Knife grinding in Solingen

[kwakster]

This two-part documentary shows the knife grinding process of German made Robert Herder knives as done by Wilfried Fehrekampf, one of the last (if not the last) Solinger grinding masters, on equipment that is over a century old.
Everything is shot entirely in the German language but filmed in great detail, so it's more than worth it to watch.








Wilfried Fehrekampf is one of last German knife grinding masters who can still create the famous "Solinger Dünnschliff" (an extremely thin & flexible grind) on the forged carbon steel blades produced by German manufacturer Robert Herder.
The process involves various steps of grinding and polishing up to the last step which more or less "closes up" the pores in the steel which helps to keep corrosion at bay.
All work is done on more than a century old equipment using leather and felt covered wooden wheels and natural abrasives excavated in Greece (Naxos)
After the polishing is done another craftsman puts on the wooden handles which are then polished also.

Since i do the sharpening for a few restaurant chefs in my hometown i get to sharpen quite a few of these Robert Herder knives on a regular basis.
The knives are very well made and the blades cut extremely well too, even when they are a bit blunt, because of their superb thin geometry (which is much thinner than any of their stainless counterparts from Wusthoff or Henckels.)
The steel itself has a good hardness (60HRC), while at the same time being very resilient and also very easy to sharpen since the wear resistance is fairly low.
Corrosion isn't really a problem due to the very fine polish the blades are given, but they do develop a patina fairly quickly.
The steel loves to be polished on Paper Wheels and gets astoundingly sharp, as in easily whittling hair and cutting single sheet toiletpaper.

So if you like your kitchen knives to be well made, capable of cutting better than most stainless steel counterparts, and don't mind a bit of a patina: check them out.
I'm looking to get the Chef's Knife model 1922 (which is shown in the documentary) for myself, 

[Jmora]

thanks for that, its nice to see that the old master has a few new apprentices, and that the craft is actually enjoying a minor renaissance, rather than inevitably dieing out.

[MultiMat]

I loved his loyal obedient dog keeping him company at work  .
At the start when he arrived too work I thought gosh the building looks like it is going too fall down  .
Not sure if the lack of hand guards/protection would meet Aussie OHS (occupation health & standards)  : I do not think there there are many Master-craftsman working Oz though .His left thumb nail takes a battering  .
I think the old calculator was the most modern piece of equipment in the workshop & that looked ancient   

Kwaka near the end of part 2 what was going on with the removal of the equipment via the crane out the window  , moving premises ? or maintenance ?

That was great too watch I wish I understood German though.

[Smitty44]

That was great watching old world craftman at there finest,thanks for sharing.

[Jmora]

I loved his loyal obedient dog keeping him company at work  .
At the start when he arrived too work I thought gosh the building looks like it is going too fall down  .
Not sure if the lack of hand guards/protection would meet Aussie OHS (occupation health & standards)  : I do not think there there are many Master-craftsman working Oz though .His left thumb nail takes a battering  .
I think the old calculator was the most modern piece of equipment in the workshop & that looked ancient   

Kwaka near the end of part 2 what was going on with the removal of the equipment via the crane out the window  , moving premises ? or maintenance ?

That was great too watch I wish I understood German though.

the factory were moving his work station from those premises to within the factory. Thereafter he was going to teach some new apprentices his craft for another 2 or 3 years, so that he could at last go into retirement.

that knife he used to cut his sandwiches was pretty amazing, worn almost to nothing.

[Neil]

Thanks for sharing these.  Its great to see manufacture like this close up.

[MultiMat]

I loved his loyal obedient dog keeping him company at work  .
At the start when he arrived too work I thought gosh the building looks like it is going too fall down  .
Not sure if the lack of hand guards/protection would meet Aussie OHS (occupation health & standards)  : I do not think there there are many Master-craftsman working Oz though .His left thumb nail takes a battering  .
I think the old calculator was the most modern piece of equipment in the workshop & that looked ancient   

Kwaka near the end of part 2 what was going on with the removal of the equipment via the crane out the window  , moving premises ? or maintenance ?

That was great too watch I wish I understood German though.

the factory were moving his work station from those premises to within the factory. Thereafter he was going to teach some new apprentices his craft for another 2 or 3 years, so that he could at last go into retirement.

that knife he used to cut his sandwiches was pretty amazing, worn almost to nothing.

Thanks Jimbo 
I hope his apprentices keep at it.