Flax for Northern self-sufficiency

[Guest guest]

Hare Krsna dasi

 

One lack in our efforts toward self-sufficiency in northern areas is the

fact that we have no information on how to produce linen cloth from flax

plants. Although the techniques and implements for this were very

common in ancient Egypt, in Europe, in Russia, in Ireland and in North

America up until the 1900s, the information has practically died out.

 

Srila Prabhupada has encouraged us many times: Grow your own food,

produce your own cloth.

 

In Southern climates at least there is the possibility of producing

cotton. And in northern climates, devotees have raised sheep and spun

and woven wool. (Note Satyabhama's famous letter to Srila Prabhupada

accompanying the Gita-nagari woolen shawl in vol. 6 of the Prabhupada

Lilamrta.)

 

However, even though we also had home-produced woolen shawls for our

Deities at Gita-nagari, no one would really think of clothing the

Deities with just wool. They require something finer and smoother for

Their dresses.

 

Also, even for our own clothing, probably no one in a northern climate

would think of wearing only wool all year long.

 

Before the industrial revolution, northern people always raised flax to

produce their own linen.

 

Without the ability to produce linen, northern devotees will never

attain the suf-sufficiency envisioned by Srila Prabhupada. So it is

important to find information on the small-scale production of linen

from flax.

 

One key piece of equipment needed to process the flax is a FLAX BREAK

(also sometimes spelled FLAX BRAKE). This implement is used to crush

the flax stems after they have been rotted (retted) usually in water.

 

On the web, I have finally located a place where woodworkers have built

a replica of an old-fashioned FLAX BREAK: Sauder Village - a living

history farm community near Archibold, Ohio (in Amish country).

 

http://www.woodshopnews.com/stories/demos/

 

Flaxseed is a big commercial crop in Canada. The Flax Council of Canada

maintains a website which includes information on the exceptional

nutritional value of flaxseed. (I'm not sure whether nutritional flax

is good for weaving or not.):

 

http://www.flaxcouncil.ca/index.html

 

Another site is the Linen House:

 

http://www.thelinenhouse.com/Linen.asp

 

 

 

In addition, I was able to find several articles, including two

interesting historical documents describing homestead linen production

in the early times in North America. I hope you will find them of

interest.

 

On two separate postings are the most informative article I found: "From

Flax to Linen" and the JPEG images of "From Flax to Linen" which show

pictures of the simple implements required to process flax - including a

flax break!

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi

 

****************************

 

 

http://www.attention-seekers.on.ca/nancy/lunenburg/james-albert-hirtle-3.html

 

The Memoirs of James Albert Hirtle

Part Three

 

FLAX

 

I want to say something about flax. When this is nearly ripe it is

pulled, and spread out on the grass stubble, and left to rot or be

exposed to the weather, then after a time it is taken up, the seed is

threshed out, and it is ready for drying over a fire in a kiln' the

breaking is done. In the autumn, usually a plowing and a flax breaking

bee is held; when neighbors are asked to come and give us a lift, men

and women.

 

Now the FLAX BREAK is made from hard wood; four legs put together with

wooden rungs. There are seven blades, about four feet long; about 3/4

inches thick at one edge, and trimmed to an edge on the other edge these

blades are about 5 inches wide.

 

One blade has a handle, now four of these blades are put in thick edge

down, and 3 blades, with the thin edge down and the 7 blades are put in

between the upper end of the legs and at the back end a pin goes through

all seven, to form a hinge and a like pen, at the front end goes through

the bottom four leaving the upper three blades free.

 

They are fastened together by themselves, thin edge down, with the

handle one in the center and with the upper blades as a cutter the flax

is broken.

 

The flax is thoroughly dried in a kiln over a fire, so that it is easily

broken and course fiber is removed. Next comes swingling. This is done

over a block of wood having a board nailed on the side, cut off leaving

a small part extended up.

 

A swingling knife is made about 16 or 18 inches long, and about 2 1/2

inches wide, 1/2 inch thick at the back, then to an edge leaving a

handle at one end.

 

The already broken flax is then taken over the board on the block; and

flayed to take out all the tow that can be taken out that way.

 

Next comes the HATCHEL, a gadget for cleaning the last of two from the

flax. What we had was a board about 8 x 18 inches.

 

The small board was filled with nails one inch apart each way, and these

nails were the real old fashion nail, square and tapered from head to

point, and 3 inches long. This block of nails was fastened on the larger

board for support.

