The craftsman at his shop

Curt Cable, broom maker

Curt Cable is a proud Appalachian man. He lives with his wife Rhonda and their two children in a new house on the side of a hill on the same property where he grew up. He's a chimney cleaner and a multi-instrument musician, a preacher and a broom maker. His accent is something rare in this day of linguistic homogenization -- it's pure Appalachian, as smooth as any southern accent but entirely diff…  (read more)

28 Oct 2016

130 visits

The craftsman at his shop

The picture of Appalachian hospitality, Curt Cable welcomes the visitor to his broom-making porch. Some of his wares have curlicue handles, formed when honeysuckle vines grow around and with small saplings, changing the shape of the sapling.

28 Oct 2016

169 visits

He makes it look easy, but it isn't

The first style of broom he learned to make is the Appalachian variety, with heads of broom corn fastened to the handle in a woven pattern with strong string.

28 Oct 2016

170 visits

Adding broom corn to the handle

The broom corn -- actually not corn but a variety of sorghum -- is initially tied to the handle in alternating layers. The thick stalk end is soaked in water for a while before the process begins, to give the string a better bite.

28 Oct 2016

157 visits

Checking to make sure it's straight

Cable glances at the alignment of the corn heads as he builds an Appalachian broom. The string is fed from a stick with square sides; by varying his foot pressure he can control the tension with which it's wound.

28 Oct 2016

155 visits

These machines were once manufactured

Shaker-style brooms are the kind normally sold at hardware and grocery stores. They're typically bound with wire and are also sewn together part way down the straws. This ancient piece of machinery allows the winding of the wire at very high tension to attach the straws to the handle.

28 Oct 2016

189 visits

So were these

Here, Curt Cable sews a Shaker-style broom. It's in a Johnson Improved Broom Sewing Vise, made many decades ago by the G. P. Johnson company in Amsterdam, New York. An original advertisement for the vise said it was "recommended by all leading blind broom makers and commissions, and is used in several of the schools for the blind throughout this country and in several foreign countries."

28 Oct 2016

186 visits

It's sharp and strong

Shaker brooms are all even at the bottom. That doesn't just happen, as witness this half-guillotine, half paper cutter device designed to accomplish the task.

28 Oct 2016

178 visits

There are many styles

A unique and popular style is the "turkey wing" broom, which resembles a whisk broom but is bound tightly down one side. Just the thing for keeping the hearth tidy, as long as it doesn't encounter any live coals.

28 Oct 2016

129 visits

Just-finished broom propped next to the door

Surrounded by some of the many varieties of broom that he makes, Curt Cable is a satisfied man, standing in the doorway of his broom-making porch.