This wooden board was known as a cleek and was used in the process of making kishies or straw baskets (look in the agricultural section of these pages to see kishies in use during the peat flitting). The rope joining the strands of straw was usually tightened by holding it in the person's teeth, but when the kishie maker lost his teeth he used a cleek, fastening the board on his chest and the rope under the nail. The needle was used in the various threading and finishing processes involved in making kishies.
