The basic  stages in processing flax

 

 

Flowering carries on for perhaps 2 weeks or so, generally one flower a day, then the plant sets seed and begin to dry off, ideally it would be pulled when about 1/3 to half the stem is yellow. leaving it longer isn't a problem but the fibre is likely to be a little coarser, and sometime easier to work with

Pulling The stems are pulled and left to dry, perhaps a few days, either on the ground or in stooks or in a barn if very wet, this allows the seeds to develop a little more, useful if they are to provide the seed for subsequent years.

Rippling is then done to collect the seeds - either using a simple hackle or hands on separating the seeds from the stem, and done before retting.

 

Retting  can be done after rippling or left for several weeks.
- either dew retting ,  laid on the grass and turned every few days, this is a slow process and sometimes an occasional spray of water depending on the weather, but it could take 4 -6 weeks
- or pool/pond retting , submerged into a pond/tank and left for a week or two, this is by far the smelly option but it is quicker, but might need checking on more often.
Either method works well, perhaps the dew method gives blonder fibre and perhaps a finer fibre, but in the end it doesn't make a huge difference.

Once retted the stems are dried and then they can be kept for months before the next process, or used when completely dry and the stems snap.

 

Breaking - either by hand or a wood roller or a flax break - depending on quantity, this is essentially to start  seeing the fibre emerge, the stems go from  rigid to  flexible

 

Scutching -  removing the broken stem/shive/boon from the fibre, with either a scutching blade ( a wooden sword) or  rubber gloves work remarkably well, even if not absolutely period.

 

Hackling/Heckling - combing the  fibre to smooth them all, removing traces of  shive/boon, using traditional metal nail hackles or dog combs for small quantities.Separates out the best quality -line flax from the tow, but both are very useful and neither wasted. Handfulls of the line flax are then gathered together and twisted into groups for storage until need to spin, tow is gathered together more loosely.

Spinning  very much the next stage but often not started until all the fields were cleared of other crops. I spin using drop spindles or a wheel, but for public viewing often the drop spindle is more engaging. It's also useful to see the two different types of yarn obtained from the the line and the tow, and more immediately obvious with a spindle.