The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-09-17
WILLOW BASKETS.


WILLOW BASKETS.
rhe Process OF M.nssset.rs Emplsysd 4.
| the Large Factories.
Were you ever in willow basket fac
tory? Few persons have had the pleas
ure of Witnessing the makiag of will
low basket had often lorged to know
how they were manufactured, and hav.
ing lately an opportunity to visit bas-
ket-making establishment, 1 watched
the process of manufacture with much
\ interest.
The shop or mandatory was large
barn-like structure, wherein many boys
and girls were employed. The process
is a simple one A log of beech or bass.
wood Of considerable length. and per-
haps eighteen or twenty inches in thick
ness. is thoroughly steamed. and then
suspended horizontally in the open
| framework of an iron table. by gud-
geons fastened in the ends. The log is
then made to revolve BY steam power.
A stout knife. of the length of the strip
required, and gagged to cut the requis-
lite thickness, slices off portion from
the surface of the log. As the knife is
constantly advancing toward the log,
the shaved portion drops of in the shape
of a continuous sheet. which either
breaks off itself, or is broken off by the
attendant workman into pieces of few
| feet in length. The sheets thus broken
of are taken to another iron table close
by, and placed between grooved rollers,
when. by ratchet-wheei arrangement,
long knife descends perpendlcularly.
| clipping off at each stroke a strip of the
width desired.
These strips, still wet and thus soft
and pliable, are next carried to benches
to be woven together by boys and girls.
At the back of these narrow benches
rise frames. inclined backward at an an
gle of ten or fifteen degrees at the top,
and from the top also projects a strip of
board, of two or three inches in width.
with bits of wire an inch or two III length
fastened in them regularly. of the same
distance apart as the width of the strips.
Now when the little operator goes to
weave her basket-for the girls work
much faster than the boys-wlth quick
motion she places upon her upright
frame four of the strips, placing them
between the alternate wire divisions for
one side of the braid. and places strip
across them ut the bottom. and then
quickly puts over that the transverse
strips, and the four other alternate
strips for the upper side of the braid.
Then, with flying fingers she inserts the
remaining strips with unerring eye. In
and out she weaves the strips almost
as fast as Your dazzled eve can follow
her little hands. She selects and throws
aside the defective strips in an instant.
In few moments the ends of the strips.
comprising about half of the square. but
forming smaller square, are woven
and thrown uDon the floor. where there
is a pile which grows at the rate of per-
haps four or five minute.
A pile of these woven squares is next
taken to a bench. to front of which is
fastened. projecting toward you. hol-
low box of steel or sheet iron. whose en-
ternal size and shape exactly correspond
with the interior dimensions of the
basket to be made. Upon the end of
this box the operator places strip Of
steamed elm. slipping its edge under
projecting bits of iron. for the inner rim
at the top of the basket. He then
places the woven square upon the end
of the box nearest him, and having a
shallow iron box or follower. of the
same size as the outside Of the basket,
but only about a couple of inches in
depth. standing Immediately behind, by
lever he places it quickly upon and
over the fiat side of the braided square,
thus doubling up the sizes and ends Of
the basket in shape. Then above the
shallow box he whips the loose ends
through each other to complete the
braiding of the upper part. This done,
he seizes another strip of elm and lays
it over the inner elm slip. with the
basket between them, and then, with
his mouth full of tacks. proceeds rapid
ly to drive the tacks, turning the basket
over as he proceeds, and clinching the
tacks on the iron box underneath, and
in a minute his part of the work is com.
pleled and the shaped basket joins its
fellows in huge pile on the floor.
1t only remains that the ragged. pro-
jecting ends of the strips be shaved of
with knife, and the handles which
have been steamed and bent into shape,
be put in place. when the basket is COM
pleted. They are then packed into nests
Of dozen each of large market baskets.
The best are sold at the factory ut thir-
ty-tve cents nest, or less than
three cents per basket. Other baskets
for various uses are made in q different
manner. yet the process is much the
same.-N. 7. Observer.