I saw a coffin-shaped copper snuffbox on the wikipedia article on decorative boxes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decorative\_box I thought it was kinda cool, and I also thought it looked pretty simple to make, so I decided to give it a go. It’s nearly Halloween after all :o) I made it out of copper plumbing pipe. If you anneal it first, it’s pretty easy to slit it and bend it out flat. I’ve finished the basic shell of the box and the lid, but I’m a bit stumped about the hinge. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas? Please excuse the poor photos, this thing is really hard to photograph! I still have a lot of finishing work to do, there’s a lot of excess solder to remove. The lid is held on with masking tape until I figure out what to do about a hinge. I’m thinking I might have to find a small brass hinge and mount it externally, but I’m definitely open to ideas…
not sure if copper is the best choice. It’s really important to not let copper cooking pieces oxidixe otherwise they can be poisonious. Not sure if snuff and it’s ph and other such things might have a bad effect. Just a heads up it might be worth looking into. I don’t really know though. Just would be a shitty way to poison oneself. Nice though.
Yeah, I don’t think I’ll actually be using it, I’m just making it for fun. I made it out of copper because that’s what the original is made of. If I do decide to use it, I’ll coat the inside with something first, not just because of the copper, but also because the solder contains lead. The description on wikipedia says that the original is tinned on the inside. Tinned can mean plated with tin, or coated with solder fmost likely containing lead). I suspect the latter, so I guess the coffin shape was quite appropriate… If I manage to do a really good job and decide that I want to use it regularly, I could have the interior gold plated. A lot of old snuff boxes and cigarette cases were gold plated inside, because gold is inert and thus wouldn’t impart an odor onto the tobacco.
Here is an idea for you, mr cheapo to the rescue. If here in the USA try going to your local biker leather shoppe. When folks buy the leather chaps lots of times they will cut off the excess leg length. the leather is a thin black leather and you could use Gorilla glue smeared on with a Q tip on the inside of the hinge and it would work well. For the inside coating to keep it safe, (lead, copper concerns…) try heating up some BEESWAX, pour the molten wax inside and using a hair dryer to heat it up wipe out the excess with an old sock or something. I hope this helps. Being an old civil war reenactor we had to make alot of stuff and think outside the 'snuff’box hahaha ps glue rough side and have nice side towards the snuff…
Hmm, an internal hinge? That’s not a bad idea. I’ve made the lid for an externally mounted hinge, but I guess I could file off a small amount to give the hinge room to swing. I’d rather have a metal hinge just for looks, but if I can’t figure that out, a leather one will do the trick just fine. Beeswax is an excellent idea. Is it hard enough that snuff doesn’t stick to it? I was thinking some type of paint, but I had concerns about offgassing of the solvent. Wouldn’t have to worry about that with beeswax.
Talking of civil war reenacting, I often wonder why I’ve never seen a miniature powder flask for snuff. Seems like the ideal way to measure an exact amount of powder.
This is just from experience of owning lots of snuff boxes over the years, I am no handy man - but I have always found the best hinges are those that when the box is closed the inside is an unbroken cube or rectangle. The more a hinge comes into contact with the snuff the more prone it is too clog, which is why the old Laurencekirk boxes were so effective - rollers that were part of the body and lid, interlocking, with a pin running through. That would probably be very fiddly to machine, but the best metal boxes tend to have something similar. I like the leather idea, as a simple solution, but I wonder how long they would last.
