Coarse wire drawing

In a window niche of the Märkisches Museum in Altena Castle hangs a bronze plaque with a poem in praise of Johan Gerdes, the first manufacturer of steel wire in Altena. Before Johan Gerdes, wire mills in Altena had only processed the easy-to-form grade of iron known as "Osemund" iron. The first steel wire was drawn in Nuremberg, where needlemakers had flourished since 1363. Around the year 1520 needlemaking came to Aachen, which then established itself as the center of needle production and trade. By 1540 the Italians were praising Germany's musical wire manufacturing.

Johan Gerdes is remembered for accidentally discovering the right lubricant for passing wire through the die hole. After several unsuccessful drawing trials he threw the steel wires into a corner of his workshop yard used as a urinal. Wire drawing was a thirsty job so that the intensive efforts of the workers soon left the discarded wire with an amber-colored patina. When Gerdes repeated his tests with the thus prepared wires it was clear that he had discovered the first lubricant to assist the drawing of steel wire. What was previously a human waste product became a valuable material overnight and continued to be used in wire mills until up to a century ago.