They Split Volcanic Rock With Nothing But Wedges!

In the village of Bell in the Mayen-Koblenz district of the Rhineland, a centuries-old trade once thrived: quarrying volcanic tuff stone from open-cut pit workings and shaping it entirely by hand into the stones used to build traditional bread ovens. The tuff of the Eifel region had a unique quality — it absorbed heat rapidly and released it slowly, without cracking or spalling under repeated firing, making it the ideal material for oven construction. This 1970s documentary follows the last master craftsmen still working the traditional Bell Layen quarries, splitting massive blocks from the rock face using iron wedges and crowbars, then dressing each piece to precise dimensions with picks, flatters, and comb chisels. Every cut, every measurement, every blow of the mallet reflects a body of knowledge passed down through generations — with no machines, no power tools, and no room for error. By the time of filming in 1976, only four oven-building businesses remained active in Bell. Today, the craft has vanished entirely. Original source material: Das Handwerk der Beller Backofenbauer - 1 Gewinnung des Tuffsteins Published by Alltagskulturen im Rheinland © LVR-Institut für Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte CC BY 4.0