“Open” is written on the green sign hanging on the heavy metal door. Again and again that afternoon, customers pry open the door, ring the doorbell at the second, not quite as massive, door and wait for Andreas Kollmannsberger. He’s still very busy these days. A customer picks up a chef’s knife set in a black case that even a layman will recognize as high quality. He learned to cook, but is no longer practicing the job, the man explains, “but of course you keep your favorite tools”. He had Andreas Kollmannsberger give it a fresh touch, “if you already have a good grinding shop around the corner,” says the man. A little later another customer comes, carrying a box with a misshapen bundle wrapped in a tea towel. “I have a couple of knives,” he announces, unpacks them and shows them to Andreas Kollmannsberger. Usually, he admits, he has his knives sharpened on the Auer Dult, but he hasn’t been there for two years. That is why he checked the internet to see when Andreas Kollmannsberger’s grinding shop was open – and discovered that he had to hurry if he wanted to have his knives re-sharpened there.
Andreas Kollmannsberger has once again given a set of high-quality chef’s knives the right sharpening.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Because on this Thursday the 41-year-old unlocks his workshop for the last time – and then closes it forever. That he will soon be packing up his tools, that he will start a new professional life in Switzerland as early as February, is of course not what it looks like this Wednesday. The enthusiasm that grabbed Andreas Kollmannsberger when he looked at the rooms for the first time seven years ago can still be felt when he leads up the metal stairs to his office or to the room at the back of the building where the old one Bench grinder is standing. “From Solingen, around 1920,” says Kollmannsberger. “Nothing is new here.”
“There are few things that I cannot do,” he says
But nothing has to be new, because Zornedinger likes old machines and can repair pretty much all of them. “I’m just a good handyman,” he says. “There are few things that I cannot do.” That’s why a couple of ancient black Singer sewing machines are still waiting to be used in his workshop, which he has acquired so that he can perhaps make knife sheaths. But nothing has come of this plan for the time being, as well as the plan to permanently establish himself as a grinder in his home town.
The small grinding shop has an address on Schmiedweg and the blacksmith’s shop that gave the path its name was also located here. In principle, however, it is located directly on Münchener Strasse, in the center of town. If you were looking for a nice photo motif in Zorneding, the grinding shop would be a good tip – the idyllic parish church in the background. And yet too few customers have come over the years. Why? Andreas Kollmannsberger asks himself that too. Maybe because nowadays you can buy a cheap set of knives in the supermarket for a few euros, it will last a few months, but you don’t need to take it to the grinding shop. After all, the next set is already on the shelves of the discounter. But you can also feel that Kollmannsberger had hoped for a little more from the Zornedingern, after all, he grew up here and spent most of his life here. But even before the opening, the rumor had spread that he would charge three euros per centimeter for knife sharpening, says the 41-year-old. That already hit him.
There are many enthusiastic reviews on the Internet
But anyone who has ever been to Kollmannsberger raves about his work. “Impeccable work. Hedge trimmers, secateurs, hair scissors (yes, these too!), Pocket knife, now everything is like new again”, writes an enthusiastic reviewer on the Internet, it is one of many hymns of praise. The Stangassinger lederhosen tailor in Berchtesgaden also relied on the anger inger’s skill and brought him their scissors. Perhaps, says Kollmannsberger self-critically, he should have done more advertising and not counted so much on the fact that word would get around that he is doing a good job.
Customers brought hedge trimmers, hairdressing scissors, lawn mower blades and much more to the grinding shop.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
But the fact that business did not go as hoped is not the only reason for the end. Because there will also be major changes in the area around his workshop. The municipality has the area planned over; that the historic building with the workshop should remain standing is considered to be a matter of fact. But that the workshop should be preserved as such, just not. Kollmannsberger rented the rooms from the former blacksmith, who in turn rented them from the community. Nobody wanted to make long-term commitments, says the 41-year-old. There were even people there who were interested in the building. One wanted to set up a smaller brewery here, another a café. Maybe in the end it will be something completely different.
The 41-year-old is a trained master surgical mechanic and has kept some of the instruments from back then.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
For Andreas Kollmannsberger, his time in the cozy workshop will soon come to an end, as will his time in Zorneding. As a master surgeon, he is a sought-after specialist; he has found a new job in Sankt Gallen, and his family is moving to Switzerland with him. “I’m glad this door opened for me,” he says. The fact that he has to pull another one behind him, however, visibly saddles him. “I’m saying goodbye to my homeland, to the village where I grew up. That really affects me.” But he will keep his tools, bench grinders and sewing machines for the time being – maybe his dream will come true in a second attempt.