.......to flay him skin from bone. The words of the old song 'John Barleycorn' came immediately to mind on Thursday when I spent the day working in the woodyard at the Weald & Downland museum.
Because John Roberts was making a traditional threshing flail. It consists of a stout ash handle, about 4 ft in length which is connected by a rotating leather and wood joint to the beater,
The wooden joint is carved from ash and is the key to allowing the flailing action as it forms a rotating joint on the end of the handle.
Once carved the ash for the joint needs to be boiled up, in this case in the kettle over the fire,
........until it's flexible enough to be formed into a loop that can be secured to the handle of the flail with twine
...........over the ball which allows the hinge to rotate around the end of the handle. Simples?
The flailing stick or beater can then be attached by a leather thong allowing it to rotate in a second plane and gives it the freedom to swing and thresh the corn on the floor of the barn. The flail beater needs to be tough and hard, in this case it's holly but crab apple would certainly be suitable. Finally I understand the meaning of the crab tree sticks in the song. The new one that John has made is a working copy of one from the museum collection which is thought to be from the mid nineteenth century.
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