| The Brooms Pages |
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We offer a variety of handcrafted brooms. No really, handmade. No modern machines. Brooms made by hand are made with a care that, well, machines just won’t do. We believe that a broom plaited onto the handle yields functional longevity many times over a wrapped broom or a broom made with a modern machine. It’s in the details. Structural Integrity is in our hands. Plaiting is an investment of time that assures superior strength and durability. For us, it’s not about time, it’s about carrying on a tradition, of being a link in the chain of handcrafted broommakers. Each broom is created in our broom shop - a working studio. Though hands are our most important tool, we are aided by an old-style broomhorse (similar to the shaving horse, it is a large vise that holds raw materials, freeing hands to work).
When Annie first started making brooms almost 30 years ago, most of her handles came from Clinch Mountain, near where she lived. The time spent in the woods searching for and collecting handles is still some of the most enjoyable time that we have. However, we now live in the city, and 95+% of our handles are recycled wood, most of it coming from trees that have been cut by a homeowner and piled next to the street to be hauled away by the county. We also collect handles from building sites, logged-over areas, and driftwood from Douglas Lake, near Dandridge TN.
Click the thumbnails below to see larger pictures.
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Our brooms are made with broomcorn, we use no fillers. Broomcorn (Sorghum vulgaris technicum) is a member of the Millet family, and is related to sugar cane. Broomcorn is deseeded, graded, and the stems are soaked in preparation for making the broom. |
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Handles are cured 3-4 months before they are debarked, sanded, and coated with an oil finish. |
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A broomhorse is used to maintain tension on the cord while attaching the broomcorn to the handle. |
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Using the broomhorse Attaching and plaiting stalks of broomcorn onto handle. |
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Tying the spread flat |