Editing Flax (section)

===Flax fibers===
[[File:Heckling Shop Irvine.JPG|thumb|An 18th-century [[Heckling (flax)|heckling]] shop once used to prepare flax fibers. [[North Ayrshire]], Scotland.]]

Flax fiber is extracted from the [[Bast (biology)|bast]] beneath the surface of the stem of the flax plant. Flax fiber is soft, lustrous, and flexible; bundles of fiber have the appearance of blonde hair, hence the description "flaxen" hair. It is stronger than cotton fiber, but less elastic.

[[File:Flax field.JPG|thumb|A flax field in bloom in [[North Dakota]]]]

The use of flax fibers dates back tens of millennia;<ref name="VintageThreads" /> [[linen]], a refined textile made from flax fibers, was worn widely by [[Sumer]]ian priests more than 4,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kramer |first=Samuel Noah |url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/sumerians.pdf |title=The Sumerians: Their history, culture and character |date=1963 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-45237-9 |page=104 |author-link=Samuel Noah Kramer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327203605/http://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/sumerians.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> Industrial-scale flax fiber processing existed in antiquity. A [[Bronze Age]] factory dedicated to flax processing was discovered in [[Euonymeia]], Greece.<ref name="Kaza2015">{{Cite book |last=Kaza-Papageorgiou |first=Konstantina |title=The Ancient Astiki Odos and the Metro beneath Vouliagmenis Avenue |date=30 November 2015 |publisher=Kapon Editions |isbn=978-9606878947 |location=Athens, Greece}}</ref>

The best grades are used for fabrics such as [[damask]]s, [[lace]], and [[Bed sheet|sheeting]]. Coarser grades are used for the manufacturing of [[twine]] and [[rope]], and historically, for [[canvas]] and [[webbing equipment]]. Flax fiber is a raw material used in the high-quality paper industry for the use of printed [[banknote]]s, laboratory paper ([[Blotting paper|blotting]] and [[Filter paper|filter]]), [[rolling paper]] for [[cigarette]]s, and [[tea bag]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chand, Navin. |title=Tribology of natural fiber polymer composites |date=2008 |publisher=Woodhead Publishing |others=Fahim, Mohammed., Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining. |isbn=978-1-84569-505-7 |location=Cambridge, England |oclc=425959562}}</ref>

[[Flax mill]]s for spinning flaxen [[yarn]] were invented by [[John Kendrew (inventor)|John Kendrew]] and [[Thomas Porthouse]] of [[Darlington]], [[England]], in 1787.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wardey |first=A. J. |title=The Linen Trade: Ancient and Modern |publisher=Routledge |year=1967 |isbn=978-0-7146-1114-3 |page=752}}</ref> New methods of processing flax <!-- out of date and the rising price of cotton --> have led to renewed interest in the use of flax as an industrial fiber.

====Preparation for spinning====
[[File:Labeledstemforposter copy.jpg|thumb|Stem cross-section, showing locations of underlying tissues: Ep = [[epidermis (botany)|epidermis]]; C = [[cortex (botany)|cortex]]; BF = [[bast (biology)|bast]] fibers; P = [[phloem]]; X = [[xylem]]; Pi = [[pith]]]]
[[File:Rhof-flachsbearbeitung.ogv|thumb|Threshing, retting, and dressing flax at the [[Roscheider Hof Open Air Museum]] (Germany)]]

Before the flax fibers can be spun into linen, they must be separated from the rest of the stalk. The first step in this process is [[retting]], which is the process of rotting away the inner stalk, leaving the outer parts intact. At this point, straw, or coarse outer stem ([[cortex (botany)|cortex]] and [[epidermis (botany)|epidermis]]), is still remaining. To remove this, the flax is "broken", the straw is broken up into small, short bits, while the actual fiber is left unharmed. [[Scutching]] scrapes the outer straw from the fiber. The stems are then pulled through "hackles", which act like combs to remove the straw and some shorter fibers out of the long fiber.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

