To wind up the yarn the Oseberg find has again delivered beautiful examples of tools. Replicas of the yarn reel are made and used at Ribe Viking Centre (Figure 17).
Figure 17. Reel used at Ribe Viking Centre. Linen smoothers made from glass, and are 6-8 cm rounded pieces. They have been particularly associated with linen, but were also used on wool (Behr 2000: 100). These tools were used up to the 18th century and were then fitted with handles. For the Viking Age textiles they have been especially associated with the pleated linens mentioned above. But they have been in general use to smooth the cloth, especially along the seams. Finally the linen cloth only gains by a good beating. Historically and archaeologically known washing bats would have been useful implements, not only for doing the laundry, but also to make the linen cloth more pleasant to wear.
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