Before flax fibers can be spun into linen, they must be separated from the rest of the stalk. After the retting process, the flax undergoes "breaking," where the straw is broken into small, short bits, while the actual fibers remain unharmed. The next step is scutching, which involves scraping away the outer straw from the fibers. The result is what we call "scutched flax."
Flax tow refers to the short fibers produced from flax straw during the combing process using steel combs. These short fibers, or tow, are left behind after the longer fibers are separated. Flax tow is commonly traded as a byproduct of this process.
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