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From:
Subject: [DBY] Hacklepin Grinder
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 06:38:02 EDT


Hi Irene
'Spinning Wheels, Spinners and Spinning' by Patricia Baines [1979], page 24,
explains Hackles in detail.
'Hackles consist of circular or square clusters of metal teeth set upright in
a wooden board. There are usually 3 or 4 different sizes of hackles, each
becoming successively shorter and finer. The flax is combed through each set
starting with the coarsest and working through to the finest, thus cleaning
out the remaining pieces or boon, removing the short fibres and aligning the
long ones parallel.......... when hackling is completed the flax is stored in
bundles known as stricks and the ends either tied loosely or twisted
together.'

As a handspinner I too have used a hackle, but in my case for fleece. Mine is
clamped to the table top and consists of two rows of extremely sharp steel
pins, the points uppermost. Mine is a fairly coarse example. [I have spun
flax also]

Some while ago a search was made for the flax meadow [where the flax was
soaked for retting] at Allestree, and although no actual discovery was made,
it was thought that it may have been by the Derwent, near Lodge Lane [by the
small bridge off the A38] where there is a very damp meadow. You might like
to look up 'Transformation of a Valley' which is about the Derwent, published
in the last 10 years. This publication talks about a flax mill at Allestree,
where flax was bought in and then treated.

Hope this helps a bit :)

Best wishes
Malise McGuire [Derby]

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