Why is a sorghum broom so good and how to make it yourself

Home appliance manufacturers offer a variety of state-of-the-art cleaning products. However, many housewives still have a cleaning assistant, popular in Soviet times - a sorghum broom. This simple item began to be produced after the Great Patriotic War, and it quickly spread throughout the country, gradually replacing brooms from birch twigs, aspen and alder brooms, which were used to sweep earlier. We will tell you in detail about a sorghum broom: what it is for, what and how it is made, how to store and use it.

What is a sorghum broom

This golden or reddish yellow household tool is a bunch of dry twigs sorghum plants. In several places, the product is stitched with thread, vine or wire, which gives it a strong spatula shape.

What is it needed for

The item is intended for household needs, primarily for sweeping indoor floors. It has thin rods and a long, durable handle, making it convenient for them to clean in hard-to-reach places: under furniture, in corners, narrow and cramped openings, at a height.

In some situations, the sorghum broom outperforms its high-tech competitor, the vacuum cleaner. For example:

• if necessary, clean uneven surfaces;
• in the yard, on the street;
• in the presence of dirty and wet debris;
• when glass is broken or plastic is crushed.

It is convenient for them to brush away dust and sweep out medium and large debris that gets stuck in the vacuum cleaner and clogs it. As a rule, surfaces are treated with a broom or sorghum broom before wet cleaning. It is often used when cleaning carpets and carpets with snow. Some housewives moisten a clean broom in water and spray flowers or linen with it, humidify the air in the room.

Why is it so popular and why is it good

The sorghum broom combines a number of qualities that allow it to be indispensable in everyday life for many decades:

• flexibility;
• density;
• elasticity;
• rigidity;
• strength;
• ease;
• ergonomics;
• environmental friendliness;
• naturalness;
• affordability;
• ease of use.

Features of growing broom sorghum

For the manufacture of brooms, a special cultivated species of the sorghum cereal plant is used, namely technical, or broom, sorghum. This plant is thermophilic, but unpretentious and resistant to prolonged droughts, which is not surprising, because it comes from equatorial Africa. The technical variety of sorghum grows with several tall stems more than 2 m long and has a powerful root system that feeds the plant even with minimal moisture. Upon reaching biological maturity, the stems and leaves are dried and waxed.

Planting sorghum is possible in different soils, cleared of weeds: black earth, loamy, light sandy with mineral fertilization. Only cold, marshy and acidic lands are not suitable for culture.

Attention! The proven varieties of industrial sorghum: Tavriyskoe 1, Venichnoe Rannee, Donskoe 35, Kinelskoe 67, Vavigen 100.

Before planting, the seeds are soaked in water for 20-30 minutes, the pop-up "pacifiers" are removed. The plant is planted no earlier than mid-May - it does not tolerate even light frosts and is very light-requiring. Seeds are sown in a continuous row to a depth of 4-5 cm, observing a distance between rows of 30 cm. After the first shoots appear, the beds are thinned out.The next time the soil is loosened after 10 days.

The growing season of the culture is 80-110 days. The yield of the most popular varieties is high - up to 4 c / ha. Sorghum is harvested in September, once a year. The stems are cut by hand using a sickle or disc trimmer.

How is a broom made

The industrial production of sorghum brooms is regulated by the technical document OST 56-31-91.

Before proceeding with the assembly of the broom, ripened healthy sorghum stalks are dried in a dry, ventilated room for 10 days. After that, the stems are cleaned from leaves and seeds with a special comb, sorted by length and thickness and tied into small bunches (rays).

For the manufacture of a broom for floors, take at least three bundles of sorghum with a diameter of 25-30 mm in the place of dressing each. The broom is stitched with uniform ties at least twice with cotton, nylon threads or twine, pulling it into a strong fan. Tie the handle tightly with a vine or twine at least three times at the same distance from each other. The end of the handle is trimmed and smoothed, the lower part of the panicle is leveled. It is important to achieve a smooth surface of the handle without scratching. Finished copies are sent from production for sale.

The production of sorghum brooms is always manual or partially automated labor. There is no complex conveyor production of this inventory yet.

Varieties of products

Sorghum brooms are of the following types:

• brooms for floors;
• brooms;
• brooms for cleaning clothes;
• sorghum panicles.

Depending on the method of fastening the working surface, there are:

• brooms with a pierced broom;
• brooms with a knitted whisk.

