⚙️ Schneidmühle am Hochofen

At the beginning of the Steinach valley is the "cutting mill at the blast furnace". Since 1868 it has been used to cut beams or boards from so-called "blocks". "Blöcher" are unprocessed trunks that come from the densely wooded Franconian Forest. The small sawmill was built because a hurricane in the Franconian Forest cut down countless giant trees. In 1982, students and professors at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences began to renovate the saw so that it is fully functional again today and is available for tours with its original equipment.

The Old Cutting Mill at the Blast Furnace at the entrance to the Steinach Valley offers information on all aspects of wood processing and cutting demonstrations.

In the Franconian Forest valleys, water power was not only used to drive hammer mills and flour mills. Up to 150 cutting mills once lined the streams like pearls on a chain. In 1980 the operation of the old cutting mill at the blast furnace in the Steinachtal ended.