Flax ripple

At a glance

• Material: hardwood plank, forged iron teeth
• Stage: rippling, the first step after harvest
• Products: linseed (for oil) and stems (for linen fiber)
• Related crafts: spinning, weaving

What it is

The ripple is a board, often mounted on a bench or trestle, with a row of long iron teeth like a giant comb. Handfuls of harvested flax were drawn through the teeth so that the seed capsules came off.

The seeds gave linseed oil. The stems, freed of their heads, were spread on the meadow to ret, letting dew and microbes loosen the fibers from the woody core.

From stalk to linen

After retting, the stems were dried, broken, scutched and combed to extract the long fibers, which were spun into the famous linen thread. The book calls it the noble and precious fiber.

Spinning wheels and skein winders, described in the Trinkets and Lace chapter, took over from there.

Collecting it today

Ripples are rarely seen and easily mistaken for other toothed tools such as hay rakes. Look for teeth set closely in a straight row, worn on the edges where stalks were pulled through. Old ones are often heavy and robust.

Hung horizontally above a door or used as a hanging rack for kitchen tools, a ripple makes an unusual decorative piece.