They are also divided by the number of panicle insertions. The most common are:

• double-stitched;
• three-stitched;
• six-pronged.

Is it possible to make a sorghum broom with your own hands

The technology of manufacturing sorghum brooms is primitive, does not require large financial investments and sophisticated equipment. If you managed to grow raw materials in a summer cottage, it is quite possible to make such a broom at home on your own.

Required materials and tools:

• sorghum panicles - at the rate of 250-350 g of raw materials per 1 broom;
• rope or twine about 2 m long;
• nylon or synthetic thread;
• wooden block 60x5x5 cm;
• wooden slats 40x5x3 cm - 2 pcs.;
• a small piece of rubber (can be cut from an old car tire);
• tie bolts - 2 pcs.;
• secateurs or sharp knife;
• scissors;
• shoe awl;
• drill;
• bucket.

Step-by-step instruction:

1. The sorghum stalks collected in autumn are cleaned of leaves and hung from the ceiling to dry for 10-30 days, and if possible, they are left until spring.
2. Dry panicles are cleared of seeds. The simplest device for this is a galvanized bucket. The branch is clamped between the edge of the bucket and the handle and dragged several times so that the grains roll into the container. The dried grain is eagerly eaten by poultry, including parrots, and also livestock.
3. The sorghum stalks are laid out on a flat surface and leveled with pruning shears to the same length of 70-80 cm.
4. The rope is firmly tied with one end to the ceiling rail, and a wooden block is attached to the opposite edge, forming a kind of pedal.
5. The assembled bundle of sorghum is wrapped several times with a rope in the place where it is supposed to separate the working surface from the handle of the future broom, that is, 25-30 centimeters from the heads of the stems.
6. To tighten the bundle tightly, press the wooden block with your foot until it stops. In the place of the constriction, a nylon or synthetic thread is passed through the middle of the bundle, and then several times wrapped around it and tied tightly. The ends of the thread are cut and put inside the broom.
7. In a similar way, several more constrictions are made along the bundle of sorghum panicles, thereby forming the handle of the future broom.
8. The working surface of the panicles is sewn. To do this, two wooden slats are clasped along the end with a piece of rubber - the design resembles linen tongs.It acts as a broom fixer during sewing. Secure it with two bolts that go into the drilled holes at the other end of the rails.
9. Having carefully laid out the branches of sorghum in the form of a fan, it is stitched, stepping back 5-10 cm from the base of the handle, pulling the thread through the panicles with a boot awl. The stitches should be strong, not too loose, and the same length. The more stitches, the stronger the product will be.
10. The finished broom is leveled with pruning shears or scissors along the edge of the working surface.

Where to buy ready-made and how much does it cost

The ability to make a sorghum broom on their own may be needed only by residents of remote villages, living subsistence farming and practicing barter exchange, or simply out of interest. Citizens buy this inventory at a hardware store, supermarket, or order online.

The cost of a simple sorghum broom varies from 50 to 150 rubles. depending on the type of raw material and the quality of the stitching. Sorghum panicles on long wooden handles are more expensive - up to 1,500 rubles.

Interior designers are happy to use natural materials, including sorghum, to make their objects. Therefore, on sale you can find real works of broom art from selected sorghum of the highest quality on carved handles from precious woods.

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Application rules

The average service life of a sorghum broom is from 1 to 2 years. After this period, with frequent use, the stems begin to puff, bend and fall out. However, if you use the broom carefully, without too much pressure on the handle when sweeping, this household tool will last much longer.

Important! To avoid a cloud of dust in the room, start the cleaning process with a slightly damp broom from ceilings and cabinets, gradually moving from top to bottom.

For the convenience of processing hard-to-reach places, the working surface of the broom is slightly trimmed at an acute angle.

Care

The broom is periodically cleaned with a saline solution (2 tablespoons of salt per 8 liters of boiling water), immersing it in a hot mixture for several hours. After that, the inventory is dried under the load. Thanks to this procedure, sorghum panicles are cleared of accumulated dirt and become elastic and resilient again.

The sorghum broom must not be stored in an upright position on the working surface: the sweeping part will quickly deform and become unusable. Ideally, store it horizontally on a dedicated shelf in a dry place.

Conclusion

Despite the widespread distribution of vacuum cleaners in the second half of the twentieth century, the sorghum broom is still popular in everyday life. Therefore, this piece of inventory should always be at hand. If desired, raw materials can be grown on the garden bed and made by yourself.