Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Something I Learned

 

(not my photo)  I learned something new.  We were browsing at an antique store this year, and my husband and another couple were trying to figure out what this tool was used for.  It's a board with spikes going upward. 

It was used in Colonial days to run the fibers of flax stems through.  Flax was used to make fibers of thread to create linen.  Ha! Now we know.

9 comments:

Lady Locust said...

Aren't they called a hatchel??? Kinda vicious looking things.

mamasmercantile said...

It is so nice to learn something new.

Lisa K Thomasson Jung said...

So interesting. I love learning new thkngs.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Lady Locust, I never looked up the name, but they are definitely scary tools ha ha!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

mamasmercantile and Lisa, it is fun to learn something new.

Ulvmor said...

Right after the WW2, when my grandparents moved here, they had nothing. And I mean nothing. In the first summer my grandpa sow flax, and in autunm grandma harvested them and put them to soak in the ditch. During the winter grandpa built all tools needed, so when next spring grandma was able to process flax to linen, she had all tools she needed, and among those were those spiky ones. Grandpa also built looms, so when next winter came, they had bedsheets my grandma weaved during the summer.
I don't think I would be able to do half the things my grandparents did.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Ulvmor, I agree. Lots of work.

JustGail said...

If I saw them in the store, I'd known they were for fiber work of some kind but the first thing to come to mind would have been using them as a first round of preparing wool. I hate to think of how many times I'd poke myself before getting the hang of using them.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Just Gail, it's a scary looking tool for sure ha ha!