Research

Grindstone dresser. This text can only be consulted in Dutch. [MOT]

The hachoir is a knife with a semicircular blade and a straight handle attached in the top center of the blade. It is used to finely chop small quantities of herbs, which are placed in the corresponding concave wooden bowl. Thus, one can either move the knife back and forth and cut the herbs or chop up and down with the blade perpendicular to the bottom. In the meantime, the bowl should be turned from time to time. [MOT]

After the grain has been threshed with the flail and the grain straw has been removed, grains, chaff, clods, short straw, stones and other impurities remain together. Some of the impurities are removed with the help of the grain sieve. By shaking the sieve back and forth, the grains fall through, leaving chaff and short straw behind. The grain sieve is also used to separate chaff from dust / sand (1). The flax worker also uses a grain sieve to separate the linseed from the chaff after threshing (see bruising mail). The grain sieve is a large (diam. 50-100 cm) round sieve (2) with 2-3 wooden rings (height approx. 10-20 cm) between which a flat perforated bottom of metal (zinc) or leather (3) is clamped. In the latter the small round or elongated holes (diam. 1-2 mm; center distance approx. 4 mm) (4) are punched with a punch. The center of the sieve bottom is often decorated with a figure, a date, initials and / or place name. Sometimes 1, 3 or 4 holes or slots are provided in the edge to hang the screen from ropes...

The grass hook is used by the gardener and do-it-yourselfer to cut some grass and weeds on small areas. It is a small scythe consisting of a slightly curved sharp steel blade (approx. 30-40 cm) with a wide back and ending in a point, which is fixed at right angles to a wooden handle (approx. 10-80 cm). The scythe with short handle is used stooping with one hand; the one with a long, usually straight handle is held with both hands and used while standing. Sometimes the long stem has a slight kink about 12 inches from the tip. See also the grass whip. [MOT]