From the workshop to the field

A piece of ground is marked off, grass plots and earth are removed. The peat is cut with the peat spade, put on wheelbarrows, and transported to the drying-place. There the sods are stacked loosely in double rows, transposed a few weeks later, and finally…

In an Alpine hut milk is heated in a kettle above an open fire and made to curdle by adding rennin and cultures. The cheese mass that is thus formed is filled into a mould and pressed for approximately 24 hours. Before the cheese is placed in a saline bat…

The wood processing home industry has lost a great deal of value but in the Bavarian Forest it is still plays a certain part. The film shows how wood strips of two to three-finger width are split off from logs and how the strips are used for making a &quo…

Making of a pannier in the parlour of the Unterlacher-Hof at ST. Jakob (Ahrntal). The pannier consists of a narrow wooden base into which the canes are fitted, which then spread out towards the top and are woven into the split strips of wicker made of sto…

Einer der letzten Fischereibetriebe an der Weser. Im Kontext sozialer Interaktion und alltäglicher Arbeitsroutine im Jahreslauf wird deutlich, wie die Familie Dobberschütz sich neuen ökonomischen und ökologischen Bedingungen anpaßt: Veränderte Fangtechnik…

Thick pine logs are split in the courtyard with a hatchet and wedges. Inside the house the slips of wood are marked off with the use of a pattern and cutcu with a hand saw to different length. The shaping into shingles is done on the carver's bench by…

At the beginning of the film the drawing of lots the baking order is shown, because we are concerned with a community baking oven which any member of the community may use. From the preparation of the dough on the eve of the baking day and the heating of …

In Saarland the foundry Mabilon is finished months of work to make a three-part clay cast. The parts are the core (the false bell), a coat and a crown.

The production of a wooden rake requires a number of manual processes and the application of various woods. In the film you can see the making of a rake-head into which the shank will be introduced. As the production of the film had to be carried out with…

Knife making is one of the oldest crafts. Even today with mass production there are still craftsmen who produce knives within the so-called home industry. This film which was shot in Sarntal in South Tyrol, shows an elderly village-craftsman finishing off…

In an Alpine hut, the Alpine dairyman pours cream into the barrel-shaped butter churn. The butter churn is driven electromechanically and rotates around a horizontal central axle. The finished butter is kneaded in clear water, form with a wooden butter mo…

The "Weißberg" farmer at St. Magdalena in Gsiestal mixes the dough for the annual bread supply. The dough consists of rye flour (3/4), a mixture of wheat and barley flours (1/4), leaven, salt, condiments (caraway-seed, soriander, anise, allspice…

The gradual transformation of flax-stalks into spinning fibres is shown at different working places on the domain of a farm in St. Magdalena in the Gsieser valley of South Tyrol. First of all, the seminal capsules are removed from the stalks. This work is…

In his small woodworking shop at St. Magdalena (Gsiestal) Konrad Gietel is making staves from pine wood for a churn. First he assembles the staves, then he applies cold glue, and finally he fits iron straps around the churn to keep the staves tightly toge…

At St. Magdalena (Gsiestal) the rye is threshed with the help of relatives and neighbours. The crop is spread out on the barn-floor and the grains are beaten out with flails. Finally the grain is separated from chaff and dust by meanss of the so-called wi…

Making of breadcutter called Grambl. The procedure can be observed in full detail. By means of the Grambl the hard South Tyrolian one-year bread is crumbled.

The cream, obtained by means of a centrifuge, is poured into a wooden churn, called a Schlacker in South Tyrol. With the help of a pounder the cream is turned into butter. According to temperature, the butter is ready in 15 - 20 minutes.

Hay-harvesting on a high alpine pasture in the Gsies valley with all operations belonging to it: mowing the grass, sharpening and whetting the scythe, tedding and raking the hay, and carrying the hay into the log-cabin. Beside harvesting we also see the b…

In the "Stube" of the Weißberg-Hof in St. Magdalena, situated in the Gsieser Valley in South Tyrol, the formation stages of a "tape" (utilliy tape) are shown. First, the farmer prepares the small tape-Ioom for weaving. The individual t…

On an Alpine farm in St. Magdalena (South Tyrol) the farmer's wife makes cheese: She pours milk into a large copper vessel hanging on a turning arm over the hearth and heats it. As rennet she uses a powder mixed water and a pinch of salt. She stirs th…

The farmer "Weißbergbauer" is getting his private mill ready for operation. He cleans the millstones and sharpens them. He works the surface of the runner (upper millstone) and of the bottom millstone with a pointed flat hammer and a flat flutin…

Manufacture of a wheel of wood: Drilling the opening of the hub, making the different parts, assembling the wheel on the wheelwright's bench, wedging the fellies. 2. Tiring of the wheel by the blacksmith in Lana, Meran: Measuring the circumference, f…

The cooper Josef Schölzhorn from Eisacktal shows the manufacture of a 100-litre wine cask by hand. Chestnut boards are cut and shaped with the jointer into staves. The staves are arranged upright in a few hoops and drawn together over the fire by means of…

Two men plough a field with a wheel plough drawn by a team of oxen put to a yoke. One of the men then sows broadcast winter wheat. A frame harrow with iron teeth, drawn by a horse, is drawn over the land to cover the seed.