=====Retting flax=====
Several methods are used for [[retting]] flax. It can be retted in a pond, stream, field, or tank. When the retting is complete, the bundles of flax feel soft and slimy, and quite a few fibers stand out from the stalks. When wrapped around a finger, the inner woody part springs away from the fibers. Pond retting is the fastest. It consists of placing the flax in a pool of water which will not evaporate. It generally takes place in a shallow pool which will warm up dramatically in the sun; the process may take from a few days to a few weeks. Pond-retted flax is traditionally considered of lower quality, possibly because the product can become dirty, and is easily over-retted, damaging the fiber. This form of retting also produces quite an odor. Stream retting is similar to pool retting, but the flax is submerged in bundles in a stream or river. This generally takes two or three weeks longer than pond retting, but the end product is less likely to be dirty, does not smell as bad, and because the water is cooler, is less likely to be over-retted. Both pond and stream retting were traditionally used less because they pollute the waters used for the process.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

In field retting, the flax is laid out in a large field, and dew is allowed to collect on it. This process normally takes a month or more but is generally considered to provide the highest quality flax fibers, and it produces the least pollution.<ref>{{Cite book |last=H V Sreenivasa Murthy |title=Introduction to Textile Fibres (Woodhead Publishing India in Textiles) |publisher=Woodhead Publishing India PVT LTD (2017 Revised edition) |year=2016 |isbn=9789385059094 |location=New Delhi, India |pages=3.1.1}}</ref>

Retting can also be done in a plastic trash can or any type of water-tight container of wood, concrete, earthenware, or plastic. Metal containers will not work, as acid is produced when retting, and it would [[corrode]] the metal. If the water temperature is kept at {{convert|80|F|C|order=flip}}, the retting process under these conditions takes 4 or 5 days. If the water is colder, it takes longer. Scum collects at the top, and an odor is given off the same as in pond retting. 'Enzymatic' retting of flax has been researched as a technique to engineer fibers with specific properties.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Akin Dodd |first=Foulk |year=2008 |title=Pectinolytic enzymes and retting |journal=BioResources |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=155–169}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Akin Dodd |first=Foulk |year=2001 |title=Processing techniques for improving enzyme-retting of flax |journal=Industrial Crops and Products |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=239–248 |doi=10.1016/s0926-6690(00)00081-9}}</ref>

=====Dressing the flax=====
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2021}}
<gallery class="center">
File:Harfleur - Compagnons duellistes - teillage du lin.jpg|Breaking flax
File:Harfleur - Compagnons duellistes - battage du lin.jpg|Scutching flax
File:Harfleur - Compagnons duellistes - peignage du lin.jpg|Heckling flax
File:Flax fibers.JPG|Flax fiber in different forms, before and after processing 
</gallery>

Dressing the flax is the process of removing the straw from the fibers. Dressing consists of three steps: breaking, scutching, and heckling. The breaking breaks up the straw. Some of the straw is scraped from the fibers in the scutching process, and finally, the fiber is pulled through heckles to remove the last bits of straw.

Breaking breaks up the straw into short segments. <!-- more how-to To do it, take the bundles of flax and untie them. Next, in small handsful, put it between the beater of the breaking machine (a set of wooden blades that mesh together when the upper jaw is lowered, which look like a paper cutter but instead of having a big knife it has a blunt arm), and beat it till the three or four inches that have been beaten appear to be soft. Move the flax a little higher and continue to beat it till all is soft, and the wood is separated from the fiber. When half of the flax is broken, hold the beaten end and beat the rest in the same way as the other end was beaten, till the wood is separated. -->

[[Scutching]] removes some of the [[straw]] from the fiber<!-- , it helps to swing a wooden scutching knife down the fibers while they hang vertically, thus scraping the edge of the knife along the fibers and pulling away pieces of the stalk. Some of the fiber will also be scutched away, this cannot be helped and is a normal part of the process -->.

[[Heckling (flax)|Heckling]] is pulling the fiber through various sizes of [[heckling comb]]s or heckles. A heckle is a bed of "nails"—sharp, long-tapered, tempered, polished steel pins driven into wooden blocks at regular spacing. <!-- A good progression is from four pins per square inch to 12, to 25 to 48 to 80. The first three will remove the straw, and the last two will split and polish the fibers. Some of the finer stuff that comes off in the last hackles is called [[tow]] and can be [[carding|carded]] like wool and [[spinning (textiles)|spun]]. It will produce a coarser yarn than the fibers pulled through the heckles because it will still have some straw in it. -->