TIL a $35 antique carpet beater is way better than a vacuum for certain rugs

I picked up this old wooden carpet beater at a flea market in St. Louis last month for 35 bucks. Figured it was just a decoration but I tried it on my wool rug that my vacuum can't seem to get clean. Man, after a few good whacks outside, dust and dirt flew out like crazy. My vacuum costs $300 and can't even touch that kind of deep cleaning for these old rugs. It's kind of a niche tool though, so I'm wondering if anyone else here uses weird old cleaning gadgets for their unusual job setups? I work as a vintage rug restorer part time and this thing might save me some serious work.

2 comments

2 Comments

karencampbell13d ago

Oh wow, so my $300 vacuum is basically just an expensive room decoration compared to a stick from a flea market? That's a hard pill to swallow. I'm half tempted to start beating all my rugs with random sticks I find in the backyard (you know, to save money). Although I guess there's a technique to it, not just flailing around like a maniac like I'd probably do. Regular vacuums really are useless for some stuff though, it's almost embarrassing how much crap that thing knocked loose.

grantt3913d ago

Had an old roommate who tried beating a rug with a hockey stick once... didn't go well.