MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Wendyf]

I'm guessing that it must be for cutting sugar.

[Gloria]

For punching holes for ear tags? Did they do that then??
De-coring fruit?

[rossylass]

I'm with Wendy....sugar cutters.

[hartley353]

On second look I see there is what looks like an adjuster to the right of the picture didn't notice last night because it was in the reflection of my reading lamp, second guess is it to destone olives.

[Stanley]

Wendy has got it, they are sugar nips.



Here they are, beautifully made by a blacksmith and very high quality. But what was it that I showed on the first pic that is so unusual?

[hartley353]

Last time i had a sugar cube, it had polio vaccine on it. The only time we had solid sugar in Barlick was if some one dripped tea in the bowl. Sorry my teeth are not long enough to remember sugar loaves, but I would bet if you type sugar nips into a search engine you get some exotic sites.

[rossylass]

The hinge?

[hartley353]

Yes design of hinge appears to be self cleaning making for ease of use.

[Stanley]

You're almost there Rossy. Have a good think about the hinge and how it is made. Remember this was a blacksmith working with fire and a hammer. Very cunning......

[Steeplejerk]

Is it called a boxed hinge?

[Stanley]

Exactly Tom! Now try to work out how a blacksmith makes a box hinge and more importantly, gets the two elements connected at the pivot when the parts are too big to fit through the gap. Before you ask, I've never seen one made and they always puzzle me.



Everything about these nips is beautifully made and decorated. Whoever made them was a craftsman.

[Steeplejerk]

I dont know,but it looks like one of the handles/jaws are fixed to the box on one side then the movable handle is located onto the pivot then the other half of the box is blacksmith welded onto it ????(lots of question marks after my theory)

[hartley353]

Plenty of modern tool companies still use this joint we shall have to drop them a mail and ask how they do it.

[Steeplejerk]

They'll shoot you after they tell you

[Steeplejerk]

Found some sugar snips on t'inrweb,stamped W and C Wynn,east Ryding,almost identical apart from the spindle being visible !!

[Stanley]

Went for a furtle on the web but couldn't find anything that helped. It would be nice to know how they did it. Try this one....

[Gloria]

The underneath of a branch of a candle stick???

[chinatyke]

A well worn tin opener?

[Steeplejerk]

Ear Trumpet !

[rossylass]

Part of a clock mechanism?

[StoneRoad]

Spout of a kettle, or a metal teapot

[PanBiker]

Oil Can spout

[Stanley]

Curses! Ian got it.



Kaye's Patent valve delivery oil can. Tinsmith work at its best in heavy gauge tin plate. The lovely saw joints were a feature of them. Just think how much it would cost to make one like this today!

Thinking cap back on.....

[Stanley]

[Pluggy]

Posh table mat, they look suspiciously like coffee stains.....