A new broom sweeps clean, so they say (Ed. – Who’s they? Need some attribution here), but when to replace?

My parents swore by having a good bass broom (Ed. – bassine is the word. “Bassine. Borassus Flabellimormis or the sago palm grows in the East Indies as well in Sir Lanka. The process of threshing the dried palm leaves releases the leaf fibres. These are brownish color and characteristically the bassine is softer and more fragile than other piassavas.”). I could see their point because there is nothing more satisfying than a good clear up after making a gardening mess.

But when to replace? I like my old one, and it works, but the head is getting loose (the broom, not me) (Ed. – !). I regularly clean it, and it comes up nothing like new. I’m reminded of the old road sweeper (remember those?) who after 20 years service was reluctant to give up his faithful tool. “I’ve had that broom twenty years, I’ve had four new heads, and three stales, I shall miss it”!

Should I or shouldn’t I?