Let's tour the broom shop!!
Hi there! My name is Samantha, also known as the "Broom Chick" and we are SCHEUMACK BROOM COMPANY, of Eugene, Oregon!
I sometimes get emails from folks who are skeptical about how our brooms are made because the quality is so good they assume that they are machine made, so I will attempt to give you a tour of the tools we use and the broom making process at our shop, Scheumack Broom Company, and introduce you to some of the broom crew.
In photo #1 you see our pedal operated winding machine which we use to wind the broom corn onto the broom stick with. This is one of the hardest and most dangerous jobs in the broom shop and I you can see Seth winding brooms in photo #2.In the past we have used sassafras sticks which we get from the Ozarks of Arkansas where the wood grows wild but now most of our wood is acquired from a local sustainable reforestation project just outside of Eugene, Oregon. The saplings that are harvested will be a northwest variety of woods including Cherry, Maple and Hazel and all will go thru the kiln drying process. Our broom corn is grown by the Amish, in Southern Illinois, and we dye the corn ourselves in a variety of colors (mostly rust, or black), photo #3 is Emily and her pug, Tater, who are responsible for dying all of the broom corn at the broom shop.
Once the broom corn is wound onto the stick it then goes to the sewer who loads it into the historic "Shaker Vice" which is what makes the brooms flat. The shaker vice that is featured photo #4 has iron casting that dates back to 1878. Both Seth and Michael (photo #5) sew brooms bare handed with a flat needle that has its hole in the center of the needle. The boys have hardened their hands to the point that they no longer needs to use finger tape and leather palm cuffs, unlike me. when I sit down to sew a broom with my sissy girl fingers I tape nearly every finger with surgical tape, then I put on thick leather and metal palm cuffs and get to work. I probably waste a good 10 minutes just prepping to sew. In photo #6 you can see me sewing a broom on the shaker vice without tape on. Most brooms take about 3 rows of stitching, the smaller ones we do two rows on.
When the broom is sewn it then goes into a pile next to the platting table where it will eventually be platted. Platting is what we call the basket weave decoration that goes over the metal winding wire at the top of the broom. The plats are actually the stock of the broom corn plant and we cut them into about 8 inch sections then slice them in half and we soak them in buckets of water to soften them up, then using the contraption we call a winding table (seen in photo #7 with Brutus the Broomchick Pug) we use our feet on the wheel for tension as we weave the plats onto the broom. Much like sewing this requires a great deal of upper body strength and we get quite a workout from platting. In photo #8 you can see Michael platting a Turkey Wing Broom.
The final stage of broom making is what we call "trim, hole and leather" and it's exactly that. We use a guillotine style trimmer to trim the broom corn flat, then using a drill press we drill a hole at the top of the stick and finish up with a piece of leather.
Some of our brooms (the Kitchen Broom and the Hearth Broom) are offered with hand carved tree spirits. In photo #9, our mentor Thurman Scheumack, demonstrates carving a Tree Spirit into a Kitchen Broom handle using traditional German hand carving tools.
To learn more about the broom shop check out these links:
About Us:
http://www.broommagic.com/#!about-us/c1d72
About the Crew:
http://www.broommagic.com/#!the-crew/izgjc
About the Carvings:
http://www.broommagic.com/#!the-carvings/vxyy7
There you have it! I hope you have enjoyed your broom shop tour!
Cheers to making a clean sweep!!
~ Samantha (Broomchick)
Scheumack Broom Company
