Do you know what this is?

glove stretcher

@Fleura (29129)

United Kingdom

April 29, 2022 4:10am CST

I inherited a lot of random things from my parents, and I know what most of them are, but this one was a mystery. It’s been hanging around in my bedroom for several years already while we occasionally fiddled with it and wondered what it was for. My partner suggested a hair clip, but it’s far too big for the average person and the inside of the ‘jaws’ is completely smooth so it wouldn’t grip at all. If you squeeze the short ends, the other ends open but normally a spring holds them closed. The whole thing is 18 cm/ 7 inches long and made of some sort of plastic in an imitation tortoiseshell pattern. Then a few days ago I stumbled across an antiques and bric-a-brac stall and there I saw another one very similar. I asked the stall holder what it was and he was able to enlighten me at last! So this is today’s challenge - what do you think this is? The answer is the image caption if you are too impatient! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2022.

12 people like this

11 responses

@xFiacre (12595)

• Ireland

29 Apr 22

@fleura Surgeon’s vasectomy tool?

6 people like this

@LadyDuck (458085)

• Switzerland

29 Apr 22

3 people like this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

30 Apr 22

It wouldn't be very effective unless you just kept a tight hold of it as a clamp!!

@LadyDuck (458085)

• Switzerland

29 Apr 22

Mom had one and I think she used when she washed the leather gloves as they shrank a bit and needed to be re-shaped.

2 people like this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

30 Apr 22

You are spot on. I never saw anyone use this but I know my mother had some special soap for washing gloves.

1 person likes this

@LadyDuck (458085)

• Switzerland

30 Apr 22

@Fleura I remember the special soap for washing gloves. Back in time women never went out in elegant dresses without wearing gloves and a hat.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

30 Apr 22

@LadyDuck And all the gentlemen wore gloves so they didn't get sweaty hands on the ladies' dresses when dancing.

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changjiangzhibin89

@changjiangzhibin89 (16534)

• China

2 May 22

I guess it is a bed sheet clip .When you air the sheet outside,clip the sheet with it, in case it would blow away.

1 person likes this

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changjiangzhibin89

@changjiangzhibin89 (16534)

• China

4 May 22

@Fleura Oh ! glove stretcher ! I didn't know it was used for that by any stretch of the imagination.

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

3 May 22

It wouldn't work for that, it doesn't grip at all.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

4 May 22

It's a glove stretcher. Apparently if you wash leather gloves (or kid gloves I suppose) they shrink and have to be stretched to get your fingers in again.

1 person likes this

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@DaddyEvil (137145)

• United States

29 Apr 22

It looks like shears of some type to me... We had all kinds of old "junk" around our farm when I was growing up but I never saw anything like that.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

29 Apr 22

I probably should have added a bit more detail - will do that now.

1 person likes this

@DaddyEvil (137145)

• United States

29 Apr 22

@Fleura After dad passed away, mom started cleaning up the piles of "junk" dad couldn't bear to let go of while he was alive. Some of the items he kept turned out to be worth quite a bit of money. (I'm sure some of the people mom dealt with weren't honest but some of them were and told her when she had a "find" worth more than the scrap metal would have been worth.)

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

30 Apr 22

@DaddyEvil Glad she got some good value from the 'junk'. You never know what will be considered 'valuable' and of course it changes over time.

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@wolfgirl569 (95134)

• Marion, Ohio

29 Apr 22

I am guessing a shoe stretcher

1 person likes this

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@wolfgirl569 (95134)

• Marion, Ohio

4 May 22

@Fleura I was close.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

30 Apr 22

Too small for that, but you're on the right lines.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

4 May 22

It's a glove stretcher. Apparently if you wash leather gloves (or kid gloves I suppose) they shrink and have to be stretched to get your fingers in again.

1 person likes this

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@RubyHawk (99425)

• Atlanta, Georgia

3 May 22

It looks to me like a clip to hold your hair back.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

3 May 22

It does look rather like that, but the 'jaws' are completely smooth and it's also too big unless you had an awful lot of hair.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

4 May 22

@RubyHawk It's a glove stretcher. Apparently if you wash leather gloves (or kid gloves I suppose) they shrink and have to be stretched to get your fingers in again.

1 person likes this

@RubyHawk (99425)

• Atlanta, Georgia

4 May 22

@Fleura I have no idea.

1 person likes this

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@BarBaraPrz (45487)

• St. Catharines, Ontario

29 Apr 22

Well, seeing as the image caption popped up as I was scrolling down, I know that that is a glove stretcher. But before reading your description I thought it could be some sort of snippy snip thing or maybe a curling iron, but seeing as it's not metal, that'd be a wrong guess.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

30 Apr 22

It doesn't have blades or any sort of grip. But like you I never guessed what it was.

1 person likes this

@rebelann (111164)

• El Paso, Texas

29 Apr 22

I never would have guessed that. When you said it was 7 inches long I thought maybe it was a way to curl hair, back in the old days women tended to keep their hair long.

1 person likes this

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@rebelann (111164)

• El Paso, Texas

30 Apr 22

Yeah, you're right, it would be hard to hold it in place while hair curls.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

30 Apr 22

I guess it might work for that, but you'd need a way to hold it in position.

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@marlina (154166)

• Canada

3 May 22

I had to look at the caption, first I thought it was a clothespin.

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

3 May 22

It looks as though it ought to be a clip for something, like laundry or hair, but it doesn't grip at all.

@Marilynda1225 (79708)

• United States

29 Apr 22

I never would have guessed what it is but I cheated and saw the answer in the comments

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

30 Apr 22

I obviously coldn't figure it out!

@Ronrybs (17849)

• London, England

30 Apr 22

I'd have never guessed that! Wonder how old they are

1 person likes this

@Fleura (29129)

• United Kingdom

30 Apr 22

I guess they can't be as old as all that if they are plastic. 1950s perhaps?

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (17849)

• London, England

30 Apr 22

@Fleura There you go! Guess as we don't wear those items as casually as they did in the past, so who needs of one those things!

1 person likes this