Tag Archives: solingen

Herder Windmühlen Breakfast Knife

Herder Windmühlen Breakfast Knife / Frühstücksmesser

Today at breakfast my little sister Greta complained about that she did not get a Frühstücksmesser from me YET! So I went into my inventory, got her one and engraved it. (ok i can work on this skills). Above you see 3 different aged ones, Geta´s brand new one, the one I use since about a year, and my first one used for about 2 years before I broke it.

Honestly having breakfast or performing with small amounts of sausage, cheese, butter and jelly/marmelade without this knife results in panic or unsatisfactionary results. Why?

1. They are sharp, not razor sharp (which is sure possible to get them that way) but sharp enough to cut fine slices of hard salami which most 3 times bigger chefknifes might struggle.

2. The “Buckelsklinge” shape of the tip of the blade is just perfect to distribute butter and other semi liquid stuff on your slice of bread.

3. The blade got sharpened all the way to the cutting edge not just a quick e.g. 45 degree angle which goes blunt too quickly. (it is called the Solinger Dünnschliff)

4. They just look great after some time of usage, no need to say you have to go for the carbon version!

5. They take some care but they are worth it! From time to time add some olive oil to the cherry tree handle and if too rusty just go with some steelwool over the blade (not the cutting area).

6. Never press too hard to press down cold “Leberwurst” or you might break the blade – shame on me.

Enough said, you might not be able to understand the use or the fascination for this knife before you have tried it, but I guarantee you and your friends and family will go after it. Make sure to protect it well or supply them. (I guess I gave already +20 of them away)

Ah and one simple and last advice, take care as I written above it is a sharp knife not as the Breafast knifes you used to use!

You might wonder why I did not have listed Manufactum (where I fist saw and bought this knife – they are out of stock) or Robert Herder Solingen (new website under construction).

Pimped an old rusty kitchen knife

Straight Razor blades collection – and the beard had to go

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Straight Razor blades collection – and the beard had to go:
Last week I looked at my dusted razor blades and thought – are you mad at me ? After about 3 month of no use of a razor blade I decided they need more attention. Not to say that just 2 days ago I bought a comb to trim the beard. So after 5 minutes the beard was gone no major cuts, just two and honestly I really did not like my face afterwards. It looked 10 years younger.

Three straight razors are worth to be mentioned:
– Bismarck super “best german hollow ground”, a blade I bought in Bremen for fun around 1994 which I rediscoverd 2 years ago and which started the whole affection for old safety razors and straight razors blades. It is just not too sharp because it´s out of steel, so not my first choice.
– Scharff & Kober I got from someone at the nassrasur community, it was sold as ready to shave, not too sharp but sharper than the Bismarck. Nice engraving on the blade and a more classic look.
– The Tambour 41 by Robert Buntenbach. I got two of them at an antique shop in Ravensburg and they are like new. The engraving “Nachschliff Enslin” means that they have been at a master sharpener, Mr. Enslin to be sharpened or resharpened. They are the sharpest and get sharper after every shave and some treatment on the leather. Since both blades look like brand new I guess they have been sharpened and stocked but never really used. They both come from an old barber shop which closed down due to the age of the barber. The razor blade bag is also from the same source.
(If someone is interested on one of the Tambour´s I would trade it or sell it, make me an offer).

German Navy knife – Bordmesser BW

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Just by accident I found this old German Navy Sailor knife called “Bordmesser” in the drawer of my father in law. A well used vintage knife from 1964 by Hugo Köller Solingen. He told me he got the knife from a fisherman who killed the fish with the Marlinspike / Marlspieker. (the usual purpose is to fix ropes or to open knots).