Brooms have been around for hundreds of years and the best ones are made of broomcorn.
The broomcorn plant is in the sorghum family and is grown especially for making brooms. While it is growing
it looks just like regular corn except the plant does not produce an ear of corn and the and leaves are
somewhat thinner. The tassel which grows 24 to 36
inches long is full of small seeds which are removed before the broom is made. Broomcorn takes as long to grow as normal corn.
Making brooms is a labor intensive process.
The product is harvested by hand, dried and deseeded before it can be used. The plant has some beautiful
natural colors if allowed to grow to maturity. For
additional colors the broom corn can be dyed.
The broom is made in 3 steps. First a foot
driven ‘kick winder’ puts the product on the handle. The broom at this stage looks like
a round broom. Shoulders are added to the broom.
The broom is placed into the press and hand stitched into the broom we are familiar with
today. The Shakers are credited with inventing the ‘press’.
For the final step, the finished broom
is placed into the trimmer which cuts the end of the broom off evenly.
Broom
making in the United States was active until around the 1950’s, when the government took the tariff off imported
brooms.
Our brooms are handmade on 1890’s vintage broom-making apparatus. Your broom will last a long time with proper care, and remember,
always hang your broom to store.
