Dating Snuffers

[SlowBowinMO]

Hi Guys,

I'm no collector but I get a kick out of older stuff.  As a fan of the Snuffer, I've grown curious as to just how you figure dates on them.

I stumble on Snuffers being sold as "vintage" and I really have no idea what era they are from other than the new ones.

Here's a couple pics as examples.  These are supposed to be "Vintage Rothaar Snuffers".

 

[SlowBowinMO]

Here's one I found posted somewhere, it was marked as a 1970.

 

I guess what I'm getting at is I'd get a kick out of hunting with an original Rothaar make, but I wouldn't know one if I saw one.  Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!  Tim

[Blackhawk]

"Vintage" is for wine, not broadheads only a few years old.

Of course, folks collect just about everything these days and some sellers know how to market used stuff in order to extract the most bucks from our pockets.

If you find out, let us know...I have a cigar box full of these things.  How about, "Rare Antique Snuffer Broadheads--only shot once".

[raghorn]

The second picture is a 1970 era Snuffer. Notice the angle at the front of the vent.
Are the heads in the first picture 165gr without the adapter? Do they have a textured finish? If so then they are the last ones Rothhaar made(about 1987) before they went to Delta. The Deltas and Magnus heads have also have the curve at the back of the vent. Previous Snuffers are flat at back of vent like the picture of the 1970 head.
Because the name Rothhaar was tied to the Snuffer some folks think that all Snuffers are vintage even though there have been three manufacturers and they are still made at this moment by Magnus.

[SlowBowinMO]

Thanks Ron, great info.  So basically to confirm a Snuffer is actually a "Rothhaar" make, is the configuration of the venting?  Very helpful.

I have no idea the details on the first heads, all I have is the pic.  They were listed as "vintage Rothhaar Snuffers".  On the big auction site I think that means "Delta"!  

[Kelly]

One other thing to look for is the old ones do not have the pin in the tip.

[Don Stokes]

"They say you are a snuff queen, honey I don't think that's true..." - Jimmy Buffet, more or less.

I might date her, but I don't think I'd kiss her.

[SlowBowinMO]

Originally posted by Kelly:
One other thing to look for is the old ones do not have them pin in the tip.

Thanks Kelly,

I'd not noticed that until you pointed it out.

[Bjorn]

Don, your talents never cease to impress!      

[Roddo]

I bought Snuffers first in 1976, a box of 6. The originnals had the back of the blades sharpened. This was only done for a short time. If you find any with the back of the blades sharpened they are the old ones.

[Don Stokes]

I had to go look- the ones I've been hunting with this year have squared off vents on both ends and no pins, so I guess that makes them Rothhaars, but after 1970? I've had them since the late '80's.

Bjorn, that's just the tip of the iceberg! I got a million of 'em.  

[raghorn]

The pin/rod in the tip started in 1981.

[Steve O]

What is this "pin in the tip" you guys speak of?

[frank bullitt]

How about asking Ryan? I'm sure he would have some Idea!

Ask over on Powow!

[raghorn]

The pin was placed in the center of the three blades to reinforce the tip.  
I didn't put my old man glasses on so I couldn't see if the picture was focused.

 

[Kelly]

I've been shooting them since their inception(which is before Ryan was born and according to my memory the very first ones were all hand made by Roger with all square cuts, no pin and the ferrules(Jim Dougherty sent some to Roger) from Ben Pearson. They were so popular with friends that Roger had to dole them out 2-3-4 at a time.

Raghorn; Do you have a picture of the pre-cursor to the Snuffer-the Bisquit Cutter or 3 bladed Ben Pearson Deadhead?

[raghorn]

Kelly;
 If you were to send me one I would be glad to take a picture of it and then put the head into my collection as I don't have one.
However I can show this picture from the ABCC Best Of Broadhead book.  

[Kelly]

Sorry Ron, gave all of mine away many years ago to collector friends of yours. Some of them should have had extras. I know Keith Huehnerfuss did and same for the guy from Colorado, whoose name excapes me now cause that was in the mid 1970's.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Actually there were 3 types of the front tip - the originals had no pin - the 3 blades came together to form the tip.  Later went to a pin in the tip - that is the 3 blades had a slot to receive a cylindrical pin that added strength to the head.  The third was the replacement of the pin with a cone with a pin sticking out the bottom.  The pin from the bottom went into the same slot and the cone, when ground, became the pointed tip.  If you look close you can see the brazing and determine pin vs cone/pin.  The old ones had the square cutouts in the back of the blade, as noted above.  Our older heads (say mid-80's and before) were spray painted by hand with rustoleum.  From the mid-80's to the time Delta bought the heads we dipped them in rustoleum - the spray paint probably leads to the "textured" finish someone mentioned.

We never sharpened the back of the blades commercially - if heads were bought that way it was probably something someone asked for and was done as a one-off.  We always have sharpened the trailing edges of our own heads, but never sold them that way on a large scale.

Occasionally I see some colored ones - that would be primer red, primer gray, or primer tan.  Just shot with the color over black.  These are 2nds that did not make the cut as "firsts" for some reason - usually the grind is uneven blade to blade or a bit of brazing is missing somewhere.  These we sold out of the house for $1 each for years.  No problem using the heads, that is all we ever used ourselves, but not anything "special".  Magnus did some with white spray paint too.

There were some late Rothhaar heads that were Teflon dipped.  This would have been 1989-1990.  There were some green coated and some black.  These are probably some of the first Teflon dipped heads made.  Dad tried this out early on as a possible improvement to aid penetration.  I killed the first big game animal with one in 1990 - a 6 pt in Ohio.  Didn't make any difference that we could ever tell as far as penetration goes (shot through pretty much everything either way) - it seems it is still a good marketing gimmick for some heads, though.

Biscuit cutters, now THOSE are hard to come by!

Ryan

[Steve O]

Now this is fascinating!  Thanks for the info gents.

Now would not the "baby" Snuffer be the most rare?