Sturdy Wooden Clothespins – Kevin’s Quality Clothespins
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I love the smell of laundry fresh off the line – but I don’t love cheap, flimsy wooden clothespins. They launch themselves off the line in pieces or drop wet items on the ground below the line.
Since our laundry line is on our elevated deck, when laundry drops, it really drops, falling over ten feet down. Back in 2014, I was hanging clothes and thinking, “It sure would be nice if someone started making heavy duty wooden clothespins again.”
Ask and ye shall receive, because the next time I checked my inbox, there was a message from Hilary of Kevin’s Quality Clothespins. They sent me a sample of their heavy duty, American made wooden clothespins for review.
7 Reasons Why Kevin’s Quality Clothespins May be the Best Wooden Clothespins You’ve Ever Used
- Kevin’s Quality Clothespins are hand-crafted from solid maple hardwood, specifically end pieces from a local mill that supplies wood for guitars. I like that they are able to re-purpose what would otherwise end up as scrap. The wood has a light colored grain and will not bleed tannin onto clothing.
- The clothespin springs are heavy duty stainless steel from an American manufacturer, so there’s no rust or corrosion. They are much larger and stronger than standard imported clothespin springs.
- Kevin’s Quality Clothespins are made in America with materials sourced from local suppliers.
- Each clothespin is treated with natural linseed oil before assembly to help them resist weathering. You won’t find any treatment on the nekked cheapo clothespins.
- These clothespins are big enough to go where other clothespins can’t. They are large enough to tackle heavy rugs and quilts on a standard clothesline. They can even open wide enough to accommodate a 1/2 inch dowel. No more items slipping off drying racks.
- No slip grooves at the end of the pins make it easier for the user to operate the clothespin.
- These pins are crazy strong! I tied up a 5 pound weight in an old sock and tacked in on the clothesline with one of Kevin’s Quality Clothespins. It hung there like a boss – no slipping or sliding. I didn’t even attempt hanging the weight with the imported pins out of fear for the windows located right near the clothesline.
Clothespins That Last
I had a bin in my junk drawer dedicated to holding parts of dead clothespins. Every so often the boys would go through and try to piece them back together.
The thing is, once the springs have been stretched, they never work quite as well. Usually they ended up right back in the junk bin after the next load of laundry. Since I switched to Kevin’s Quality Clothespins, that bin only gets working bag clips and clothespins, not broken ones.
As long as you take them off the line when you gather the laundry, these clothespins should be around to hand down to your children and grandchildren. These wooden clothespins are made like things used to be made – to last.
They are more expensive than imports, but less expensive than similar clothespins in a Mother Earth News article. (Those pins were also out of stock when I checked the website.)
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These clothespins are nice enough for gifts, especially if you paired them up with something like wool dryer balls or a handmade clothespin bag.
Buy Your Own Set of Heavy Duty Wooden Clothespins
You can buy your own set of Kevin’s Quality Clothespins here.
*Update May 2021: Sadly, Kevin passed away, but his wife has taken up making wooden clothespins.
I received no compensation for this review, only a set of clothespins. I liked them so much I bought more for myself and some for friends.
Update: This review was originally posted in October 2014. It’s now December 2023, and I’ve used these clothespins for over 9 years. They still work great, and not one has busted.
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This article is by Laurie Neverman. Laurie grew up on a small dairy farm in northwest Wisconsin, and now lives on an 35 acre homestead in northeast Wisconsin.
She and her family combine the best of old and new for more sustainable living. They use solar water heating and line drying, root cellaring and freeze drying, annual gardens and permaculture. There’s always more to explore!
Last updated in 2023.
These would be so wonderful to win…mine are not so good…thank you for the opportunity.
not only for laundry, but my clothes pins get used for bag clips, drying herbs and more.
It was so strange to see this pop up on my pinterest today. I had *just* complained to someone that my clothespins sucked. They always snap in half and I throw them in the fire pit. It drives me nuts!
These look awesome and I use my clothesline all the time.
Love it! It is so hard to find good quality clothes pins.
Nice to know where to get a nice quality product made in the USA. Thanks for the review! I love line dried clothes!
Would love some of these clothspins. I hate my cheap ones, always breaking and popping off the line.
I use clothespins to close up cracker, cereal, and other type containers so they won’t spoil. I also use clothespins in craft projects all the time. I would love to have some good ones.
Looks like the ones we used when I was a kid! Nice and surdy!
These look fantastic! So much better than the flimsy ones that pop and break so easily.
I would love to try these out!
Now those are some sturdy clothespins. I’ve been having trouble finding ones that can even hold themselves together. Thanks so much for the link!
Not only do these seem to be a much sturdier clothes pin but they are beautiful to look at with their almost art deco appearance to the top. 🙂
I use clothes pins for EVERYTHING! Why buy bag clips when you can use clothes pins?? Haha. They’re definitely an awesome, versatile product!
How funny it sounds to say I’m excited about clothespins! My MOM would love these. Of course, I could enjoy them too. 🙂 Thanks for sharing great info!
lol – I’m sure you don’t sound any funnier than I did when I gave out a squeal as I read the first email – “Hey honey, somebody’s making REAL clothespins!”
Amazing, would love to try them. Im tired of my flimsy store ones. They fall apart so easy.
I’ve been hanging clothes outside for over 30 years, my best tip is to briefly put items like jeans in the dryer…they dry wrinkle-free & softer. I’d love to have these clothes pins – no more clothes on the ground!
I thought I was the only clothes pin snob around! I just got some of my mother’s clothes pins and they are much stronger than what you can get now.
I would love some of Kevin’s pins!
I absolutely LOVE hanging my laundry out on the line.
Just this summer, when my automatic washer went kaput, I bought a used Maytag wringer washer, and am totally in love with laundry again!!!
We are even considering hanging a clothesline with a pulley across the upper story of our living room, in the cathedral ceiling part, because it is always warm up there, and it would be a perfect place to hang clothes to dry.
I would love to have a set of these clothespins.
The imported clothespins available ANYwhere for sale now, are junk. They twist and come apart.
Who can use these really to hang clothes??
I remember the awesome pins I had in the 1970’s that were so durable easy to handle.
Thank you for the opportunity to see these new ones!!
I wash plastic bags (i.e., ziploc) and use clothespins to attach them to a coat hanger to dry.
I got tired of the cheap crappy clothespins so stopped using them altogether. I rarely have anything fly off the line but if I get my own place with a really long line, I don’t want to chance it.