobel were also sold in Germany , Hungary , Yugoslavia , Romania , France and Italy , and whetstones were sold to Persia , South and North America and Japan .

With the emerging mechanization of agriculture and the increased production of artificial whetstones, the economic importance of the Schwarzach whetstone production was lost after the Second World War.

Starting point for whetstone production

Due to the combination of suitable starting materials (e.g. Schwarzachtobler sandstone ) for whetstones and harder quartz rock ( saluier sand as grinding material) as well as the available energy ( water power ) and cheap labor in the vicinity, an important industrial whetstone production developed in the lower Rhine Valley in Vorarlberg .

The whetstone producers each operated their own quarries, bought sandstone or carried out contract processing. In the quarries, the hardest raw material could be taken from the “Gstöhl Steinbruch” in Dornbirn ( Wallenmahd ) as well as from the quarry in Bizau (so-called “blue-black” - see also: Wetzsteinhöhle ). From the quarry in sub Klien was from the family troll in first autonomously and later bought by the municipality, glauconite - sandstone mined. The raw material and the finished whetstones from the Schwarzach quarries were “softer” and had about the same quality as the whetstones made near Milan .

Whetstone loops were not only available in the Schwarzachtobel, but also z. B. in the Schwarzach district of Staudach there was one on the Schwarzach from around 1800 to 1890 (broken off in 1924) or in Wolfurt , Rickenbach , where Carl Zuppinger later had a reel factory built. The whetstone manufacturers Karl and Johann Josef Kirchner from Kennelbach took part in the trade exhibition in Vienna in 1845 and stated that they had two stamps, two mills, two work tables and employed two workers and three to four unskilled workers who together produce around 8,000 whetstones per month would.

Schlifar

Wetzstein-Hansel ("guys") above the village fountain

The nickname "Schlifar" ( hdt . : Schleifer ) goes back to these down-to-earth businesses. The "Wetzstein-Hansel" above the Schwarzacher village fountain reminds of this "Schlifar" and this production branch from the past, which is important for the community of Schwarzach.

The whetstone Hansel ("Kerle") above the village fountain, created by the sculptor Emmerich Kerle , was erected in 1966. In the center of Schwarzach there is also another village fountain in the form of a whetstone.

museum

In the Heimatmuseum Schwarzach am Linzenberg , a room was set up as a whetstone documentation with original tools and a model of a sharpening compass (Schlifar Museum in the Heimathaus).

See also

literature

  • Helmut Keim and Ute Rautenberg. The Unterammergau whetstone making. Open-air museum of the district of Upper Bavaria. Documentation I. Großweil 1987.
  • Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , Edition Europa Verlag, online publication , accessed on December 10, 2016.
  • Bernhard Lehnert: Dengeling. The art of sharpening scythe and sickle. Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt 2005, ISBN 3-8334-2586-5 .

Web links

Commons : whetstone  making - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Emil Gmeiner in Heimat Schwarzach , Schwarzach 1990, self-published by the community of Schwarzach, p. 201.
  2. ↑ Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , p. 7 f.
  3. ^ Emil Gmeiner in Heimat Schwarzach , Schwarzach 1990, self-published by the community of Schwarzach, p. 201 ff.
  4. ↑ Catholic theologian and historian, born May 8, 1784 in Bregenz; † December 7, 1822 in Bregenz.
  5. ↑ Quoted from: Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , p. 17.
  6. ↑ Figures: Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , p. 18.
  7. ↑ Figures: Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , p. 25.
  8. ↑ Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , p. 32.
  9. ↑ Paragraph partially quoted from: Dornbirner Anzeiger, Thursday, July 10, 2014, p. 31.
  10. ↑ Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , p. 33.
  11. ↑ Still active today as: HEFEL Textil GmbH, Schwarzach.
  12. ↑ Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , p. 34.
  13. ↑ Paragraph quoted from: Dornbirner Anzeiger, Thursday, July 10, 2014, p. 31; Emil Gmeiner in his home town of Schwarzach , Schwarzach 1990, self-published by the community of Schwarzach, p. 205.
  14. ↑ Dornbirner Anzeiger, Thursday, July 10, 2014, p. 31; Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , p. 48.
  15. ↑ Saluiersand (Wildflysch) was u. a. in Gütle , in the Salzmann parcel, and from there brought to Schwarzach for whetstone production, ground and used as an abrasive (grinding sand) to smooth the surface of the raw whetstones.
  16. ^ District chief Franz Anton von Daubrawa discovered in 1819 on the occasion of a tour of the district that the ten grinding mills in Schwarzach also employ children from 12 to 14 years of age. See: Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , pp. 17 f, 36.
  17. ↑ For further factors see: Bruno Koch, On the history of the Schwarzacher whetstone production , p. 16.
  18. ↑ Franz Goll, Chronicle of the Rhomberg Quarry Hohenems-Unterklien and the rock mining between Dornbirn and Hohenems , p. 205, citing other documents and sources.
  19. ↑ Josef Amann in Heimat Schwarzach , Schwarzach 1990, self-published by the community of Schwarzach, p. 46.
  20. ↑ Richard Eberle, Station 7 - Beginnings of the Zuppinger factory - the water flow ( Memento of the original from December 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 2. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kulturkreiswolfurt.at
  21. ^ Hubert Weitensfelder in industrial provinces: Vorarlberg in the early industrialization 1740-1870 , Frankfurt 1991, Campus Verlag, p. 504, ISBN 3-593-36872-2 .
  22. ↑ Dornbirner Anzeiger, Thursday, July 10, 2014, p. 31.
  23. ↑ Manufactured by Welte IHT, International Hotel, House and Fountain Technology, Dornbirn .
  24. ↑ Dornbirner Anzeiger, Thursday, July 10, 2014, p. 31.

Coordinates: 47 ° 26 '35.3 "  N , 9 ° 47' 13.8"  E