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Culture:American
Title:hatchel; hetchel
Date Made:1750-1840
Type:Tool - Textile Working
Materials:base metal: iron; wood
Place Made:United States; New England
Measurements:Overall: 3 1/2 in x 19 1/4 in x 3 3/4 in; 8.9 cm x 48.9 cm x 9.5 cm
Accession Number:  HD 69.1120
Museum Collection:  Historic Deerfield
1969-1120_quickt.jpg

Description:
Wooden hatchel with iron spikes. Hatchels, also known as hetchels, were used to comb flax fibers in preparation for spinning and weaving. The name comes from a late 15th-century English word (hackle) meaning to prick or pierce. The long iron teeth would align the flax fibers, separating out the shorter ones from the longer fibers desired for spinning into yarn for weaving linen. As many as five hatchels of increasingly finely spaced teeth could be used to refine the flax before spinning. This example is a finer hatchel, with the nails spaced closer together. Hatchels were used to straighten and grade the fibers in the processing of flax fibers for spinning into linen threads.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+69.1120

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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