Be an Object Detective – can you guess what today’s Mystery Object is?
Here are some questions to answer about the object:
Looking at these objects, can you guess what material they are made of?
These two objects work together. How do you think they are used? What do you think they do?
Yesterday’s Mystery Object was a Hatchel.
This object sometimes is also called a hackling comb. It is made of wood and has metal spikes sticking up from the center. This tool was used to prepare flax fiber. Flax fiber was used in to make certain fabrics such as lace and is also used for some papers. Since flax fiber comes from a plant, it needs to be prepared to use as a fabric through a process called “dressing”. This preparation changes the flax from straw into fiber.
A hatchel is used during the final step of dressing the flax. The fibers are combed through the sharp spikes which split the straw into fine fibers and also polish it. Often several Hatchels would be used to make the fiber very thin.
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