Favorite dustpan and broom

[Matt Lau]

Dear Neanderfolk,

I'm getting back into guitar building, but will probably be stuck with mostly hand tools (since my garage workshop is wired to a single 20 amp breaker).

My current setup for dust collection is a Fein Turbo attached to a steel dust deputy, a plastic $20 dustbin, and a free broom I found on the side of the road.

Do you have any recommendations for a REALLY nice dustpan and broom?


I have a standing dustpan/broom for inside the house by Redecker that is suuuuper nice.
However, I don't know if it's overkill?

I'm just tired of having too much sawdust and shavings in my workshop.

[Tony Wilkins]

Part of my hand tool/handmade weirdness, I bought one from Berea college. Use it in the house and haven’t bought one for the shop. Not sure it works any better than one from the grocery store but it looks pretty.

[Philip Glover]

For a stand-up dust pan I use a Rubbermaid Commercial Maximizer Heavy Duty Stand Up Debris/Dust Pan. This is the best one that I have ever had.
For the bench I use a large metal dust pan and brush from the hardware store - nothing special really.

Regards,

Phil

[Stew Denton]

When I was in high school, I worked for the school system as a janitor in the winter. I swept classroom floors after school. The push brooms we used were natural bristle brooms and we also used big cotton push mops. I have a push broom for the garage now, and it is synthetic fiber, I think it is probably polypropylene. It is not even in the same ballpark as the natural bristle brooms we used in the school.

I want to get a horse hair push broom if and when I finally get a shop. I will plan to paint the floor with a good coat or two of good floor enamel to make the floor relatively smooth, but it should still have pretty good grip because of the nature of the concrete. The relatively smooth texture will make the floor much easier to sweep.

I think horse hair bristle push brooms are very good choices for floors with different kinds of surfaces. Mexican Tampico fiber brushes are good for smooth floors. The big heavy duty cotton push mops pick up almost every bit of very fine dust. I think we used a dust mop spray on the mops too.

I can't recommend any particular brand, but can say that push brooms do the job more quickly than a house type broom, and they also stir up much less dust. We used metal dust pans back then when I worked for the janitors, and I bought one when my wife and I first had a garage. I have used that same steel dust pan for the over 40 years my wife and I have been married. That said, be careful not to drop it on a corner, as you want to keep the edge dead flat. I use a horse hair hand brush to sweep the sweepings into the dust pan.

A shop vac with a wide attachment designed for smooth floors is also good for the remaining fine dust after sweeping, and also works fairly quickly. I also now use the shop vac in blower mode to blow the fine remaining dust and saw dust which remains after sweeping the floor with my current push broom. I blow it out the open garage door. I can blow out the garage in less than a minute.

I think Granger and other industrial suppliers has good push brooms, and you might also try to find a janitors supply company, which is where the janitors got the brooms and mops we used. The brooms and mops we used back then were much better quality than I have seen in any hardware or big box store that I have seen. The janitor supply companies had the high quality stuff back then, and when I get to the point of buying one for my (hopefully soon) shop, I will try that source first. Also if you can visit with someone who works in the order/sales department of the janitors supply outfits, they will know drastically more about brooms and mops than any clerk in a big box store.

Regards,

Stew

[Tom M King]

Horsehair for the sweeper.

[Matt Lau]

Thanks for the tips!

I wasn't sure if it was just in my head that the horsehair brush I use inside the house seems to work much, much better.
I'd had some plastic bristle brushes (didn't work), corn bristles (sorta work), and a commercial push broom (took too much space, my workshop was too tiny and cluttered).

On a side note: for a bench horsehair brush, I've had good luck at TJ Max/Marshalls.
They had a nice Italian made horsehair brush for $10. It's a little nicer than my Lee Valley one.

[Matt Lau]

Oh, and I have a generic version of that rubbermaid bin.

My complaint is that:
1. The thing will swing loose if you're not careful
2. Stuff gets underneath the lip.

[Philip Glover]

I had to tweak / bend the latch on my Rubbermaid dust pan so that it didn't come loose and swing.
It's very good for picking up chips and shavings. I use a vacuum to get the small stuff (dust) at the end of the day.

PCG

[Andrew Alexander]

Like Tom, I like Berea College brooms; 1 for the shop
IMG_0939.jpg

and a smaller one for the kitchen
IMG_0965.jpg

[Cameron Wood]

I've not found a dustpan better than OK- the common metal ones.

Counter brush horsehair for sure. But a synthetic one is OK for outdoor, crude work.

For broom, this one FTW. I've used these for years- much better than anything else. I've got maybe eight of them. Stands upright, almost by itself, so it's not always falling over, & the bristles don't get bent.

https://www.amazon.com/115-4a-Broom-...s%2C640&sr=8-2

They used to be at big orange (maybe still), & shouldn't cost as much as this Amazon link. There's a 12" one which is OK, but the 9" is better.

Of course a horsehair pushbroom is the thing for large smooth floors, and whatever for concrete patios, etc..

[Mel Fulks]

I would try to find one of those “ Dust Pan of History” ones. They are the ones they use for the really big messes.

[Richard Coers]

11 posts on a broom and dust pan? I guess I don't get it. Think the machinery guys use different brooms and dust pans?

[Jim Koepke]

Years ago this dustpan was purchased for the shop:

16in Steel Dust Pan .png

It is of the type used in shops and schools for at least the last 60 years from my memories, probably longer. It is steel, 16" wide and strong. It likely wouldn't be too hard to fix a handle to it if that was desired. Current price online listing for Home Despot is ~$17.

One time Candy wanted a dust pan to use in the house and it has been there since.

So another shop dustpan was purchased:

17in Aluminum Dust Pan .png

This one is 17" wide and aluminum. With care it will likely last as well as the steel dustpan as long as no one steps on it. It might be more difficult to add a long handle. Current price online listing for Home Despot is ~$15.

The steel one makes more noise as steel is prone to do.

[Stew Denton]

Jim,

Your steel dust pan is extremely similar to mine, but not identical, and greatly like the ones we used when I worked for the janitors over 50 years ago. Mine is 13 inches wide. Good dust pans.

Stew

[steven c newman]

I really like a dust pan...with a LONG handle....as I rather not stoop down to the floor.....

Have 2 brooms in the shop...nothing special about either one, except that they do work...

Hey...it could be worse...maybe start a NEW sharpening Thread? IF you happen to get bored, that is...