Flail (tool): Difference between revisions
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:''For other uses, see [[flail (disambiguation)]].'' |
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[[File:Dreschflegel.jpg|thumb|An example of a grain flail]] |
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A '''flail''' is an [[agriculture|agricultural]] tool used for [[threshing]] to separate [[cereal|grains]] from their husks. |
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It is usually made from two or more large sticks attached by a short chain; one stick is held and swung, causing the other to strike a pile of grain, loosening the husks. The precise dimensions and shape of flails were determined by generations of farmers to suit the particular grain they were harvesting. For example, flails used by farmers in [[Quebec]] to process [[wheat]] were generally made from two pieces of wood, the handle being about 1.5 m long by 3 cm in diameter, and the second stick being about 1 m long by about 3 cm in diameter, with a slight taper towards the end. Flails for other grains, such as [[rice]] or [[spelt]], would have had different dimensions. |
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[[File:Battage à Fléau.jpg|thumb|French peasants threshing with flails around 1270.]] |
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Flails have generally fallen into disuse in many nations because of the availability of technologies such as [[combine harvester]]s that require much less manual labour. But in many places, such as [[Minnesota]], [[wild rice]] can only be harvested using manual means, specifically through the use of a [[canoe]] and a flail that is made of smooth, round wood no more than 30 inches long.<ref> |
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{{cite web |
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| url = http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/hunting/2005/wild_rice.pdf |
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| title = Minnesota Wild Rice Harvest regulations |
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| work = Minnesota Department of Natural Resources |
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}}</ref> |
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== Non-agricultural uses == |
== Non-agricultural uses == |
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Revision as of 03:22, 14 December 2010
Non-agricultural uses
As with most agricultural tools, flails were often used as weapons by farmers who may have lacked better weapons. The French Revolution was mostly fought with agricultural tools.[citation needed] The flail is proposed as one of the origins of the two-piece baton known in the kobudo weapon system as the nunchaku. The first known use of a flail as a weapon was by farmers under the leadership of Jan Žižka during the Hussite Wars in Bohemia.
The flail is depicted alongside the shepherd’s “crook” as symbols of office for the crowned Egyptian Pharaoh. The flail symbolises the Pharaoh's role as provider of food for his people and the crook symbolises his role as the shepherd of his people. Both crook and flail also serve to link the Pharaoh with Osiris. Depictions of Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the embalming, also include the flail as attribute.
References
External links
- Antique Farm Tools
- Agriculture in Victorian Times
- Picture of one kind of rice flail
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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