No 107. Bindertwine.

No 107. Saving Twine.

Nothing wasted on a farm in my early days. Nor on a croft either. Binder twine was initially used for the binder for cutting the grain crops and tying the sheaves of oats and bere, or barley. The binder with it’s binder twine was an advance in the twisted band of new-cut straw formerly made for tying the sheaves of grain after cutting by a scythe, or for harvesting with the reaper, either side delivery or back delivery.
There were many makes of twine, not all had a good reputation. It was talked about by many a farmer as to his results with Red Star, or Bluebell, or any of the other makes whose names have now slipped past me. Red Star was our long-time trouble -free favourite. Sometimes one got a bad bit in a ball, but not often.
It was made with sisal from North Africa. Only after I was farming on my own did plastic binder twine come in, sometimes with disasterous results in the early days until we got the knotters on the binder adjusted to the new feel. Thinner cord than sisal, and slippier, it needed a lot of TLC at the beginning.
Binder twine was used for almost everything on the farm. It was used for tying around your trousers below the knee to keep them tidy, it was used as a belt to keep your trousers from falling down, or round a jacket to keep it neat if you were working where a loose jacket could or might get caught, for a running repair on a torn coat, almost anything.
In a stormy harvest day doing stook drill, which was setting up sheaves knocked down by a gale, and often on a wet stormy day too, oilskins were kept tight around the waist to keep the wind out and the wearer a bit warmer. Oilskins did not have belts. It could be used to replace a broken boot lace.

Almost all of the farm men had a bit in their pocket, and until lately I was not surprised to put my hand in my own pocket to find a bit there.!! Useful, you never knew when it might come in handy!!
Gates of fields were often tied with a bit, very much not too safe but handy at the time. Not too long ago we met some cattle coming up a farm road, the temporary twine gate fastening made by that farmer till he got a proper fastening from the Town had not stood the test of a bunch of sturdy bullocks. No harm, we got them safely back into his field before he came home, and met him coming down the farm road with a brand new gate fastening!! Well worth the dram in his house as recompense!!.

Fences were often temporarily repaired with a length, fix it later, sometimes much later. I have seen a broken telephone line held together with a short length until the linesman appeared. Worked well with a bit of fencing wire to bridge the metallic gap.

Threshing was the great time for twine gathering. Some farmers and many crofters took the twine off the sheaf before putting it through the drum, saving it. Cut it beside the knot with a knife to have use of the full length. When a handful had been gathered it was looped through another length of twine and hooked onto a handy nail in the rafters. Some rafters were festooned with multitudinous bundles. Sometimes at threshing there was a “louser” at the sheaf board who cut the twine for the foreman to feed the mill, often a woman of the farm, and who kept the cut twines out of the straw.
Our foreman had a special glove knife which was excellent for cutting his own sheaves at the drum, most useful in preventing the loss of a favourite knife down the maw of the threshing drum. Did happen.

Short hand-woven twine ropes were made with cut twine, came in handy, a bit hairy but strong. Young calves were often tied in the byre to the wall behind their mothers by a length of home-made bindertwine rope, saved proper rope. Doors were fastened with a length. A running repair could be made to a binder canvas at harvest holding a broken strap together to get on with the cutting before it rained. Fix it later.

More serious were the occasions when a calf would get a length of twine and chew it endlessly. Dangerous if swallowed, I cannot remember ever losing a calf with a ball of bindertwine in its stomach but it did happen. Many a time I have taken a ball of well-chewed bindertwine out of a calve’s mouth. Unless saved off the sheaf it was found throughout the straw in the barn as we did not as a rule save the twine unless needed for “tialls” for tying bags of grain in the loft. Just the right length too.

Then the decorative inventiveness of many farm men in making fancy arrangements entirely of lengths of cut bindertwine saved from the mill - a twine doll, tablemats, a doily, a string basket, indeed there was no end to what could be devised. A bit of competiveness came in at times, and there was always one of the men who was an artist and could put all the others to friendly shame!!!