WE TEST PREPARING WITH COPIES OF OLD EQUIPMENT

Fride Kramer Riseng

Nov 29, 20222 min read

November 2022

Now the moment of truth has come; the results from the summer's retting! We are testing nettle preparation with both linen tools and copies of old (nettle) tools. Everything should be ready when we start the preparation in the spring.

So in November, my husband Tormod and I went to Steinkjer where we tested nettles. We worked with flax tools and brought the first drafts of pragmatic copies of old tools we had made.

Despite the fact that the nettles had been airing out for several months, they were still damp. This is probably due to the humidity that gets into outbuildings and bakehouses. In addition, they were wrapped in tarpaulins and sent in advance and not unpacked when we arrived. The nettles were placed inside in front of a fan oven to dry. We worked inside - with masks for two days, and the strange thing was that we got much less fiber on day two than day one. We have no idea what caused this.

Unfortunately, the cellulose was stubborn and did not want to let go of the fiber. This was probably due to too little shedding this summer. They could have been left for several days! We got the best results on a bundle that had been retted for 6 days. It released the wood more easily than the others and was very light.

The result was very little fiber and large amounts of tow. I took the longest tow home and had it sorted while I was lying horizontally on the couch with corona. According to the mentor, the fiber should not be carded; The longest tow (cuts, broken fiber) can be combed with a wool comb, all other tow was originally filler for harnesses and furniture. I find this strange and will come back to it during later preparation.

It was GREAT to process fiber in this way, and really made me want to keep going. But is it really more time-efficient than when you process fresh plants? Well, I'm not sure when I summarize all the work processes from harvesting to finished fiber... the mentor ordered 30 bundles, or 10% of the originally planned amount, to test prepare. I thought this was a lot. We prepared about half, she kept the rest to test after mowing. I never saw this fiber again.

AND THE WINNER IS…COPIES OF OLD TOOLS!!!

We worked with both flax tools and copies of old hemp and nettle tools. Despite the fact that these were first drafts of copies that had not been sanded enough and still had small cracks where the fiber got stuck, it was actually the copies of the old tools that gave the best results. This surprised me, as the flax breake seemed much more efficient. Now we didn't take the time for the different operations. We have to do that in the spring, maybe the flax breake will win there? Anyway: The old people know best!

(More photoes below)