Why Installing This 7-Ton Grindstone Required Nerves of Steel

A seven-ton sandstone grinding wheel has worn down to the point it can no longer do its job. Now it has to come out, and a new one — two and a half meters across — has to go in. No crane, no machinery. Just timber cribbing, iron bars, a jack, and a crew who have done this before. Once the stone drops into the pit, the real work begins. The arbor has to be driven, the flanges seated, and the face dressed down flat before a single saw blade can touch it. And before anyone stands near it, the stone has to be run in — because a hidden crack will not announce itself. This is how it was done in 1971 at a working grinding mill in Germany. Some of it has not changed in centuries. Original source material: Schleifsteinhängen und Schleifen von Sägen in der Schleiferei Wolf und Bangert Published by Alltagskulturen im Rheinland © LVR-Institut für Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte CC BY 4.0