Hi Linda, in Pforzheim there are lots of tools’ shops. They are not
very far from the main train station and the centre. One is Fischer,
Berliner Str., close to it there is Schmalz, Museumsstr.(?). A german
or swiss product usually costs say 10 marks when in the US it costs 10
dollars, so you can save almost 50 per cent. Close to those shops
there is an antiquity shop that also sells used tools for watchmakers
and jewellers, where you can make good bargains sometimes, like good
special files for 2 marks (by the way, I missed those important files
in the Rio Grande cat.: they are flat, on the rounded edges they have
teeth and are used to accomodate pieces of tube in a piece, file
mountings etc. We call them Scharnierfeile = tube file). And there is a
polish who has got a used tools shop, very good bargains and very
friendly, too (M. Berus, Hohenzollernstr. 79, Tel. 07231-17793, not
English speaking though). You definitely have to visit the
Schmuckmuseum (jewellery museum) at the Reuchlin Haus, they have a
huge collection of beautiful jewellery from the very beginning of
jewelry making to modern times. Most interesting place in Pforzheim I
think. Have a good time!
Dear Michael, I have been looking for a tool that may only be located
in an antique shop. Could you see if you antique source in Germany
would have one? It is an old height measuring guage. It looks like a
salt shaker. It is about 5 inches in height , has about a 1 1/2 inch
diameter. As you twist the top of the unit, a small angled point goes
up and down to measure the height of an object measured from a flat
surface plate. If any one else has seen this tool please let me know.
Thanks,
TR the Teacher & Student
Dear TR, As a Die Maker in my former life, I am very familar with your
tool, although not as an antique. We all made an item similar to
this, we called a “mouse”, and used them to scribe lines off a base
plate. Ours are a small rectangular shaped, precision ground base,
with a circular attachment on one end. This had a scriber, and could
be rotated for large height adjustments, and also had a fine
adjustment screw in the rear which tilted the front portion for fine
tuning. Also made so a dial indicater could be attached to the scribe
area. Very hard to verbably describe, but I am sure I have one
somewhere, getting rusty, if you are interested. Mike