The exhibition explores Solingen, one of the six industrial museums of the Rhineland interconnected to form one single museum. The central features of these museums are in particular the metalworking, textiles, paper-making and electrical sectors. The central building is housed in the Altenberg zinc factory in Oberhausen. The exhibition comprises cutting tools manufactured in the well-known and important knife-making industrial centre of Solingen.
The bulk of the exhibition comprises: pocket knives (very typical of Solingen), cutlery, many different types of scissors, butcher's tools, kitchen knives of difference sizes, knives used by various trades and many other items providing a new perspective on the manufacturing of the cutting tools we use every day.
The exhibition is supplemented by images of the life and work of the men and women who inhabited this industrial town. Aside from the production process, visitors can see the personal tools that the workers used, the seat of the corkscrew grinder, the machines used in the production process, such as the grinders and personal items brought from home by the workers, including their sandwich boxes and kettles for making coffee.
