5 Favorites: Classic Made-in-the-USA Wooden Clothespins

Until recently, you couldn’t find an American-made wooden clothespin (the last manufacturer in the country ceased production in 2002). But several small producers are now making sturdy, handsome hardwood clothespins designed to last a lifetime. Patented in 1853 by David M. Smith, an inventor from Springfield, Vermont, the spring-hinged wooden clothespin was a staple of American clotheslines until December 2002, when the Penley Corporation in Maine stopped making them. In response, Greg and Julie Baka, the owners of Best Drying Rack, launched a Clothespin Challenge, inviting craftspeople to make a sturdy clothespin they could sell on their site. Here are five to buy.

Above: Based in the Pacific Northwest, Kevin’s Quality Clothespins offers a Set of 10 Clothespins for $14.90 (the pins are made of maple with American-made springs; each pin is 3.5 inches long).

Above: Vermont native Herrick Kimball (author of The Deliberate Agrarian blog) got into the clothespin game a few years ago; he sells his Classic American Clothespins, which are treated with tung oil, for $2.20 each.

When he decided to start his business, Kimball found an American spring manufacturer to supply him with heavy-gauge, tight-coil, custom stainless steel springs (“the heart of a great clothespin is a quality spring,” he says). He chose ash wood “for its strength and excellent weathering qualities, and also because it darkens to a lovely patina.”