Onomatopoeic and Useful – the "Firliforli" or "Schüsslaborrer"

Potters and tinkers used it in their work – and customers were delighted when the "Firliforli" fulfilled its purpose. The "Firliforli" is a hand drill, also known as a bow drill. With this tool, the potters and tinkers would drill holes in broken bowls or other crockery.

Why did this please the customers? Quite simply because the potters and tinkers used the holes to staple broken pieces of crockery together using wire staples. Mending broken crockery was ultimately cheaper than buying new bowls or jugs.

One such specimen of a "Firliforli" is on display in the local museum in Vals, the Heimatmuseum Gandahus. In plain Walser German, the hand drill is referred to as "Schüsslaborrer" (bowl drill) or "Häftliborrer" (staple drill) here. In addition, one can also see what such a bowl with "Häftli”, i.e., staples, looks like in the museum.