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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.

Comments

Lady Locust said…
Aren't they called a hatchel??? Kinda vicious looking things.
mamasmercantile said…
It is so nice to learn something new.
So interesting. I love learning new thkngs.
Lady Locust, I never looked up the name, but they are definitely scary tools ha ha!
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.
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.
Just Gail, it's a scary looking tool for sure ha ha!

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