This involved striking the beetled flax with a long wooden blade. This helped to separate the fibre from the unwanted woody stem. The stems known as shoves were later burned as fuel. The scutcher was left with a tangled mass of flax fibres known as stricks. Scutching was done by hand until special scutch mills were developed in the later part of the eighteenth century. | list | close this window

The separation of the woody part of the retted flax from the fibre. Also a general term used for beating out.