This is not a great picture, but if you look closely you can see that the hinge of this silver snuff marries with the body. Note how much snuff collects in daily use. There are some better pictures on this thread: http://snuffhouse.org/discussion/4727/buying-snuffboxes../p1
Yes, the Lawrencekirk hinge seems to be the best design. I don’t know if you can tell from the photo, but there is no gap between the lid and the box where the hinge will go. The idea was to mount a hing externally so that when the lid is shut, the edge of the lid will butt firmly against the box. Then, I was thinking I could solder a piece of copper to the inside of the hinge area of the lid such that it will be covering the gap when the lid is closed. I don’t know if this will accumulate snuff and prevent the lid from closing however. I also need to figure out some sort of rim on the inside of the lid to provide a seal. One thing of note is how practical the coffin shape is. If it was carried upright, the snuff would collect in the bottom (foot) end, exposing a very small surface to the air. As the snuff was depleted, the tapered shape would mean that the exposed surface would get smaller and smaller, so even a small amount of snuff would be kept reasonably fresh. Compare this to the usual flip type box, in which the last of the snuff would be a thin layer which would dry out easily. Despite this, the snuff is still very easy to access, because the part you pinch from is the wide head end of the box. The shape of this area would make it easier to pinch the last bits of snuff, because there are no 90 degree corners like on a square box. Lastly, the shape fits very nicely in the hand. The box has a very natural feel to it, and it’s easy to manipulate and cradle in the palm of the hand. I’m really glad I made this box, because these kind of things can’t be gleaned by looking at photos. Once you actually hold it in your hand, it suddenly makes sense. I wonder if coffin shaped boxes were always novelty or mourning items, or if this shape was deliberately used because of its utility?
You could always use something called “Piano hinge” as far as the the internal coating, well, there are plenty of things for that I reckon. I love the photo of your efforts so far. Looks great. for something completely different (monty python…yada yada) check out the movie/dvd etc the good the bad and the ugly…when ELI WALLACH sp:? is in a scene with the stagecoach and takes the snuff box etc from one of the dead graycoats on the stagecoat. He has in his hand what I THINK is made from a MUSCLE shell??? dont really know. takes a whiff and there ya go. CINEMATIC proof that the movie makers acknowledge that the men in the civil war era used used snuf…WELL…DUH!!! tobacco goes a lot farther as a powder than chew, pipe tobak, ciggy fodder…etc…duh.
Yes, I remember seeing piano hinge for sale in an old hardware store years ago, I think it was sold by the inch. I’ll have to ask my local Ace if they’ll sell me one inch lol. Snuff certainly does go further weight for weight than other forms of tobacco. I often wonder why it has practically died out- it has so much going for it compared with other methods of nicotine uptake.
often people expressed their profession with snuffboxes, remember it was a custoum to share snuff, so they could be used like bussiness card. Also there were political snuffboxes because no one had invented the sticker or bumber yet.
It was common to have a snuff box that represented your work - hence the shoe, barrel and other shapes you see in old books. Coffin shaped boxes were sometimes carried by undertakers and are mentioned by Charles Dickens.
The thing I find interesting is that I always pegged that down to vainity untill this thread and then the light bulb went off and I figured out that it’s like a business card advertising your services and wares when out in public. So to combine two comments ideas together. Would it be appropriate for a plumber to have a duct tape snuff box?
@Vathek: I suppose I could temporarily use duct tape, but I really want something a bit nicer and more permanent. I’ve already spent about five hours on this box so far, so I want to do it right. It’s actually looking pretty nice now I’ve sanded off a lot more of the excess solder. @ bob: No, because a real plumber would never use duct tape. I made the coffin snuff box from plumbing pipe though, so maybe a dead plumber could use it?
A hardware store might be a source of small brass or copper tubing. Cut a piece to the right length (plus some extra to compensate for the kerf of your saw) then cut it into several pieces, solder them alternately to either sides of the box top and run a pin through them. If you want you could keep them pinned together while soldering if you use ‘whiteout’ in the joints to keep the solder from flowing where you don’t want it to go.
I actually just bought a brass hinge. I’m going to file the flat parts into a decorative shape and just solder it on. I did think about the method you described, but my soldering skills aren’t up to it just yet. Thanks for the tip about white out, I’ve tried graphite (using a pencil) but without great success. It helps, but it’s far from perfect. Definitely going to give the white out a try, because sanding the excess off is time consuming to say the least. I’m only about halfway done so far :o(