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In the broom shop, there is a whole lot of cutting going on.  One guy building brooms can make a mess in a hurry.  We trim handfuls of broomcorn as we add layers to the brooms, and the scraps fall to the floor.  Since broomcorn is so tough, it is difficult to cut without a very sharp knife.  This is my favorite knife.  It is specially designed for broom making -- called a corn knife.  It has a real thin blade, which we sharpen with a rough file to hone aggressive teeth into the cutting edge…

Every broom we make is stitched by hand on our antique Shaker broom press.  Using care not to damage the broom corn bristles, we bind the brooms flat using needle and twine.  Every broom is built to last many years, and given our personal guarantee of quality.

Our handmade brooms and pure beeswax candles are available year-round in our

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The year is 1797. Levi Dickenson gets credit for crafting America's first corn broom. A farmer from Hadley, Massachusetts, Levi simply grabbed a bundle of sorghum tassels to make a broom for his wife. It worked so well, and the news spread. In the early 1800's the Shakers revolutionized broom making with clever tools, and machines to help speed up the process. For nearly 200 years, corn brooms sold like hotcakes. New broom shops, and great crops of broomcorn popped up everywhere. The average…

Patented Sept. 10, 1878, our "new" broom press. It is old and grumpy, but still going strong for over 125 years.

The broom press, or broom vise, was invented in the 1820's by the Shakers.  Up until then, most brooms were round.  This powerful clamping devise, clamps down on the broom corn and holds it in place to be stitched with needle and thread.  We still stitch by hand in our broom shop.  The old press is still working great after all these years!

Our handmade brooms…

Invented in 1810, the broom maker's treadle machine revolutionized everything. Called a "kicker winder", it is a fancy way to wrap broom corn around a stick. They were built to last. Our beloved kicker was found in a barn out in Missouri. We are happy that it found it's way out west, into our broom shop. I took it apart. Lubricated and adjusted, it still works like a charm!  We look forward to making many new brooms on this old, old machine!

Our handmade brooms and pure beeswax…

One of my favorite broom-making tools is this rare C.D. Dickinson broom hammer. Also called a pounder, it is used for smacking the broom corn flat against the handle. It has a flat face for driving broom nails, and a beveled side for creating grooves in the corn for wire and twine. This hammer was likely made in the late 1800's, during the broom-making heyday. The Dickinson factory specialized in broom making tools and equipment. It closed in the early 1900's, but many of the quality hand…