Plural of hatchel; multiple tools with spikes used for combing and separating plant fibers in textile production.
Regular plural of hatchel, adding -s. The tool was so essential to textile work that most workshops had several hatchels in different sizes.
Archeologists can date medieval and ancient textile workshops by finding hatchels—the wear patterns on the teeth actually tell us what fibers were being processed and how the work was done!
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