Acquired some wooden scissors

[Solpainter]

My wife’s brother sent us a box of their grandfather‘s belongings. Gramps passed away in 1956. Their grandmother sent this box to him 50 years ago, (she passed away 40 years ago) he opened it, shut it and put it in the garage. My wife’s parents passed away 20 years ago so no source of info). He recently found the box and since I am the family historian he sent it to me. It contained family photos, his military collection from serving in WW1 in the Canadian Army in Europe and just a lot of personal everyday items. At the bottom were this pair of wooden scissors made of pine. They appear to be handmade. A very unique design of the handles. His father and uncle were tailors in Welland, Ontario and his grandfather a tailor and founding father of Port Hope, Ontario. The tailor shop and the home he built in 1860 still exist and look like they were built yesterday. My wife really never knew her grandfather as he passed when she was seven. we were thinking these were a novelty item from his father or it was trench art from the war. Anyway an interesting item. My wife is going to hang them in her sewing room, seems her love of quilting is in her genes. Anyway any thoughts on the scissors?

 

[Lassen Forge]

Are you sure they're scissors? Thay look like the specialized "pliers" you use to pull "points" (the little pockets that form when sewing) back from being tucked in on one another to make a nice, square corner or edge without the stitching showing...

As they were a family of tailors, this would make more sense than scissors. Also the wood would keep from damaging the cloth the way metal needlenose pliiers would...

 

[freebirdwelds]

that is cool.

 

[RTM]

Are you sure they're scissors? Thay look like the specialized "pliers" you use to pull "points" (the little pockets that form when sewing) back from being tucked in on one another to make a nice, square corner or edge without the stitching showing...

I like this idea, combined with not being sharp, or even the illusion of sharp.

There used to be a crafter of pliers who made a similar model, where each end opened into another pair. So that design does not surprise me.

Here is a tree in that style.

A Tree of 511 Interconnected Pliers Carved from a Single Block of Wood by Ernest Warther — Colossal

As the story goes, Ernest “Mooney” Warther was a boy growing up in Ohio when he encountered a man who taught him how to carve a pair of working pliers from a single piece of wood—using just 10 cuts. Whether it was that single epiphany, or the machinations of his incredibly inquisitive mind...

www.thisiscolossal.com

Dan Warther, grandson of World's Master Carver, carves triple pliers into tree trunk

Dan Warther, son Cogan, neighbor Chris Lane turn tree stump into triple pliers

www.timesreporter.com

 

[Boogerman]

Built to show skill as a woodworker. Hobby like building ship in bottle. People did things like this before radio, TV and internet.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Built to show skill as a woodworker. Hobby like building ship in bottle. People did things like this before radio, TV and internet.

I never thought of this, but I like this idea. My Uncle (Steve) used to do ships in a bottle, when we lived with him (mom was going through cancer treatments nearby, so yeah...) Anyway, he took me under his wing for the year we were there, taught me the "tricks of the trade", and got me hooked on it (to the point of getting exacto knives, long reach tweezers, japanese saws, and other goodies) and made a few... including a pretty decent replical of the Balclutha (a 3 masted cargo hauler, loaded the deck with "lumber" like it would have been back in the days)... It's come up in conversations enough in the past month (after some 50 years) I'm thinking about maybe seeing if I still have it, as something must be pulling me that way...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'm not getting how they would work well when closing. It seems like the 2 pivots in the handles would prevent closing the "scissor" part. What am I missing?

 

[RTM]

I'm not getting how they would work well when closing. It seems like the 2 pivots in the handles would prevent closing the "scissor" part. What am I missing?

the outer two layers of the handles close the main jaws. The inner two would just whack each other, and then close

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

the outer two layers of the handles close the main jaws. The inner two would just whack each other, and then close

Yeah, that's what I got. But ergonomically doesn't make sense.

 

[PBCampbell]

They're not for use, just really nifty example of a person's carving ability. I'd bet they're made the same as Mr. Warther's pliers, as the joint looks the same, and they're made from a single piece of wood, not assembled.

 

[Solpainter]

Thank you everyone for the constructive comments. All are good replies. Of course we will never know the source of them or why but a very interesting find.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Fastenating!

 

[RivennHewn]

Prototype made by a pattern maker?

Could explain why they aren’t sharp.

Sharping would occur after the casting.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Prototype made by a pattern maker?

Could explain why they aren’t sharp.

Sharping would occur after the casting.

I doubt that, because for a prototype a box joint would be unlikely, in my opinion. Very few pliers have box joints. I think very early Utica did, but usually they are blacksmith made or created for surgery. Schollhorn made a box joint, but it wasn’t forged.

 

[RivennHewn]

A prototype for a forged tool would be unlikely.

For a cast tool, very likely.

Being that the size and use of this tool wouldn’t need the strength of forged, cast is a good option.

Lots of tools with cutting edges are marked “Warranted Cast Steel”.

Pattern makers were an amazing bunch of people. Their creativity unmatched, even to this day. They literally made our world turn.

Without them, we’d still be throwing rocks at rabbits.

Everything that was mass produced, was first created by a pattern maker. Everything.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Everything that was mass produced, was first created by a pattern maker. Everything.

Indeed! And it is still a bedrock principle of best engineering practices. Modeling and simulation always comes first.

Fastenating!

Not sure if this was an intentional, creative portmanteau of fastening and fascinating meant to suggest a different excitedly intriguing purpose (putting things together) or a flub.

Very few pliers have box joints.

True, in the US. But European manufacturing favored it, especially in specialized fields such as dentistry, to name only one.

Are you sure they're scissors? Thay look like the specialized "pliers"

^ This!

Granted, the finger guards make it look like scissors or shears, but whether it's an actual wooden tool, a wooden pattern for a cast steel tool, or just an exquisite work of handicraft carving, the shape and orientation of the long business ends of the two halves on the other side of the box joint enable grabbing or pinching, like long flat nose pliers, not cutting. They don't look unfinished to me. In other words, if the skilled and able person who made them intended them to be scissors, those parts would look like blades.