Broom Making

Over the holidays we attempted our first broom. All in all there were things I was proud of in this first attempt, and many things that we can improve on.

First we soaked the broom corn to help make it pliable. About 4 hours. 

We started by making a foot tension winder. Simply put, it was a 2x4 board cut about 1 1/2 ft. Then we wrapped a whole spool of nylon cord around the center of the board. This board and cording is placed on the floor and held on each side by the feet.

We use our feet to hold the cord taught so we can cinch up on the broom. The to let more cording out, we release our feet and let it un-spool a few times. This simple tool replaced a broom making table.

Then we drilled a small hole in the broom handle a few inches from the bottom end where the broom bristles will be attached. The nylon cord is knotted through this hole and wrapped around the broom handle about 5 or 6 times. Then we started adding broom corn stalks, lining the fibers up as we went around. Each time a new stalk was added we cinched up on the nylon using our feet to hold the board and cording steady, and pulled with our arms. We had to be careful not to pull too much and cut through the stalk.

We both agreed that one layer of our broom corn was going to make for a pretty skimpy broom, so we decided to add another layer.

Once both layers were on, we wrapped the cord carefully around several times to hold the stalks in place. Then we began weaving the stalks both for decoration and functionality.

And finished with more wrapping. We tied the nylon off on a few of the stalks and tucked in the tail.Then we cut the stalks at an angle toward the top of the broom handle.

I wish I would have taken more photos of the process, but we both became enthralled with getting it to work, and since neither of us had ever made a broom, there was a lot of doing and un-doing.

The broom's not done yet, Zach is going to forge a broom needle and I want to stitch the bristles flat then trim the ends even. I'll write a post about both of those processes too.

Things I would do differently:
First, our broom corn doesn't seem to be as substantial as some of the broom corn I've seen elsewhere. So we have to work on our growing methods. Perhaps improving the soil so we get more robust stalks, or trying a different variety. We grew a decorative variety this year, and next year I think I just want to grow a broom corn meant for broom making.

Second, I would use a more contrasting color nylon thread. The tan I choose blends in to the broom and doesn't make the weaving stand out as much as I'd like.

Third, I would also have soaked the stalks differently. I soaked them in the sink, but they floated and the stiff stalks didn't soften as well as I would have liked. I need to use a deeper vessel like a 5 gallon bucket and weigh them down somehow so they stay submerged.

But we're learning and though it may not look as perfect as I'd like it to, I think by the end, it will work as a functioning broom.

Whittling the Broom Handle

Last summer when the broom corn looked like it would prove to be a promising endeavor, Zach and I went for a walk to find broom handles. We have a beautiful Hickory tree on our property back by the beehive that produces nice straight branches and smaller saplings under its expansive canopy.

Hickory is a great wood to work with when making tools as it is fairly straight grained and very strong.

Truth be told, I didn't really want a perfect handle. I wanted something with a little character...some knots and a little gnarling.

We selected a few branches that looked like they would work and let them dry out in the barn.

Really, the handle should have dried out for a lot longer than a few months. A year would have been better, but I'm too excited to try out broom making to wait a whole year. We might get some shrinkage as the handle seasons completely, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

I teetered a bit about whether or not to leave the bark on the handle. And finally decided to remove it to a smoother surface. I really like the look either way. 

I used the draw knife to remove all the bark and to smooth out the knots from the side branches that we trimmed off. Then I used the spokeshave to smooth out the ridges. Tonight I plan on giving it a good go-over with sandpaper to knock off the rough places left by the plains.

If I can get the bristle part down I'd really like Zach to forge me some twisted metal handles. I think the steel juxtaposed with the natural fibers would make a beautiful, rustic contrast...but one step at a time right?

There's just something about a pile of curly wood shavings that makes me smile.  

