These sheaves are usually then 'shocked' into A-shaped conical stooks, resembling small tipis, to allow the grain to dry for several days before being picked up and threshed.
[4] Early binders were horse-drawn, their cutting and tying-mechanisms powered by a bull-wheel, that through the traction of being pulled forward creates rotational forces to operate the mechanical components of the machine.
Binders have a reel and a sickle bar, like a modern grain head for a combine harvester.
Reaper-binders were in wide use in the People's Republic of Poland, but farmers often could not operate them due to shortages of twine and a lack of replacement parts.
This was such a regular occurrence that baling twine (Polish: sznurek do snopowiązałki) remains a symbol of the dysfunction of the communist economy in the cultural memory of Poland.