Whetstone making in the Ammergau Alps

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The whetstone making, i.e. the production of the whetstones required for sharpening scythes and sickles in agriculture , has been an important handicraft branch in the Ammergau Alps for centuries .

background

Whetstone quarry near Unterammergau

The communities of Schwangau and halch in the district of Ostallgäu (district of Swabia (Bavaria) ) and Unterammergau , Schwaigen and Ohlstadt in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district of Upper Bavaria ) have a geological peculiarity and a unique selling point in Central Europe. In a band from Forggensee to Ohlstadt, the so-called Ammergau strata occur close to the surface in the mountains. These rock layers were the prerequisite for a flourishing whetstone production in the villages, which was sold across Europe. The occurrence of the whetstone layers not only ensured the economic upturn, but also a special social connection between the individual whetstone villages.

The Ammergau whetstone quarries are registered under the geotope number 180G004 in the Bavarian geotope cadastre and in 2008 they were included in the list of the “most beautiful geotopes in Bavaria” .

The whetstone villages

Schwangau

The whetstone making was not as important in Schwangau as in the whetstone strongholds of Unterammergau or Ohlstadt. There were quarries v. a. in the area below the Tegelberg. Old names of the whetstone quarries on Schwangauer Flur testify to the influence of the Ohlstädter and Unterammergau Stoaheigler (whetstone makers were also called as they were), who had the right to break there. They then transported the extracted stone slabs to their mills for further processing there. The Schwangau whetstones were sold and traded either by raft on the Lech or by the Unterammergau whetstone company via Loisach and Isar.

Halbch

When the whetstone production is verifiably mentioned for the first time in the Leiterau around 1787, it was probably already in progress. Production peaked in the years 1850–1870, when an estimated 6000 whetstones were made each year. The last mill was built in 1913 on the lower reaches of the Trauchgauer Ach. The whetstone making ended after the Second World War. Stoaheiglers from Unterammergau also owned mining rights in the Buchinger and Trauchgau districts. In addition to the whetstones, marble and sandstones were also mined. a. Used in the construction of the royal palaces in Schwangau. In the Trauchgau village museum, there are exhibits from this period in addition to other local history exhibitions.

Unterammergau

The village of Unterammergau is one of the two regional trading centers for whetstone making. The discovery of the special whetstone layers in 1432 counts as the hour of birth. During the unsuccessful search for valuable mineral resources such as gold or silver, the sharpening layers were found by chance. From the 18th century, whetstone production became increasingly important. With the invention and use of the stilts (grinding devices) in 1846 and other cutting devices (including Kliebschneider) in 1880, the work in the mills could be optimized and made even more effective. As a result, the number of whetstones produced rose sharply. It finally reached its peak around 1900, when up to 288,000 whetstones were produced annually. At that time there were about 30 mills in Unterammergau. After the First World War, production leveled off and the last mill closed in the 1960s. A few years ago, during extensive restoration work, “Schneiderla's grinding mill” was fully functional again. The historical working group Unterammergau regularly opens the foam mill to interested visitors. A whetstone in the municipal coat of arms also reminds of the special past of the place.

Schwaigen

For the municipality of Schwaigen with the main town Grafenaschau, quarrying and the production of whetstones played less of an important role. Rather, millstone mining and glass production in connection with the timber industry were of great importance to them. In Schwaigen there were hardly any noteworthy whetstone quarries or further processing whetstone mills that ground the stone slabs into whetstone. Tradition has it that there were quarries above the village of Grafenaschau in the middle of the 16th century. However, this was u. a. around millstone quarries. After being refined, the extremely hard millstones could be used in the mills to shred the delivered grist. There was also a glassworks in the so-called Fuchsloch (located west of Grafenaschau) where glass was produced. In the 18th and 19th centuries Grafenaschau was considered a center of glass production in southern Bavaria. Considerable amounts of wood were required for the manufacture of glass, so that the timber industry was also an important factor. The whetstone production was consequently not as important here as in Unterammergau or Ohlstadt.

Ohlstadt

Along with Unterammergau, Ohlstadt was a center of regional whetstone production. In the municipal coat of arms is u. a. the water wheel of a grinding mill as a symbol for whetstone making. In the timeline of the general history of the Werdenfelserland you can read that whetstone making in Ohlstadt probably began as early as 1350. This means that the craft is more firmly rooted in Ohlstadt than in Unterammergau. In contrast to the neighboring town, the men here had to move significantly more debris to get to the layers of whetstone. This made the production of the whetstones even more labor intensive. The stone hunters who were supposed to find suitable rock layers were given an important role. The Ohlstadt right to break partially extended to the Schwangau corridor. In 1754 there were 18 stone quarries and 19 grinding mills in Ohlstadt. Later up to 24 mills were in operation. For the wedding, around 260,000 whetstones were made per year and rafted across the Loisach and Isar v. a. exported to the Danube region. In 1953 the last remaining grinding mill ceased operations. With a lot of voluntary work, a grinding mill based on the historical model was recently rebuilt in Ohlstadt. Interested visitors can inform themselves there on regular opening days.

