I recently Purchased a preowned Broom Suspension
and I was wondering if it was possible to "rebroom"
it. The bristles are worn and some wiring that attaches
the broom to the pole is unravelling. Who does this
type of work these days? Thank you in advance for helping.

Is this the same illusion you can build from Paul Osbornes books?

I did not look in Paul's book so it could be there. I just purchased the Broom suspension recently and was wondering if I could rebroom the bristle part of it. Any ideas?

Check with local craft shows... occasionally you can find artisans who do primitive brooms who are capable of restoring those.

Noticed you are from the Pittsburgh area. I am also. I have not recently seen anyone rebroom a broom but a few years ago I did see a demonstration at the Washington County Fair in PA and also at Meadowcroft. If you are interested, pm me.

John
The Gospel Magic Man

Just buy the right size of broom and glue the pieces together. I use contact cement on both. When you finish, tie with wire or cord. It will take time and patience but you will succeed. Use self adhesive wood grain finish stickers for the handle.

Ray,
I tried just "rewiring" the one broom but it's difficult to get the wire wrapping as tight as the
other broom and to wrap it exactly the same way.
They probably use a special machine to wrap these.
If I could get someone to "Rebroom" them that
may work. When you say just glue the pieces together
what do you mean?

If I were left to do it myself, I would re-broom BOTH brooms, so they would look similar, instead of trying (poorly, I'm sure) to make my craft project look like someone elses.

YMMV.

--- Guy

GuySavoie,
Know of any place that does that?

As a fellow broom suspension owner, I will follow one (or both) of the following patchs when it's time to redo my brooms.

First, if I didn't have the time, I'd probably go to a Michael's Crafts Store (a chain that sells lots of craft supplies for scrapbooking, floral, painting, etc.)

Our local Michaels has a community interest type pegboard. I would put up a card asking for anyone with experience or the ability to custom make new heads on straw brooms.

If I wanted to tackle it myself, I'd go shopping for brooms, at various stores, and find some heads that I could remove from their existing handles, and put on my brooms. The stores I would hit include WalMart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, and if no luck, I'd probably try my hand at prototyping a few with materials from Michaels.

Good Luck!

--- Guy

You may find a broom maker at a Renaissance fair or exhibit. I see you are from Pittsburgh, PA. I'm sure that there are some Olde World fares in your area. It doesn't have to be going on right now, but the promoters will know of some one with the skills you seek. Also, you may not be far from an Amish town with people that have hand made broom skills.

I do agree that having them both redone by the same person will insure that you do not make the special one look special.

I performed the broom suspension for several years at the Texas Renaissance Festival and Scarborough Faire. The thing to do is to check at the various Renaissance Festivals in your area. They are more likely to have a broom maker than one of the smaller crafts fairs. If not, check the latest issue of Renaissance Magazine.

Don't try to do this yourself. It's a losing proposition. I did both.

Call the Chamber of Commence for Berlin, OH or Millersburg, OH. These are Amish communities less than a one tank trip from Pitt. And such a nice drive in the Fall.

Thank you all for the ideas. I will try the
different routes and let you know what I find.