Flax comb

Spinning flax and hemp was one of the artisanal activities of the population in the Moselle region in the 19th century. Before spinning, the material went through several preparation steps. Once harvested, dried, and broken, the plants needed to be cleaned of all impurities and prepared for processing.

For this, the flax comb was used. In addition to cleaning flax and hemp, this tool also helped align the fibers in a uniform direction. During this process, the material passed through several combs with increasingly fine teeth to prepare it for the next step: spinning it into thread.