More Info →Wooden screw press for scutched flax fibre

Description

After the fibre was scutched it was taken to the five wooden screw presses installed in the scutching shed.

In the early days the screw presses were operated by hand but when this photo was taken, they were power driven.

The scutched fibre was made into hanks of about 5lbs in weight and pressed into bales of about 4cwt.

The size of the bales was length 4ft, width 2ft, and depth 2ft.

Photo: Palmerston North Public Library - used in Bob Ayson's book Miranui.

Identification