About us

In 1878 the charcoal factory was built by Mr. Otto Schütte. The official start of business was in 1879. At that time, the charcoal processing company operated under OSO – Otto Schütte Oberkirchen, affectionately called the „Black Factory“ in the local area. The charcoal was burned in the Sauerland forests and processed into products such as charcoal semolina – charcoal dust – pressed charcoal – filter charcoal and later also into barbecue charcoal. Around 100 people worked in charcoal processing in the 1920s. This made OSO one of the most important industrial plants in the Sauerland.

In 1974, Willi Schütte set up his own smithy in part of the building and in 1996 acquired the entire property from Peter Schütte, a grandson of the company founder, who was unable to continue the business for health reasons. The property was expanded and an exhibition area with a shop for the blacksmith shop was built. The charcoal processing was leased to Mr. Wilhelm Atorf and continued during this time in the spirit of Peter Schütte. In 2004, Willi Schütte handed over both businesses, the charcoal processing and the metal construction business, to Thomas Schütte, his son.

Thomas Schütte modernizes the metal construction business and set up a blacksmith café. In 2009 Thomas Schütte took over the management of charcoal processing, modernized the company and had it REACH registered. This enabled him to resume the charcoal business from back then. In the „Black Factory“, which now operates under the name „Charcoal Processing Schütte“, charcoal is broken into various strengths for industry and sieved into different grain sizes and mixed or ground according to customer requirements. Here the areas of application are very diverse. Furthermore, as in the past, charcoal is still sold.