KRÖGER & TRENKAMP SCHAUFEL- U SPATENFABRIK

The company Kröger und Trenkamp was founded in 1924 by Josef Kröger and Josef Trenkamp. In the early 1950s, Josef Trenkamp left the business. When Josef Kröger suddenly passed away in 1956, Alfons Kröger took over the operations of the spade forge. The art of the spade blacksmith is continued by his son Veit. Today, the company employs seven staff members, and annually, around 20,000 spades and 40,000 shovels leave the workshop. Spades forged with a spring hammer In Germany, there are only a handful of people left who forge spades using a so-called spring hammer. About 5,000 of these spades leave our workshop in Mühlen each year. The feel for the work must come from the foot. This is how the speed and power of the 125-kilogram "bear" is controlled. The "bear" is the part that moves up and down like a hammer. The lower part of the "bear," called the saddle, strikes the hot metal with force. One must work with a lot of sensitivity and keep the blade in constant motion. Two strikes on the same spot, and the blade is split. These forged pieces have little in common with a regular hardware store spade. These spades taper in thickness both from top to bottom and from inside to outside. As a result, they are sharper than spades made from sheet steel, and forged spades sharpen themselves over time.