Straw splitter

The straw splitter is a tool for dividing straw into strips of equal width, which are used in handicraft weaving ( straw stars , hats , decorations). The tool, which came from Florence , became known in Vienna as early as 1808 . Other tools for strip cutting are the penknife and the lancet . The straw also often has to be moist, which is not useful with the straw splitter.

Two forms of the splitter are widely used in Germany : the English and the Saxon straw splitter. The principle of the English splitter is based on a wire pin inserted into the straw for guidance and a star-shaped arrangement of sharply ground beams on an iron. Depending on the number of rays from two to twenty result in the number of stripes. The Saxon straw splitter has the same function, only the cutting edges are teeth. The material should be knot-free and have a usable length.

Suitable material is sheep fescue , bearded fescue , barley shaped sheep fescue, stiff bristle grass, Gemeines comb grass , Schmalblättriges bluegrass , meadow barley, Ruchkraut, lobed and Gemeines bent grass , yellow oat grass , helictotrichon pubescens and others.

literature

• Stephan von Keess: Systematic presentation of the latest advances in trades and manufacturers: With special consideration for the Austrian imperial state. Volume 1, Carl Gerold, Vienna 1829, p. 548.