Cylindrical netting

Until recently, fishing nets were mainly made from plant fibres using net needles and wooden slats – staves or rollers – called a netting gauge. These items vary in length and width, as the mesh size of the net being made depends on them. The networker wrapped the netting gauge with thread, creating meshes in one row of equal size. Cylindrical netting gauges were helpful for tying bag nets and conical nets having funnels. The presented piece is one of 12 objects of its kind in the collection of the Pomeranian Ethnography Department of the National Museum in Szczecin. It was carved from a single piece of wood, hollowed out in the middle and a small nail was attached to the edge of the cylinder. This is because when tying, nets were hooked with special hooks or nails. Based on the diameter, it can be determined that the netting gauge in question was used to make nets with a mesh size of 65 mm. The last place it might have been used was in Stołczyn, one of the northern districts of Szczecin, located along the Oder River. Małgorzata Kłosińska-Grzechowiak