(re) building a flax scutcher

On the left, broken flax with a lot of tow. On the right, semi-scutched flax done on our prototype.

Those that know me really well know that the work I do isn't about tradition. It's about manufacturing in a more conscious and sustainable in all areas and knowing that that sustainability greatly depends on the ability of reducing production scales and using local resources.
Unfortunately, the means of production that allow for this small scale of production have been largely replaced and for most of the time, taking control of production and manufacturing simply is simply out of reach for us, anymore. It's technically out of reach: there's lack of equipment, lack of knowledge and restoring both is an enormous effort that only a few are willing to put in.
That's why I focus so much on gathering knowledge. Not to keep it as some think it has always been, but so that someone else can take it and use it to create alternatives to the consumption sources we depend on currently. 

And here's flax, one of the fibers I most love o sow and watch grow, but that makes me feel a little anxious when I think about processing it into linen. I have no trouble rippling it. To break it, I can use any of the few flax grinders that are still in working order in Portugal. But everything stops when I have to scutch it (or at least it slows down a lot). The same way as I refuse to break flax with a mallet (except for small demonstrations), having to scutch it by hand doesn't sit right with me. It's slow, not very productive and it's hard on your body. And I know that simple, yet effective alternatives, have existed: rotary scutcher. A scutching wheels is to a scutching knife what a spinning wheel is to a spindle.
The problem is that you can't find one of these scutching wheels anymore and the only two I have close (this and this) by were built for a variety of flax that is a lot longer than the regional variety that we grow here, and so are useless.

After 2 years of growing flax in a considerable amount I decided that I would not hand scutch it anymore (once again, except for demonstrations). I had looked up and down the country for one of these scutchers, hidden in a barn or lying still in a museum. It would probably work as well and I didn't have to spend the time and money to built a new one, but I just didn't find it.

The difficulty in building a new scutcher was also in finding someone that had not only the technical knowledge, but that would also enjoy building something unusual. Lucky for me, Hugo, had just started his new project, devoted to building things. All types of things, especially machines, scutching wheels too. 
A few months went by since I briefed him and now I have a scutching wheel that in spite of being just a prototype, spins smoothly thanks to 21st century bearings and does the job without breaking my arm.
The final version is supposed to have a foot pedal, as well an adjustable support for the flax and have the option to be desassembled so that I can take it with me for the flax workshops, but it works wonderfully just how it is!