Handmade wood and metal washboard

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

Handmade wooden washboard with metal scrubbing panel. The washboard is constructed with a main rectangular panel of carved wood with two turned legs on the bottom edge. The top section of this main panel is thinner than the middle section and the legs. The middle section of the main panel has nineteen (19) rows of metal bands pounded into it, though the bands do not puncture the back of the board. The bands are alternately spaced so that the center portion of each band is by the empty section between the bands of the rows above and below. The main panel has two thin side frames of wood nailed to it and a wider piece of wood nailed to the top side that serves as a handle.

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