Willow Brake

A willow brake is a basketmaking tool fixed to a heavy stump or post and built from two sprung metal or wooden bars held together like a spring. A basketmaker pushes one end of a willow rod down into the V-shaped gap between the bars and pulls it through quickly, and the pressure loosens the bark so it falls away, producing the pale, bark-stripped willow rods used in fine basketry. The tool is used in spring, when the sap is rising and the bark parts most easily from the wood beneath it.