Removing the Seeds From Broom Corn

We grew a colored broom corn this year. I was under the impression that the resulting brooms would be a beautiful variation of rusts, burgundies and oranges. I was slightly disappointed as most of the color is only held in the seeds and doesn't really transfer to the bristles. We have a few that picked up the color slightly, but nothing near the vibrant seed color. Next year in addition to the colored variety, I want to grow the non-colored broom corn. I'm hoping that we will get longer bristles as the colored variety seems a little on the short side. The colored broom corn would be beautiful with the seeds left in tact for natural holiday decorations. I could easily see these splays of colored shoots in wreathes or table centerpieces.

To make a useable broom, the seeds must be removed from the bristles.

I tried a few different things to accomplish this...none of which worked. I tried shaking the stems, whacking them against a pole (like when you thrash flax) and tried to rubbing the seeds between my hands. It finally occurred to me that they needed to be scrapped off in some manner. I was about to ask Zach to make me some sort of elaborate table with closely spaced nails or staples with the ends up so I could squeeze the seeds from the bristles.

Then one day while brushing the dog, I realized the straight comb would work perfect. I was a little worried that the bristles might break before releasing the seeds, but no...it worked great!

I just combed the bristles starting from the tips and working my way back to the stalk. 

It makes quite a mess as the seeds fly everywhere...not just in the bowl. So if you decide to do this in the house have a vacuum handy.

Broom corn produces a LOT of seeds. I filled this large bowl twice combing only a small amount of bristles. We will have plenty of seeds to grow next year, more than 10 times the amount that we planted last spring.    

Harvesting Broom Corn

We harvested the broom corn months ago and only recently is it dry enough to work with. This post is the first in a series of posts as I take you through our first experience in broom making. I'm not sure how it will turn out, but I invite you to come along with us.

This was our first year growing the giant plant.  Some of the stalks cleared 9 feet tall!
(The seeds we planted right photo)

Broom corn, despite its name, is actually in the sorghum family. It looks very similar to corn in each of it's life cycles.

The stem is smooth with slender knuckles that remind me of bamboo and the leaves are long and papery just like a cornstalk. In fact, we used bunches of broom corn in our autumn decorations instead of cornstalks this year.

Before plastic became really popular (around the 40's and 50's) most brooms were made from broom corn.

The broom corn grows as a large rigid stalk. Near the top of the stalk, just inside a leaf set, it develops a tubular pouch. As the plant grows the pouch opens and a fan tail of hundreds of seeds that grow on long wire like fibers emerges.

Once dry, the seeds can be removed from the stems and the remaining fibers are what create the broom bristles.

This is our first year growing broom corn and we learned a lot through trial and error. One of our main concerns was when to harvest the corn. We wanted to allow the bristles to grow to their maximum length but not too long that they would start to bend over and begin drying in that curved form. We decided to harvest different amounts at different times and see what worked the best.

The first harvest was when the seeds started turning their vibrant colors. The stalks were still green but beginning to dry. We cut the stalks at the ground level to remove them from the field. We brought the bundles up to the house and shortened the stalks at the first leaf. These we gathered in bundles and hung in our back room to dry hanging vertically.

The leftover stalks made wonderful imitation corn stalk decorations for our porch.

This method seemed to work the best. They took a while to dry but the bunches dried straight and don't seem to be any shorter than the bristles that were harvested later in the season.

The second harvest was about a month later, right before the first frost. We brought in most of the remaining field and laid the stalks flat on our enclosed porch.

This worked fine as far as the bristles staying straight, but we were really sad to find that the center of the bunch had molded. I think laying the broom corn flat would have worked if we would have turned the bunches periodically or maybe in not so dense of a pile.

The third harvest was after the remaining field had dried on it's own. These stalks turned the traditional "broom color" which was a golden tan. However, because they dried in the field, the bristles are all curved from gravity pulling them down and might be difficult to make into an attractive broom. The seeds however, were the most vibrant, and these were the few stalks where the rust and red colors transferred to the bristles.

Overall, the first harvest is the most useable gathering and will be what we will use to make brooms.