Production process and trading of whetstones

The whetstones were mined from naturally occurring stone slabs. The occurrence of the rock layers that were used to manufacture the whetstones is a geological peculiarity. The prerequisite and decisive for the optimal use of the rocks as whetstones was the high silica content (SiO 2 ) in the rocks. The rock layers formed at the beginning of the Jurassic period. When the shelf, which was still covered by a tropical shallow sea in Europe at that time, broke and subsequently microorganisms containing silicic acid ( radiolarians ) were evenly deposited on the bottom of the sea basin, the so-called Ammergau layers were formed. During the subsequent mountain formation of the Alps, the layers previously formed on the seabed were raised steeply, pushed up and deposited near the surface on the northern edge of the Alps. The high silica content was decisive for the grinding effect and thus for the use as a whetstone and sharpening stone in the (agricultural) industry. The special occurrence of the layers in the Ammergau Alps is one of the largest in all of Central Europe. It stretches between Lech and Loisach, from Schwangau via Halch, Unterammergau and Schwaigen to Ohlstadt.

The slabs of stone that were extracted and recovered in the whetstone quarries were cut into a reasonable size on the spot for further production in the grinding mills. Little so-called “blind rock” and overburden was transported along. The stone slabs obtained in the whetstone quarries were initially stored in the so-called Kaltern near the mills. Since it was cool and humid there, the stones could not become brittle. The coarse slabs were then cut to a width of 4 cm in the stilt room of the mill. With the help of an anvil and iron hammer (so-called Beckhammer), the stones were then cut to length and pointed shape by hand in the neighboring Beckhütte. Most of the trimming and cutting was done in the winter months when the streams were frozen. In the spring months, when the snow thawed and the meltwater from the mountains provided the mills with enough power and drive to use the tools, there were enough prefabricated stones for grinding. First of all, the blanks were ground in the mills and cut to size with the so-called Kliebschneider. The final fine-tuning of the whetstones then took place in the grinding room of the mills. After washing and labeling, the stones were ready for sale. The finished whetstones were 4 cm wide and 2 cm high and were produced in three lengths (small - 18–20 cm, medium - 20–22 cm, large - 22–24 cm).

The trading and distribution of Unterammergau whetstones was carried out by a whetstone company. The mill operators gave their whetstones there for joint export. The main buyers of the Ammergau whetstones were v. a. the Danube countries Austria and Hungary as well as other countries in today's Eastern Europe. The domestic German export to all areas of Bavaria and the neighboring federal states also played an important role. The main transport routes were v. a. the rivers. The whetstones were packed in wooden barrels and brought to Oberau by horse and cart across the Ettaler Sattel. From there, they were transported downstream on the rafts of the Loisach and Isar (and further on the Danube), and more rarely also on the Lech. The bunting could not be entered with a raft. The transports were always accompanied by two or three representatives of the whetstone company. The raft transport to Vienna took about ten to twelve days. The way back to the Ammertal was on foot and by horse. After the railroad began to open up more and more rural areas from the late 19th century onwards, transport from the surrounding stations (Schongau, Peissenberg, Murnau) was increasingly carried out by rail. The cheaper rafting was still used.

trail

As part of a LEADER project of the Zugspitz region, a hiking trail called "The legacy of the whetstone makers" is to follow the historical traces of the whetstone makers through the Ammergau Alps and connect the villages of Hohenschwangau to the Glentleiten open-air museum over a length of around 75 kilometers. The aim of the project is "to secure the knowledge of whetstone making as an important source of income for the rural population and to disseminate it through suitable campaigns, presentations and media." With the help of information boards and (historical) pictures along the hiking trail, both the process of whetstone production and the individual villages should be presented.

literature

  • Helmut Keim, Ute Rautenberg: The Unterammergau whetstone making . In: Writings of the open-air museum of the district of Upper Bavaria . No. 13 . Großweil 1987, ISBN 3-924842-13-2 .
  • Historical working group Unterammergau (Hrsg.): The whetstone making in Unterammergau . Unterammergau 2006.
  • Josef Riederer : The whetstone making in Unterammergau - early reports . Ed .: Historical Working Group Unterammergau. Unterammergau 2012.
  • Michael Spindler: Unterammergau whetstone making in Schneiderla's grinding mill in the gorge . Ed .: Municipality of Unterammergau, Historical Working Group Unterammergau. Unterammergau 2014 ( hak-unterammergau.de [PDF; 559 kB ]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ammergau whetstone quarries. In: www.lfu.bayern.de. Bavarian State Office for the Environment , accessed on January 5, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Community of Schwangau: Schwangau Info, August 2016 edition. Schwangau history (s) - Die Wetzsteinmacher, p. 6 f., Accessed on January 6, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b c municipality Unterammergau: Unterammergau whetstone making in Schneiderla`s grinding mill in the gorge. 2015. pp. 1–6.
  4. ^ The whetstone makers of Unterammergau. Passauer Neue Presse, June 3, 2011, accessed on January 3, 2020 .
  5. ^ A b Julian Wiedl: The whetstone making in Unterammergau. Seminar paper Propaedeutic Science Seminar, Ettal 2014. pp. 1–42.
  6. ↑ Glashüttenweg is open. Merkur online, May 24, 2018, accessed on January 3, 2020 .
  7. ^ Otto Krätz & Claus Priesner: The ettalische glassworks in Aschau. In: Archive of the German Museum. accessed on January 3, 2020.
  8. ^ Bavarian State Office for the Environment: Ammergauer whetstones. Bavaria's most beautiful geotopes, accessed on January 3, 2020.
  9. ^ The legacy of the whetstone makers - implementation - projects - LAG Zugspitz Region. In: www.leader-zugspitzregion.de. Regio Zugspitz Region e. V., LEADER department, accessed on January 5, 2020 .