The film shows how a water supply made of trunks is being repaired. Trunks of 3 - 4 meters length are hollowed out; a 2.5 m long tube drill is used. The thick ends of these wooden tubes are widened and cone-shaped with a special tool (kachler). In the fie…

After collecting and extruding the clay, cutting off pieces of the clay column and drying them, the moulded bricks are set in the annular brick-kiln. In the annular brick-kiln the fire circulates once in eight days. The bricks are set in and removed after…

At Unnersberg there still exists the workshop, set up in 1923, of the 87-year-old "Einsteckreider" Walter Krebs. Walter Krebs shows the abilities and the working techniques of the "Einsteckreider" fitting knives: After a treatment with…

To start the process of carbonization the charcoal-burners introduce a fire into the fuel shaft, where combustion then rises from the bottom to the top. Smoke-holes are made in the jacket of the pile, first at the upper part and then, at regular intervals…

A shepherd's work is documented, beginning in spring. Sheering the herd, lamming, shearing, ram auction. Shepherd comments on conditions and his dog.

After a short depiction of the landscape the film shows the various processes of reed roof thatching: erection of the scaffolding, removing the damaged roof, cutting the bundles of reeds, laying and fastening the reed to the roof structure, covering the r…

In 1985 the Museum of Rafts at Weyer celebrates its tenth anniversary. On this occasion an Enns raft is built by the traditional method from pine trunks. Former raftsmen and woodcutters show for the last time their ability. The film presents all the stage…

In late July, early August the rye is harvested. Before harvesting, which is done by all members of the family, the reaping-tools are sharpened by beating the cutting-edges flat. During reaping the tools are sharpened again with a whet stone. When the rea…

After the old loam-floor is removed the ground is covered with dry loam, sprinkled with water and wedged by two cows, which are led across the loam. After that the children of the village compress the loam further playing circle games and the final smooth…

After preparing the warp by means of the warping frame and reel the warp is fixed to the loom. After fixing the front end of the warp to the take up roller and dressing the warp threads, the weaving process is started: The weaver inserts the weft by a shu…

Making a rope from sisal using simple ropemaker's tools.

A length of steel is cut off, heated and, passing under a variety of water-powered hammers, made into a hoe blade. The film then shows the polishing processes applied to the blade.

In a loam pit on the plateau of the anterior Hunsrück the loam is made into bricks after the old fashion: After drying the handmoulded, unfinished bricks, they are piled up into an open-air-oven, interspersed with channels and layers of coal, externally c…

Agriultural work on the estate Rosdorf (near Göttingen) shot in the late 1930s (ploughing, chisel ploughing, drilling, rolling, harrowing, sowing, harvesting, threshing with a thresher). Finally the film shows a harvest feast from 1934.

Handling of various tools which were used for the cleaning of drains in the Elbmarshes in former times.

Dried rushes (Scirpus lacustris) are plaited to a strong three-strand plait (for the sole) and a slender six cord plait (for the upper part). First the oval sole is seamed together and then the six cord plait is sewn on in spiral twists.

The rattle, a well-known noisy and musical instrument which in former times played an important part in various customary processes is, up to now, used in the southern German area and made on order by craftsmen in the villages. The film shows a cartwright…

Master blacksmith Adolf Kretzer of Exten (Rinteln) makes spade blades using a water-powered hammer. Comparison of traditional hand work and machine methods. Replacement of various types of spades by mass-produced steel plate types.

Eine der letzten Siedepfannensalinen Mitteleuropas: natürliche Salzsole wird in offene Siedepfannen gepumpt. Das dort zu Boden gesunkene Salz wird von den Siedern an den Pfannenrand gezogen, abgesaugt, getrocknet und verpackt. Neben dieser besonderen Art …

Social interaction and work routine of one of the last fishing families on the Weser river and how they adjust to new economic and ecological conditions. Changed fishing techniques (eel choker), expansion into fishing in the Dümmersee, trout rearing and m…

One of the last salt works in Central Europe: natural saline is pumped into boiling pans. Precipitated crystals are removed, dried and packed. A low-tech working day is shown.

The bell form is disassembled and the "false bell" removed. The form is placed in a trench and covered with earth. The molten metal is poured in via a brick canal. Afterwards the metal is removed, cleaned and tested for clarity of tone.

Two reapers working from right to left one behind the other. With the sickle in the right hand some blades are bundled together and then gripped with the left. Then the cut is processed at knee-height in a drawing movement. Three or four cuts make up a ha…

Making a two-threaded rope from sedge (Carex). These ropes were fomerly used as a binding material for roof-thatching.