Found out why my broom handles kept snapping last week

I broke 3 broom handles in a month on a driveway pour in Nashville. Finally asked a guy at the supply house and he showed me the grain direction on the wood. Turns out most cheap broom handles are cut wrong from the tree, so they snap under pressure instead of flexing. Now I check the grain line before I buy and it saved me like $40 in broken handles. Anyone else ever notice this or am I just hard on my brooms?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily8928d ago

My buddy bought a 12 pack of cheap handles and snapped all but one in two hours. Turned out he was buying handles from the same twisted grain batch as you.

iris_stone2827d ago

Wait, isn't that the same thing that happens with cheap shovel handles too? I read this article from some farm supply blog that said the grain should run in a spiral around the handle, not straight up and down, because that's what gives it the flex without breaking. They also said to look for handles that come from the outer part of the tree, not the core, since the core wood is more brittle and snaps easier. It's wild how much difference a simple detail like grain direction makes, I bet most people just grab the cheapest one without thinking about it.