Category Archives: Style

Swiss Army backpack from 1973 – salt and pepper

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First of all thanks a lot for the hint of Chris from Damn Yak, via his website in Canada I discovered this great vintage backpack from the Swiss Army. The toughness and the design is outstanding – I did not find one faulty attachment point or seam. Everything is done in a Swiss “perfectionistic” way. It was really designed for lasting a lifetime. Regarding that this rucksack sells for less than 40 Euros on Ebay I would say there is no backpack with a better value/style factor. The stamp on the pack says “L MAUERHOFER SELLERE GOLLION 73“. I would rate this backpack with a capacity of around 50 Liters and I´m sure without any problems It can handle easy 20 kg of stuff. Due to the canvas belt which acts as a suspender or a distance holder of the lower back it feels quite comfortable.

If you are searching for a daybag, I would go for the smaller version of this backpack.

Aero Leather Higwayman horsehide leather jacket

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Aero Leather Highwayman horsehide jacket brown:

Last spring I ordered a Aero Leather Highwayman horsehide jacket at a visit in munich, from Burghard Plug – Gasoline Alley. The process of finding the “right” jacket took years. Aero leather jackets are regarded to be the “Rolls Royce” of all. I totally have to agree, the craftsmanship and the quality of the materials used are hard to top. Regarding the price I even would say it is a bargain. Endless options to customize your own jacket which you have to deal with the next decades need some advice. So I strongly recommend to visit one of the Aero Leather dealers for advice. For good images beside the original Aero Leather website check Kentaurus by Stefan Laskowski in Cologne.

Three month later I finally got a call from Burghard and he told me the jacket arrived. I have to say at the beginning the leather jacket did not fit very well but because of the extremely thick leather it takes a bit of break in time. The true character and fit of the jackets develops over the time. The jackets weights around 4-5 kg with heavy front quarter horsehide. At the beginning it was hard to lift the arm and to touch the back of the neck collar – just to give you a picture. The jacket still feels like a body armor but the resistance has decreased a lot. Nice abrasion marks and “folds” are creating and the jacket is “falling” more naturally.

If you wonder why the jacket has no cord or chain for hanging it on a hook. No way! The weight of the jacket would deform the jacket, just throw it on the floor, thats it. I will post more images over the time to trace the changes.

Olympia “De Luxe” travel typewriter

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Last week finally the seller of this great travel typewriter sent me the Olympia “De Luxe”. For only 1,50 Euros in a very good condition including the transport case and the original instructions I know it was a steal. I really don´t know what to do with it but the mechanic and the look of it is easily worth the money. And due to the compact size and the travel case it is easy to store it away.

Lehnartz mocca mill – making good coffee

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Lehnartz mocca mill and other stufflehnartz mocca mill handlelehnartz coffee mill logo - Mocca Mahlwerkbearded man portraitlehnartz mokka mill trayMy recent finds, a “Lehnartz Mocca Mahlwerk“. I went back after 2 weeks to finally buy it. Be-cause I already have a “Rancilio Rocky” standing next to the “Rancilio Silvia” it made no sense to buy this manually operated mill. Or does it? I was impressed by the craftsmanship the look and the manual operation.

It is quite a labor to grind a portion of coffee with it and why just not buy a Nespresso machine and Tabs? To have a quick coffee! And it’s good coffee! … BULLSHIT!

Ok let me draw a picture of a preparing a cup of coffee if you are willing to take your time, want to slow down a bit and want to “celebrate” it.

You need:
– a coffee machine, my choice would be a bialetti style one
– fresh roasted beans no older than 2 weeks max! (or roast them fresh by yourself – but this would kill the whole post by it’s length, I will write the process soon). Wrote the process now: check here: Home roasting coffee.
– fresh milk from the farmer, 3,8% fat +
– brown cane sugar
– a coffee/mocca mill like the Lehnartz, one which is adjustable
– a special mug to serve it
– good sound

That should be enough, don’t mind if you have not all things for the beginning.
Essential is the right grinding for the type of coffee machine you use. For the bialetti style machine you should grind it medium, not so fine as with an real espresso machine and not to big as for a filter coffee maker. It takes a bit of practice and adjustments. Too fine and water will be blocked, to big and the water rushes trough. Thats the reason you need an adjustable mill for good coffee. Buying already grinded coffee, mostly does not hit the point for your machine or use perfectly.

After you filled the filter with the coffee and applied some pressure. What is the right amount of pressing the coffee – good question, this is variable 2. Practice, not too dense and not too loose, then close the machine and put it on the stove. While listening to your music, take the mug and poor some spoons of brown sugar in it. Get the bottle of milk out of the fridge and prepare the pot for heating and foaming the milk. Choose a flat pot for a lot of room to stir. After the coffee is through the filter, poor it in the the mug with the coffee and stir it well. Then put the pot with the milk on the stove, it should not take more than about 1 minute to heat it up to about max. 60 Celsius. If you boil it the milk will loose it’s sweetness. To foam it manually and not with the espresso machine, I recommend to use one of those flat wire wisks (drop me a note if you do not get the picture, I can post one). You should be able to just still touch the pot, thats about 60 Celsius. Pour the milk in the mug and stir it with a spoon, so the coffee and sugar flavor also is in the foam. Drink it and take your time!

Feinschmuck belt buckles – Gürtelschnallen

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monkey belt bucklefeinschmuck belt buckle, gürtelschnalle - kaiser franz joseph I.feinschmuck belt buckle, gürtelschnalle - leibniz butterkeksfeinschmuck belt buckle, gürtelschnalle - wasserbüffel und chineseFeinschmuck has created a couple of new belt buckles / Gürtelschnallen. The Leibniz Butterkeks Gürtel I think will be quite successful. They are all bronze and the monkey belt buckle has been “aged”. Different coatings are also possible e.g. silver or gold.