hetchel

Then he said he would comb it to clear away the loose and broken stems; and so he passed through it a sort of hetchel made of thirty small knife-blades set in a frame, "which cost me," said he, "more than you would think -- that comb was five dollars; and now I comb it out with this one to remove the small stuff and the seeds."

Illustrated Science for Boys and Girls Anonymous

Hanz was, indeed, so skilful in the art of raising, hetcheling, and dressing flax, that all the neighbors wanted to borrow his hetchel.

The Von Toodleburgs Or, The History of a Very Distinguished Family A. R. [Illustrator] Waud

The last I saw of the old crackle, fifty or more years ago, it served as a hen roost under the shed, and the savage old hetchel was doing duty behind the old churner when he sulked and pulled back so as to stop the churning machine.

My Boyhood Burroughs, John, 1837-1921 1922

I remember when the old hetchel from the day of flax dressing, fastened to a board, did duty behind the old churner, spurring him up with its score or more of sharp teeth when he settled back to stop the machine.

My Boyhood Burroughs, John, 1837-1921 1922

The distaff, the quill-wheel, the spinning-wheel, the reel, were very familiar to me as a boy; so was the crackle, the swingle, the hetchel, for Father grew flax which Mother spun into thread and wove into cloth for our shirts and summer trousers, and for towels and sheets.

Our Friend John Burroughs Barrus, Clara, 1864-1931 1914

Once in a while she would confide in grandma, when Mrs. Polly sent her over there on an errand and she had felt unusually aggrieved because she had had to wind quills, or hetchel, instead of going berrying, or some like pleasant amusement.

The Pot of Gold And Other Stories Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman 1891

The last I knew of a certain hetchel, it was nailed up behind the old sheep that did the churning; and when he was disposed to shirk or hang back and stop the machine, it was always ready to spur him up in no uncertain manner.

In the Catskills Selections from the Writings of John Burroughs John Burroughs 1879

The stuff from which they were made had a history behind it -- pulled up by the roots, rooted on the ground, broken with a crackle, flogged with a swingle, and drawn through a hetchel, and out of all this ordeal came the flax.

My Boyhood John Burroughs 1879

I remember when the old hetchel from the day of flax dressing, fastened to

My Boyhood John Burroughs 1879

But when has any one seen a crackle, or a swingling-knife, or a hetchel, or a distaff, and where can one get some tow for strings or for gun-wadding, or some swingling-tow for a bonfire?

In the Catskills Selections from the Writings of John Burroughs John Burroughs 1879