I wasn't sure id be able to pull it off because I chose possibly the most difficult style of candle snuffer. It an 18th century scissor style snuffer. Back then wicks were made from twisted threads of flax, cotton, or hemp, and didn't burn nearly as well as our modern wicks. Trimming the wick to get rid of "candle snuffs" was an important part of keeping your candle burning well. If you didn't attend to it, the candle could get too hot, melt too much fat and send it streaming wastefully and messily down the sides - known as guttering.Smoking andexcessive smell could also be improved by careful trimming.

Candle snuffers were not primarily for extinguishing the candle. Snuffers were like scissors (or nippers) for cutting off excess sooty thread. A sharppoint was useful for spearing anyscraps of burnt wick that fell into the hot tallow, or to clean the candle stick holder.The snuffers often had a box to catch those clipped threads- the "snuffs". Snuffers were sometimes called snuffer boxes or box snuffers.

A snuff-pan, dish, or tray to lay greasy snuffers on was useful too. Sometimes the snuffers were kept upright in a snuff stand.

Real nice work, thanks for sharing.  :)

 

Come for a visit here sometime and/or attend my 7th annual 3-day hammer-in here in Sept.!   :ph34r:

 

Stan

Wow, I've never even heard of those. My current dream/goal is to forge an excellent pair of scissors or shears, and looking at these only makes me even more desirous of the project. You've done a good job, both making the snuffer as well as explaining it. Do they have to fit together precisely, to cut the end of the wick off?

Thanks guys, and thank you Stan for the invite! I may stop by for the hammer in. MizuPsi they do fit pretty close (I made them with a .010" gap) but they only have to cut the chared end of the wick wich pretty much breaks off.

Nicely made Bob. I hope everybody who  knows me appreciates my resisting all the wick trimming jokes that just sprang to mind.

 

Again, well done.

 

MizuPsi. "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" by Alexander Wygers goes into close detail on making shears and other hand tools like pliers, cutters, etc. Good book to have in the library.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

It is, indeed, already in my library, and I have perused it's pages often. Thank you for the recommendation!

Thanks frosty, I haven't had the chance to read that book yet but its on my list to check out.

BobbyC, Hello,

 

It must be my eyes but even after staring at you third pic, I cannot decide wether your snuffer has legs or not. The short blade seems elevated. Is it the rivet that raises it or are there legs?

 

Thanks,

 

Yves

Yves, it does not have legs. The short blade appears elevated because it rides on top of the longer one. The rivet is almost flush on the back side and with it open its leaning back on the handle and makes it appear to be elevated. It will sit flat when open but in that picture it is not.

Sorry I could not get back to you earlier. There are precisions I'd like to bring here.

 

The article you quote in your post, "Tallow Candles and Snuffers" on the Old and Interesting website, says : "

Candle snuffers were not primarily for extinguishing the candle.

I believe that these scissor type snuffers were not at all used or at least intended to be used to extinguish candles. The authors I have refered to all agree that snuffers of this type are used to trim the wick as you say. However, none of them ever mentions the snuffers being used to extinguish the candles.

 

Plummer in "Colonial Wrought Iron" is very clear on the matter, the sole intended use of the snuffer is to "trim the end of the wick and to catch the blackened, fragile remnant" (page 93).

 

Brears, in "The Old Devon Farmhouse" has a section he titles 'Extinguishers' where he describes and draws (# 192 and # 195) snuffer like implements that have two disks that were closed on the wick to extinguish the candles. He calls these 'douters'. One, # 192 has a box to receive the snuff and the disks are at the end of the blades and replace the point. The other, # 195 only has the disks. This type of implement, the douter, according to Raymond Lecoq in "Les objets de la Vie domestique", is believed to have been used especially in England.

 

Seymour Lindsay in his "Iron and Brass Implements of the English House" worries about the snuffers for 4 full pages (Lecoq has also a lot to say about these). His drawing # 341 dating the implement to the early 18th century, shows a snuffer that "in place of a cutting blade and box it has two disks ... Some snuffers have douters attached to the end in place of the spike, but this was never a very common form." (page 60).

 

To conclude, I do not believe that they were used to extinguish the candles. In fact, was it advisable to cut the wick as short as you would have to to extinguish the candle. Please BobbyO, try it and get back to us. I am old but not old enough to have used these.

 

Your article also says:

 

A sharp point was useful for spearing anyscraps of burnt wick that fell into the hot tallow, or to clean the candle stick holder

This might have been and probably was also the case. However it seems that the main purpose of the point was to straighten the wick to be trimmed (Lecoq, page 309; Plummer, page 93 : "The pointed end of the blade is used to straighten and arrange the wick"; Seymour Lyndsay, page 57 : "A feature that is common to all periods is the spike that projects beyond the box; this was for uncurling the wick before cutting")

 

Also :

Sometimes the snuffers were kept upright in a snuff stand

 

For those who are interested, here is a drawing of such a stand by Seymour Lyndsay (upper left). It is interesting that Lecoq also has made a drawing of such a stand and that it is quite similar to that of Seymour Lyndsay.

 

 

Finaly, have you refered to one snuffer in particular when you forged your reproduction? I cannot find one realy like yours. The only one that seems to have handles scrolled like yours appears in the book by the Schiffer family "Antique Iron". However the pic is not realy clear.

 

BobbyO, thank you for sharing your work and giving me the occasion to polish up my knowledge of snuffers.

Simply amazing.   Keep up the good work!

Yves, I did not make a reproduction. I made to the best of my abilities with the resources I had. I made this as a trade item for the local blacksmithing group and everyone else made a bell shaped snuffer/ extinguisher and I wanted bring something a little different but still follow the theme . I started blacksmithing about a year ago and I'm not quite up to snuff to make a faithfull reproduction. Have you ever used a snuffer like this? I have used this one and a original one. They both worked the same way. You can snuff the wick without extinguishing the flame if you are fast enough. If you do it too slow it will go out. Also you can gently close the suffer at the base of the wick and it will put it out with out cutting the wick. Thanks for the picture of the snuffer stands. I was planning on making one that's why my snuffer didn't have legs. Unfortunatly I ran out of time so I took it to the meeting with out one

Yves, thank you for your well informed and researched post. This is why I enjoy blacksmithing so much!

BobbyC, I've been wondering what "trade items" were for blacksmithing groups. You did a good job, and brought an item that was more historically correct than the others.

 

Is it weird that this has me so excited? Haha.

BobbyO,

 

Caught up with the historical perspective, I did not mention how much I appreciate your forging. It is quite difficult to forge. It is quite difficult to forge a snuffer like this one. Glad you did.

 

Yves

BobbyC, if I may ask, how did you attach the box part on the long blade?

It is all one pice, I made a swedge to form the box , then folded the box over and forge welded it on the pointed end (there was a hole in the corner so I used my welder to fill it) then I put it back in the fire and finished shaping the box over a form I put in the vise.

I've never heard of this but it's quite an interesting tool. Thanks for the info and history. Your snuffer looks good and effective. Great work!