All Basketry Tools

Hand tools used to split, weave, tighten and finish plant fiber, splint, cane and rattan into woven baskets and vessels, the implement set behind this atlas's Basketry craft subcategory. Belongs here: the cleave, used to split a rod or cane lengthwise into thin workable strips before weaving begins; the rapping iron, a flat-bladed beater used to knock each new course of weaving down tight against the row below it; the greasehorn, a small horn or gourd of tallow or grease worn at the weaver's waist so dry fiber keeps moving smoothly through the fingers; the picking knife, used to trim and tuck loose ends into a finished piece; and the bodkin, a blunt piercing tool used to open a gap in already-woven work so a new weaver or spoke can be threaded through. Does not belong here: the floor loom and shuttle used in wide-format textile weaving, grouped under Spinning and Weaving Tools, and a general-purpose knife or awl with no basketry-specific form.