Making  Clothespins
Please note that this page is NOT intended to be a how-to tutorial.
Most of the pictures that follow were taken when I was prototyping the Classic American clothespin design in 2012. They give you an idea of the equipment and procedures I've used. 
When I got to making my 1st run of clothespins in the fall of 2013, I modified my approach and specifications somewhat from what you see here. Therefore, these pictures should not be viewed for specific dimensions and procedures, but as a general overview of the process. 
For exact specifications and a recommended step-by-step procedure, consult the Specifications and Project Notes For Making Classic American Clothespins.
Click on any of the photos below to see an enlarged view.

Photo #1
Prototyping and production of clothespins 
in 2012 and 2013 was done outdoors, 
under a tent. Notice the pile of 
boards in the picture. That is 200 
square feet of premium, kiln-dried lumber.

Photo #2
The ash boards were jointed on one edge and planed 
to 3/8" thick. The boards are crosscut into 
pieces 3.5" long, as shown above.

 

Photo #3
Each of these crosscut pieces of wood is referred 
to as a "flitch," and the flitches will be machined just so.

Photo #4
The flitches need to be cut square. 

Photo #5
Grip grooves are cut into the flitches with the table saw.

Photo #6
One pass over the blade makes one grip groove. 
Three grip grooves on hundreds of flitches adds 
up to a lot of hours of cutting. And sometimes mistakes
 happen, like you can see on the flitch being held in 
this picture. If three saw blades were ganged together, 
a triple grip groove could be made with one pass.
 Now there's a good idea...

Photo #7
By the time I got to my 2nd production run, I figured out 
that I could gang two blades together on my old 
table saw, as shown here. And 
the feather board ensures that every
 flitch goes over the blade properly. 
By the way, that's a JessEm 4015 Feather Board  
and a Bench Dog Tools 10-033 Push-Bloc Push Pad. 
I'm very pleased with both products.

Photo #8
The beveled ends on the mouth-end of the 
clothespins is cut with a router bit  and a router table.

Photo #9
Here a groove is being machined to hold 
one end of the clothespin spring. 

Photo #10
Clothespin flitches are milled to precise dimensions. 
I prototyped the Classic American using the ruler above. 
It is not an ideal tool for easily getting precise measurements. 
Then I bought this inexpensive digital caliper, 
and discovered that I had really been doing things 
the hard way. 

Photo #11
The "small tooth groove" is milled on the router table.

Photo #12
The "spring seat" groove is also milled on the router table.

Photo #13
Here you can see the "large tooth groove" 
being cut into the flitch.

Photo #14
Three milled flitches. Note the fuzzy edges left by
the core box router bits. This is no problem because
the flitches will be ripped thinner in the next steps...

Photo #15
The "mouth end" of the flitches is ripped down on 
a table saw. To secure the flitches for cutting, 
they are clamped onto a "flitch sled," as shown here.

Photo #16
This picture shows how the flitch sled holds 
the flitches while they are being cut.

Photo #17
The finished cut.

Photo #18
The saw blade is angled, as shown here, 
for ripping the "handle end" of the flitches.

Photo #19
The flitches are clamped once again in 
the flitch sled and run through the saw to make 
the handle-end bevel.

Photo #20
The finished cut.

Photo #21
Pin halves are cut out of the flitches 
one at a time on the table saw.

Photo #22
Here's a close-up view of a pin half being 
cut to size, and the  push stick.

Photo #23
A single clothespin half. 

Photo #24
A few clothespin halves can be sanded 
by hand, but not thousands of them. So....

Photo #25
To smooth the sharp edges of the freshly-milled 
clothespin halves, I made the tumbler shown 
in the picture above. The pieces are 
loaded into the cylinder and tumbled for three 
hours. This tumbling does a remarkable job of 
smoothing the pins. That is my oldest son in the picture. 

Photo #26
Here's a look inside the tumbler. In addition to smoothing 
the edges of the clothespin halves, the tumbling action 
also serves to reveal any weakness in the wood. 
After three hours, some of the halves are chipped 
or cracked, and they are easily spotted, later, 
when the pieces are each graded.

Photo #27
This close-up view shows what the tumbling does. 
The piece on the left has been tumbled and the one on the 
right has not. Click the picture to see an enlarged view. 
By the way, this picture was taken during the 
prototyping process and I tumbled the pin halves 
by sealing them in a box and tumbling the box 
in my wife's clothes dryer. I don't recommend this. 
A better approach is to put the pieces into large 
plastic bags, tie them closed, and 
tumble the bags in the dryer, with a few towels 
to cushion the action.

Photo #28
This bag of clothespins was dryer-tumbled for 
an hour or so. Good enough for a small 
quantity of homemade clothespins.

Photo #29
After the pieces are tumbled, they are 
graded. Every single one is inspected and 
separated into three categories: cull, #2, 
and select. The "select" pieces are 
packaged into assemble-your-own 
clothespin kits, or they are oiled  
and sold as finished clothespins. The #2 
pieces are packaged and sold in the 
assemble-your-own "scratch & dent" kits. 
The clothespins that are to be oiled and 
waxed often require a little 
touch-up sanding by hand.

Photo #30
I use the same bag-tumbling approach to 
coat the clothespin halves with boiled linseed 
oil or tung oil. The pins shown 
in this picture have just been tumble-coated. 
I tumble the halves with pieces of terrycloth 
that have been dampened with the mixture. 
Only a little is needed, and a short tumbling 
session will get the job done. I did this in 
my wife's clothes dryer a few times, with 
no problem, but it made me nervous. If a bag 
broke open, it would have been a disaster. 
Now I bag-tumble in the homemade tumbler 
shown in Photo #24.

Photo #31
After the clothespin halves are oiled, 
they are assembled and air dried. 

Photo #32
The finished product.

Classic American clothespins—
doing the work they're made to do!