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I’m trying to recall my very first “maker” experiments as a kid that went beyond paper and glue and remembered that I used to make a lot of random crap with... broomstick stalks! They made great dowels and pins.
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Two kinds were common in India in the 80s, a grass stalk kind for dry dusting (phool jhadu or flower broom) with chopstick-sized smooth straight stems and a coconut stalk kind for wet scrubby cleaning (nariyal jhadu or coconut broom) with sharp thin skewer like stalks.
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As a kid I’d constantly be stealing stalks from brooms, making them loose/fall apart. My mom would yell at me for that. But the thicker kind made great axles for cardboard cars etc. The thin, flexible coconut stalk kind made decent kite ribs, rig frames etc.
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During summer vacations visiting my grandparents, who had 4 coconut trees, we’d actually make the latter brooms. You strip the leaf part off and make mats and baskets with them. The center stalk makes brooms.
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