Scutching: Difference between revisions

'''Scutching''' is a step in the processing of cotton or the dressing of [[flax]] in preparation for [[spinning (textiles)|spinning]]. The scutching process separates the impurities from the raw material, such as the seeds from raw cotton or the straw and woody stem from flax fibers.<ref name="OED">"Scutch." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989.</ref>{{sfnp|Morton|2008|pp=74–77|ps=}} Scutching can be done by hand or by a machine inknown aas scutchinga millscutcher. Hand scutching of flax is done with a wooden scutching knife and a small iron scraper. The end products of scutching flax are the long flax fibers, short coarser fibers called [[tow]] and waste woody matter called shive.{{sfnp|Franck|2005|pp=113–5|ps=}}