How to Make Colonial Brooms

Brooms in colonial days weren't anything like the brooms you see for sale in the grocery store. People would make colonial brooms solely from yellow birch trees, peeling it over a period of hours until it was finished. As you use your broom, don't be discouraged if it starts to show some signs of use. Because these brooms are made from a tree, they can dry out and become brittle. In colonials days these brooms were expected to be replaced annually because of this wear. Make a second colonial broom if you want one purely for show.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Birch sapling
• Saw
• Pocketknife or penknife
• Tape measure
• Twine

1. Select and cut down a straight birch sapling 2 to 3 inches in diameter and 5 feet long. Try to find one with very few to no limbs or knots on it. Remove the bark from the entire sapling with a pocket knife or other sturdy knife.

2. Measure in from one end of the stick 12 to 15 inches. Keep a mental note of where this spot is or tie a simple piece of twine there to hold your place.

3. Use your knife to peel back thin layers from the end of the stick to your mark or twine. Think of it like peeling a banana, going around in a ring and peeling the layers back. Do not remove the layers as you peel them, they will become the "needles" or "straw" of your broom.

4. Keep working the layers around the stick and continue whittling, working inward until you are left with about a 1/2-inch diameter core in the center. Saw off the core.

5. Pull your whittled layers back down below your mark or twine to bring them together. Wrap twine around the outside of the layers about four inches from your mark and tie it tightly.

6. Whittle away any thickness from the rest of the broom handle as desired so it is comfortable to hold.

Tips & Warnings

• The thinner your layers, the finer your broom will be, which is good for indoor use. For rougher tasks, such as sweeping out stables, you'll want to keep the layers a little thicker.

References

• Whittle a birch broom
• Colonial Living; Edwin Tunis; 1999