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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Dave L, post: 1824210, member: 26285&quot;]ggsalexan - that&#039;s a hemp brake.</p><p>Quote from <a href="http://randomthoughtsonhistory.blogspot.com/2009/04/hemp-brake.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://randomthoughtsonhistory.blogspot.com/2009/04/hemp-brake.html" rel="nofollow">this linked page</a>: (see photo too)</p><p><a href="http://www.cointalk.com/threads/unusual-vignettes-on-paper-money.180182/page-3" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/threads/unusual-vignettes-on-paper-money.180182/page-3">http://www.cointalk.com/threads/unusual-vignettes-on-paper-money.180182/page-3</a></p><p>&quot;The hemp brake works much the same way a flax break works. Hemp had to first be cut and then shocked into bundles to dry. When the hemp was sufficiently seasoned it was taken by the armload and laid across the break while the operator moved the brake handle up and down repeatedly. I imagine this was back breaking work that would built up some serious deltoid and triceps muscles. As the brake was moved up and down it crashed into the stalks and the woody outer shell would fall away leaving the long stands of fiber. The stands then would be gathered and ran through a set of &quot;hackles&quot; (a set of spikes) to comb the fibers into usable product. For rope production the fibers were then twisted, and for cloth production they were of course woven. I have seen this process completed for flax at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia, and it is just tiring to watch it let alone perform it for hours and hours a day.&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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