While I was teaching a chairmaking class at the Woodworking School at Pinecroft last week, school manager Katie Bister offered to plait the handle of my Exeter hammer with the woody stalks of broom corn.
Katie is a multi-talented craftsperson in fiber arts and woodworking, so I immediately said yes. I offered her a Crucible brass center square in trade. Plaiting is similar to braiding. Many times it is decorative, though it can be used to strengthen the area of a broom where the handle intersects the head, Bister says.
In this case, the plaiting adds some grip to the hammer handle, which is nice. You can see Bister’s plaiting work all over the shop at Pine Croft, including the handles on one of the tool cabinets.
The plaiting process took 23 minutes, according to the time codes on my photos. Here’s what it looks like.
— Christopher Schwarz
That plaiting is so wonderful. Chris you really need to get Katie to give us a short lesson. It looks as though the stalk was soaked and was she doing two string wraps on each row? I’m now intrigued with this technique. I have a
polissoir with same plaiting and was fascinated as to how it was done but resolved myself to just use the tool. Now I’ve become obsessed.
Beautiful work and looks like it takes some good hand strength to get such a tight and tidy result. Curious how she’s holding the thread at the far end. Almost looks like she is using her feet to keep tension, but can’t see. Crowning touch is the maker mark tag.
Brian,
The string is usually wound around a foot brake you step on to tension the string. They can range from elaborate spoked contraptions to a stick or dowel you step on. I’m also a woodworker/broomaker so this will be a must try for me. My preference, as is for many, is to weave in stocking feet so as to have more control of the foot brake.
What they said!
Fabulous! Thanks so much to both of you. Please add that to your video series along with text instructions and sources!!