sugar nips
{{Short description|Tool used to create individual servings of sugar}}
{{about|a sturdy tool used in the kitchen|delicate utensil used at the tea table|Sugar tongs}}
Sugar nips are a large pair of pincers with sharp blades, designed to cut sugar from a block.David, Elizabeth. "English Bread and Yeast Cookery", Penguin:Middlesex 1977 (p. 139) Before the introduction of granulated and cube sugars in the second half of the 19th century,"Sugar: a Handbook for Planters and Refiners", Lock & Newlands Bros, pub. Spon, London, 1888 the domestic consumer purchased sugar in the form of a sugarloaf,{{cite web|url=http://www.mawer.clara.net/history.html |title=History |publisher=Mawer.clara.net |date= |access-date=2012-11-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013231449/http://www.mawer.clara.net/history.html |archive-date=October 13, 2012 }} or at least a part of one, and pieces were cut from it by hand using sugar nips[http://www.mkmuseum.org.uk/edu/cep/sc/photogallery.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007040923/http://www.mkmuseum.org.uk/edu/cep/sc/photogallery.html|date=October 7, 2008}} and other tools, such as sugar hammer. Greater leverage and improved safety was provided by heavier sugar nips set in a wooden base for counter- and table-top use.{{cite web|url=http://www.mylearning.org/image-zoom.asp?jpageid=2379&picid=2 |title=The Victorian Servant - Sugar Cutter |publisher=Mylearning.org |date= |accessdate=2012-11-09}}
There was also an all-in-one version; a box that could serve as container for the sugarloaf with built-in pliers and collector drawer for fine-grained residues from the sugar cutting.