Oak Splint Baskets
Sturdy and inexpensive, making was a men’s craft oak-splint baskets was because preparing the were used in almost every splints and ribs required kitchen and the axe, splitting wedges, barn on the and “schnitselbank” — all old homesteads. men’s domain. The majority of basket makers were Prized now farmers or tradesmen who by collectors, practiced their craft part these time in the off season or plain, undecorated, when the weather was bad. utilitarian Not only plaiting the forms baskets but preparing the tended to fall splints and ribs from a by the wayside in the twentieth piece of white oak took century when inexpensive strong hands and considerable imported baskets, skill. The Germans commercially made bushel were very particular and “peach” baskets, and about selecting the tree all sorts of other containers to be used. It had to be a came on the market. sapling no larger than ten
The Pennsylvania Germans inches in diameter, perfectly brought with them straight and free of the ancient European craft knots or branches for the of “karreb” (basket) making. first eight or ten feet. It They wove plenty of needed to be cut before the coiled rye straw bread sap went down in the fall. baskets and other rye straw After it was felled and carried containers of all sizes from home it was kept moist bee skeps to sewing baskets. until ready for use. But the oak-splint To prepare the splints was the basket work-horse and ribs for basket making, in field and garden. first the bark was
Perhaps because it’s stripped off. Then the log somewhat akin to weaving was split in half, then quartered cloth, which was exclusively and then the quarters a male occupation, were again quartered and oak splint basket weavers so on until they had pieces were usually men. But more about stave size [an inch or likely the reason basket two wide]. A pocket knife was then inserted into the end between growth rings and strips peeled away that were about an eighth of an inch thick and up to eight feet long. Green white oak has the quality of “delaminating” at the growth rings, so each strip is one year’s growth. The resulting strips could easily be split to the desired width.
While seated at the “schnitzelbank” the basket maker smoothed the long, thin strips with a razor sharp draw knife. Splints were usually a quarter to a half inch wide while the ribs were as much as two inches wide in the middle but they gradually tapered to a point at each end. These points were tucked into the weavings where the handle joined the rim. The splints were then laced around these ribs so that when dried the whole construction was bound together. White oak being an exceptionally tough, hard wood when dried, these baskets lasted for decades of rough usage: gathering potatoes, corn and other field crops, carrying silage and feed to barn animals, carrying produce to market and so on.
Commonly, oak splint baskets were made with or without handles. The more common handle type started with a frame made of two long, more or less round, strips of oak which were tapered at each end. These were bent into circles and the tapered ends overlapped and tacked together providing two equal size hoops. These hoops were assembled at right angles to each other and tacked at the joint. The one hoop made the basket rim, the other the handle and center frame for the plaiting.
Basket making was so common and unremarkable that little record of makers was kept. But locally we know of two brothers who lived on Grebe Road and made oak-splint baskets until the early 1950’s. Grebe Road is at the end of Faust Road near Fagleysville. The Limerick Township history “Limerick Township: A Journey Through Time” by Muriel Lichtenwalner notes that: “Frank Krause and his brother Milton, who lived along Swamp Creek in Neiffer, were basket makers. …In the community of Neiffer these baskets were known as the ‘Speck Annies’. They traded at the Roth store in Neiffer and were a familiar sight, walking back and forth for supplies. They would buy a slab of bacon, put it in a burlap bag and sling it over their backs. The grease would come out on their clothes. [the Pennsylvania German word for fat is “speck”]. Frank Krause made sixteen different styles of splint baskets. These splint baskets, from the 16 quart size down to the pint size, have arched handles that span the basket from side to side and reach as high above the rim as the woven work extends below the rim.”
“Frank and Milton Krause could be seen regularly carrying their baskets along the roads toward Saratoga to board the trolley to Pottstown. There they sold the baskets on the street for a small fee. On Saturday afternoons they walked or accepted rides to the Gilbertsville Sale to sell their baskets. Both Frank and Milton died in 1953 and were buried in the Herstein Chapel burying ground.”
Anyone interested in pursuing the basket making craft today would have trouble, I fear, in finding good white oak saplings to use. I’ve lately observed the oak trees in our immediate region are more or less affected with oak decline or oak dieback. Due apparently to diseases and fungi as well as environmental stresses brought on by drought and soil acidification, the trees become blighted and die over a period of two to five years. However in areas where there is good limestone soil