Dorchester Illustration 2714 Scutching Knife and Hackle
Last week, we saw a flax break. This week we have a photo of the Clapp family scutching knife and hackle (sometimes called a heckle).
After the stems were broken with the flax break, the debris on the outside of the stems was scraped off using a wooden knife, called a scutching knife. A bundle of flax was held up against an upright board, the edge of the wooden knife is scraped along the fibers to pull away pieces of the stalk. The action is repeated until all of the stalk has been removed, and the flax is smooth and silky.
The fibers are then drawn through a hackle, which combs the straw and some of the shorter fibers out of the desirable longer fibers.