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There are two possible paths to process bast fibers in a historical manner, and the one choosen depends on the amount and size of the plants to be processed (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Two paths in processing bast fibers
Retting
Retting is the process of allowing microbes, or in the modern day – chemicals, to digest the fibers away from the stalk of the plant. There are a number of ways that one can ret fiber plants – pond, stream, field (also called dew retting), and snow retting are the non-modern (non chemical) methods used most often. The type of retting determines the colour of the final fiber.
Breaking
Breaking is used to remove the core from the rest of the plant using a Break. Small amounts of core or hurd usually remain left in the fiber, and to remove that we must scutch the fiber.
Breaking of hemp can also be done using a large mallet as was done in England in the 1700s.
Scutching
Scutching is the process of removing the core remaining in the fiber after it has been broken. This is done with a wooden scutching knife for flax and sometime a metal one for hemp. To scutch fibers you hang them and then scrape and beat the knife down the length of the fiber, and iron scraper can also be used – or something like a metal dog comb. Scutching produces lots of core (woody fibers, also called shive in flax or core) and tow (small coarse fibers which grow horizontally rather then vertically in the stem). I save the core and tow for making a liquid for spinning the fiber.
Peeling
Peeling can be done for large stems of hemp which will damage a break.. The fiber is held so it slides between your first two fingers as you hold the stalk in the palm of your hand which produces an angle that allows you to strip the length easily and quickly. Peeled hemp does not need to be scutched, though you still must hackle it.
Heckling
Heckling (or hackling) divides the fibers and removes the remaining epidermis. Hackles (or hackels, hatchel, or hetchel) are like beds of nails. They come as 12 pins per square inch, 24 pins per square inch, 48, 80, and very rarely 120 pins per square inch used to process finer and finer fibers.
Spinning
Spinning of vegetable fibers must be done wet because they will slide past each other and not hold together. ). Unlike wool; which has lanolin, is microscopically fuzzy and it to binds to itself, something has to be added. Water will cause the fibers to be a little sticky – but it’s not the best.
The folk tale of the three spinners (collected by Giambattista Basile 1566-1632); one with a swollen thumb from drawing the thread, one with a swollen lip from wetting the thread and one with a swollen foot from treading the wheel, is thought to have been a description of women who processed flax. The lip from allowing the fiber to pass along the lower lip as it was being drop spun which caused small cuts – many of which could become infected from improperly cleaned fiber (the retting process giving the fiber a higher bacterial load), the same with the thumb. The swollen foot is theorized to be from sitting so much.
The enzymes in spit dissolve some of the cell wall and allow flax, hemp, and nettle fibers to stick to each other. This was commonly used in early periods to spin fiber.
The other solution that you can use is to boil some of the tow, and hurd along with some of the seed (or oil) from the plant in question and then strain the liquid out. This liquid can be used instead of spit to make the fiber sticky – the liquid contains bits of the glue that holds the cell wall together naturally.
Vegetable fibers can be spun either on a wheel or with a drop spindle (Figure: Drop Spun Flax) .
Figure: Drop Spun Flax
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