swingling-knife

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

Dimly seen in the corners of the room are baskets in which are packed hands of flax from the barn, where, under the flax-brake, the swingling-knife and coarse hackle, the shives and swingling tow have been removed by the men; to-morrow the more deft manipulations of the women will prepare these bunches of fibre for the little wheel, and granny will card the tow into bats, to be spun into tow yarn on the big wheel.

The New England Magazine Volume 1, No. 3, March, 1886 Bay State Monthly Volume 4, No. 3, March, 1886 Various