Andrew Lindner would never swap his old sock-making machines for any slick, computer-operated model.
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On a chilly morning in his Crookwell factory, an electric blow heater warms one of the precious antiques, which his father shipped out from Germany and then taught him to operate and maintain.
He has two models. German-made ESTA machines from the 1960s with 164 needles and Bentley Komets from Leicester, England with 84 needles. In total, 14 machines hum away on the factory floor, knitting up to 40,000 pairs of socks a year.
Mr Lindner is the fourth generation Lindner in the business, which began in Germany in the 1920s and later in Bavaria.
In 1987, his parents Wilfred and Gisela moved to Goulburn and later to Crookwell with their machines which make socks from 75 per cent wool and provide a valuable point of difference.
''Not to mention the excitement that people get watching these things actually still working and making a sock in 3.5 minutes in front of their eyes,'' Mr Lindner said.
When a Crookwell hockey team asked for an urgent order so small it couldn't be filled by mass producers, he had it finished in three days.
''Oh wow, I didn't expect that,'' his hockey club customer had said. Crookwell (population 1900) is a nursery for the Canberra Raiders and Olympic hockey squads and is also a producer of world-class merino wool and seed potatoes.
Now it has a sock maker who brings tourists from far afield.
The machines knit fluffy woollen yarn with dexterity, whereas a later model machine requires more synthetic and punches out patterns much like embroidery, leaving a mass of cuts on the inside of a sock.
High wool content means Lindner socks don't sweat as much and last longer. They are a favourite of small public and private schools, as well as the town's rugby and hockey players.
Only a small amount of nylon is used. ''It's like putting steel in concrete, it strengthens the sock,'' Mr Lindner said.
Lindner's employs three people, including his mother Gisela, and fills online orders from all over Australia and abroad, which accounts for about 2 per cent of the business.
Robyn Smith, who has worked in the factory for 13 years, has been sharing her excitement around the factory floor about her niece, Emily Smith, who has been selected for the Hockeyroos to play in the London cup against the top-ranked teams who will play at the Olympic Games, continuing a tradition of national players coming from the town.
''The first thing people ask when they come through the door is 'Where does the wool come from?' '' Mr Lindner said.
Mr Lindner said nearly all of Australia's wool is now processed in China, which isn't handicapped by Australia's tougher water quality issues that have forced a lot of processing offshore.
