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This is a woolsack fastener. Wool was usually packed in a large sheet of coarse sacking. This was folded and the two ends sewn together to make a bag into which the fleeces were crammed. The top was then sewn up, the woolsack fastener forcing the edges together while the sewing proceeded. This woolsack fastener was formerly part of the collections of the Maidenhead Museum, and may have been previously used in the Maidenhead area.

1 woolsack fastener: wood; metal

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘… // DATE ACQUIRED: // GROUP: // NEGATIVE: // PERIOD: // PLACE OF ORIGIN: // NUMBER: // DESCRIPTION: …‘ Wool is usually packed in a sheet of coarse sacking, usually measuring 8 ft in length by 6 ft in width. The fleeces are usually packed tightly in these sacks to form bales. The process of manufacturing the woolsack was as follows. A sheet of sacking was taken and folded, the two ends were sewn together, thus making a kind of bag into which the fleeces were crammed. The top was then sewn up, but due to the springy nature of the fleeces something in addition to hand power had to be used to force the edges together for sewing. This is where the woolsack fastener was used. // It consists of two sections. The first of these is an upright part, with a wooden handle ending at the bottom in a metal piece at right angles to the handle. This metal piece is 8.2 ins wide and projecting downward from it are five metal teeth each 0.6 ins in length and each 1.5 ins from the next. At each extremity are two metal circles, which are loose, so as to be able to roll over the sheet when tightening the pull by leverage. The whole of this section of the tool is 27 ins in length of which the wooden handle forms 14.5 ins. The second section is the pull and this consists of a chain 23.2 ins in length and a series of five hooks projecting from a horizintal piece of metal 7 ins long. // The hooks were pushed into the sacking near the seam and by levering the handle, while the metal teeth were embedded in the sacking on the opposite of the seam, the rollers would roll while the seam was drawn together. The sewing could then proceed while the fastener was still attached. //, MERL ‘Associated information’ form – ‘Name of Object: // Age…: // Name and address of present owner: // Description of use to which it was put…:’ Curtis Museum catalogue says, "The wooden balls at the bottom are loose so as to roll over the sheet when tightening the pull by leverage. The sheet was a coarse piece of something like sacking 8' long by 6' wide. This was folded + the two ends sewn together to make a kind of bag into which the fleeces were crammed. The top was then sewn up, the fastener forcing the edges together, while the seweing is proceeded. //

Wood, Metal