Making a Broom by Hand

Before factories, the American Agriculturist printed directions for farm families who wanted to make their own brooms. A. G. McCall reprinted two of them in his 1912 book on broomcorn ¹. “With a little practice,” either makes a neat broom.

Materials

• Cured broomcorn, enough for a broom, with the largest and best stalks set aside for the outside. The broom’s appearance depends on even brush and a neat outside layer ¹.
• Strong small cord for pressing, and strong twine (or wire) for winding and sewing ¹.
• A needle 6 to 8 inches long, of iron or steel or strong hardwood ¹.
• Two narrow boards, or a vise, and a handle ¹.

The foot-cord method

1. Soak. Stand the stalk ends in water up to the brush for an hour or two to soften them ¹.
2. Gather. Take enough brush for a broom in your hands, with the largest and best stalks on the outside in regular order ¹.
3. Squeeze. Fasten a strong small cord to the ceiling with a loop for your foot at the bottom, or tie a stick to it as a treadle. Wind the cord two or three times around the brush, grip the bundle firmly in both hands, and roll it around several times while pressing harder with your foot. Some used a lever under the workbench instead, with a helper bearing down on it ¹.
4. Wind. Wind strong twine on for 1½ to 2 inches, rolling the pressing cord ahead toward the end and following it with the twine. To hide the end, lay a doubled end of twine along the stalks before winding; when the winding’s done, slip the free end through the loop and pull the loop under the coil, then cut both ends close. No knot shows ¹.
5. Flatten. For a flat broom, “usually the desirable form,” press the brush between two narrow boards fastened together at one end with a strong piece of leather and tied at the other, or between two short boards in a vise ¹.
6. Sew. Three or four inches below the winding, wind twine once or twice around and tie it firmly, leaving one long end to sew with. Sew through and through the brush, each stitch passing around the tied twine, pointing the needle forward so each stitch comes out a little farther along. Tie on a second twine lower down and sew a second row. Two sewings are usually enough; very long brush may need three ¹.
7. Handle. Sharpen the end of the handle and drive it exactly into the center of the neck, fasten it with two small nails on opposite sides, and clip the ends of the brush even ¹.

Wire instead of twine, and stalks pared down at the neck, make a neater broom, though not a stronger one ¹.

The handle-first method

A second writer built the broom right onto the handle ¹:

1. Soak the butt ends in warm water.
2. Tack one end of a strong twine to the handle about 3 inches from its lower end. Tie the other end, about 2 feet away, to a short round stick you stand on with both feet.
3. Lay on the brush one stalk at a time, turning the handle enough with each to hold the new stalk, pulling upward to keep the twine tight. Build three layers.
4. Start a second row nearer the end of the handle, then a third, finishing with the longest and finest brush outside.
5. Wind the cord snugly a few more times and fasten it with a carpet tack.
6. For a flat broom, put more brush on two opposite sides, then slip a loop of string over the handle and down to the right place, and sew.

“You now have as neat a broom as you can buy,” the writer claimed, “and stronger than most of those in the market” ¹.

The Shakers’ flat broom press, mentioned in the last lesson, made the flattening and sewing step far easier for their broom shops ².

Try it

Start small: make a hearth whisk first, from a handful of broomcorn with no handle. Soak it, squeeze it with the foot cord, wind 1½ inches of twine, flatten it between two boards clamped in a vise, and sew two rows. Once that holds together, make a full broom on an old handle.