Riveting machine

The electric riveting machine manufactured by Adam Baumüller GmbH in the 1980s is used to mount the knife blade onto the knife handle with rivets. To do this a worker places the knife handle in position so that a vertical stamp can punch the pre-applied rivets through the holes of the handle and the blade.
The sound of the riveting machine results from the impact of the stamp hitting the rivets.
The riveting machine is in use in the knife factory Windmühlenmesser Robert Herder in Solingen (Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia), which was founded in 1872. Today the enterprise is in its 4th generation, headed by Giselheid Herder-Scholz. It has maintained techniques and methods of manual knife-making which have vanished more and more with the growth of mechanical fabrication.

In Solingen the production of blades has a long tradition. As early as the 14th century blades were made in large numbers in Solingen. Until the end of the 19th century the entire economy of Solingen was dominated by the cutlery industry.

Sound recordist: Konrad Gutkowski/Julian Blaschke
Photographer: Konrad Gutkowski/Julian Blaschke
Video recordist: Konrad Gutkowski/Julian Blaschke