 

A handful of the swingled flax is drawn through these teeth and all the

refuse tow was so taken out; leaving the flax ready for the spinning

wheel.

 

MY MOTHER'S WASH BENCH

 

I should have told you about this when telling you about the brook and

dam. Well the wash bench was a plank with two legs at one end, high

enough to wash by after this fashion. The lower end was in the water

fastened or weighted down with a stone, and far enough in the water so

she could dip and wash in the water, and then use a paddle to beat out

the dirt.

 

THE FRAME WORK OF THE NEW BARN

 

For the getting out of the frame work of the new barn Dad had a man come

and do the hewing for him. Dad of course did all the chopping and

scoring, and all the man did was the hewing and framing. He used a large

broad axe, the blade was perhaps 10 or 12 inches wide, and he hewed and

framed about 100 pieces.

 

 

*****************************************

http://www.bright.net/~rshop/pioneer.html

 

Pioneer Life in Ashland County Ohio

 

BY KATE SHOPBELL SHIDLER, WRITTEN IN 1890

 

....The neighbors nearly all raised flax to work up for clothing and bed

clothing, it had to be sowed much thicker than when we wanted it for

seed. We pulled it all by hand and bound it in bunches, when it was dry

we hauled it to the barn and took the flail and hammered the seed off,

then took it to the meadow and spread it out over several acres, left it

there till the shives were rotten, then took it home and fixed a

scaffold, laid a bundle one at a time on it and put fire under it to

dry, then took the FLAX BRAKE and broke it.

 

I almost imagine I can hear the sound of the old FLAX BREAK yet, then

they handed it to the girls who scutched it till all the shives were

out, then they put it through the crop hackle, then through a coarse

hackle, then the fine hackle.

 

What we hacked out was tow, that we spun for grain sacks and chaff

ticks; the flax we spun for table linen and towels, sheets, pillow

slips, dresses and pantaloons.

 

We also worked up all our wool from twenty five or thirty sheep, made

coverlets, blankets, casinet cloth, flannels, linsey and father did the

weaving. Carpets were not in style those days, nobody had any.

 

We used to full our blankets, cloth and casinet by laying two logs on

the floor about six or seven feet apart, boys bare footed on each log

held the blankets between their feet and kicking with all their might

while someone would pour hot soap suds on the blanket, it took several

hours. The neighbor boys came in to help and had lots of fun.

 

We had a rope machine that we used to make all our bed cords, clothes

lines, plow lines and the neighbors made their ropes too.

 

***************************************

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/7231/flax.html

 

GROWING FLAX FOR LINEN IN ALASKA

 

....When early settlers came to the "New World" of the Americas, one of

the plants they brought with them was flax. They discovered that there

was flax native to North America, but the seed they imported was for

plants that had been selected for generations to produce tall, straight

stems conducive to relatively easy transformation into linen thread and

yarn. As settlers spread out across the continent, fields of flax were

one of the first plantings. First not only because the fiber was

necessary for the clothing and household "linens", but, it turns out,

the roots of flax plants have a way of breaking up newly created field

soil into finer soil ready for other crops not quite so vigorously

rooted...

 

************************

http://www.quuxuum.org/~greg/twp/skills/skills.html

 

FLAX AND LINEN

 

One of the crops grown on nearly all of the early area farms was flax.

The self sufficient nature of the early settlers of the area deemed it

necessary for each household to produce clothing as well as food and

shelter.

 

About one-quarter acre of flax per person per year was needed to produce

a sufficient quantity for cloth. Flax grows from seed to fibre in less

than nine months. The seed was usually sown in a corner of the oats

field.

 

After drying the stalk was worked for the fibre contained in it. The

fibre was stored from fall harvest until early winter when the family

had more time for the spinning process. Frequently, hired girls added

extra hands to the spinning procedure.

 

Spinning wheels were prized possessions. Many women brought them to the

marriage as a part of their dowry. Different spinning methods produced

tightly spun yarn for the warp and loosely spun yarn for the weft.

 

The yarn or finished cloth had to be bleached with wood ash. Most of the

weaving and dying of the cloth was accomplished by professional weavers.

 

Both the skill of the weaver and the type of yarn produced by the

household determined the quality of the linen produced.

 

The cloth was needed not only for clothing but for bedding and other

household uses Around the barn it was used to process milk and cheese

and needed to store grain and flour.

 

***********************