Heckling Comb

A heckling comb is the comb used in heckling, the last of the three steps in dressing flax before it is spun into thread. Flax is pulled through the comb's teeth, which part the locked fibers, straighten them, and remove the fibrous woody core and other impurities left over from the earlier stages of processing. Once heckled, the cleaned and straightened flax fibers are ready to be spun, and after spinning the resulting thread can be woven into linen.