Parts of a Broom – Handle, Bristles, Shoulder and Stitching

All 9 parts on the diagram

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Corn broom 6

Handle A long round stick, usually of wood. It is also called the broomstick.
Bristles On a corn broom they are broomcorn, a kind of sorghum. The fine outside layer is called the hurl.
Stitching Thick twine is sewn through the brush in rows. It flattens the broom and holds its shape.
Wire Metal wire wound tightly round the broomcorn, fastening it to the handle.
Shoulder The shoulders are built up with small bundles of broomcorn. They are laid along each side of the middle bundle.
Nail The end of the wire is nailed to the handle. The winding then cannot come loose.

Push broom 3

Block The head of a push broom. A long block of wood or plastic with the bristles set in its underside.
Brace A steel brace steadies the handle on large and heavy-duty push brooms.
Handle hole The threaded hole the handle screws into. Many blocks have two.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it. (1) Wikipedia, text only: Broom (handle or broomstick, bristles or fibers, the winding wire nailed to the handle, the twine stitching), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broom. (2) How Products Are Made, volume 6, Broom (handle, broomcorn, wire, nail, shoulders, hurl, rows of sewing), http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Broom.html. (3) An article on broomcorn in Economic Botany, April-June 1953, read as full-text search passages on the Internet Archive (the hurl, the wire nailed to the handle, the broom stitched with seams), https://archive.org/details/sim_economic-botany_april-june-1953_7_2. (4) For shoulder corn and hurl: a Perkins School annual report, https://archive.org/details/perkinsschoolfo083701perk, and the Rocky Mountain Leader, 1935, https://archive.org/details/rockymountainle1935mont_0. (5) For the push broom's block, brace and handle holes: Osborn Brushes, Catalog 210-B (1955), https://archive.org/details/osbornbrushescatalog210b, and a housewares distributor's catalog, https://archive.org/details/manualzz-id-826156, both read as full-text search passages; and the Visual Dictionary Online, household equipment (broom: handle, fibers), https://www.visualdictionaryonline.com/house/house-furniture/household-equipment_2.php. Hints and detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's broom, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

A broom is stiff bristles fastened to a long handle. This drawing names six parts of a flat corn broom, then three more on a push broom.

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How a corn broom is held together

The handle is a long round stick. Wire wound tightly round the top of the brush fastens the bristles to it, and a nail holds the end of the wire. Small bundles along each side build up the shoulders. Rows of stitching then flatten the brush and keep its shape. A push broom is built another way: its bristles are set in a block, and a brace steadies the handle.

Wire and stitching are easy to mix up: the wire is at the top, round the handle; the stitching runs across the brush.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a broom called?

The handle, also called the broomstick, and the bristles. On a corn broom the top of the brush has shoulders, wire winds the bristles to the handle, and rows of stitching keep the brush flat.

What are broom bristles made of?

On a corn broom, broomcorn: the stiff, tasseled stalks of a kind of sorghum. Other brooms use plastic or other plant fibers.

What is the head of a push broom called?

The block. It is a long piece of wood or plastic with the bristles set in its underside and a threaded hole for the handle. Many blocks have two handle holes.

Who invented the flat broom?

The Shakers are credited with it. Theodore Bates, a Shaker at Watervliet, New York, is said to have invented the flat broom in 1798; the brush was flattened in a vice and sewn in place.