Washing Clothes With A Washboard
| Field | Manual labor |
| Went Obsolete | 1950 |
| Made Obsolete By | Popularity of washing machines |
| Knowledge Assumed | Identify dirt, stain and other nasty items lurking on clothing |
| When useful | During extended periods of power-outage; when in wilderness areas |
A washboard is a wooden implement with corrugated metal or other material framed in the wood. Often washboards had 'feet'. The item was often used in conjunction with a washtub, but if a creek was nearby, the washtub was not a requirement. You would fill the washtub with water and soap, load one or more items of clothing into the tub. Take each item and concentrating on the nasty parts, rub it up and down on the corrugated metal.
The soap could also be added to the clothing item and dipped in the water instead. This was more common when the clothing item was very nasty or when working in the aforementioned creek.
Once the item was clean or your elbows and shoulders got sore, you would rinse the clothing item and hang it to dry either on a tree branch or clothesline…or if it was something you needed to wear and the weather was nice you could just apply it to your body and let it dry while being worn. An early version of 'wash and wear'.
When washing machines came into vogue, the early versions came with a washing board for those difficult stains and later versions had a washing board built into the lid.
Today if something is that dirty it gets tossed.
