Flax hackle; Pennsylvania, 19th century
notes: label: Description
content: An old form of hackle for flax. The hackle is firmly secured to a bench with the teeth upright, and the scutched flax is drawn through it until it is clean and smooth. The shorter fibers are thus separated and the weaker ones broken and left on the teeth, constituting the tow. Before it was donated to the Smithsonian in 1884, this hackle was in use in Pennsylvania, to prepare flx for the making of coarse linen, which was at one time an article of domestic (household) manufacture in that state.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Tarlton H. Bean
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T08804.000
label: catalog number
content: T08804.000
label: accession number
content: 9518
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Hackle