Crochet Hooks.

Over Christmas my husband and I did some house sitting for some good friends of ours.  They have a wood shop - they make hardwood kitchen accessories that are just lovely.  It tends to build up a lot of scrap wood though.

For a while now my husband and I have tossed around the idea of turning hooks from these scraps.  Well, over Christmas break, he showed me how to use their lathe and I just sort of took off!  I finally got around to taking pictures, and I wanted to show off :)  All of the heads were shaped to mimic the Boye head, which is the shape I prefer.

This first hook I turned from blood wood.  It measures approximately 13 mm (there's no letter assigned to 13 mm), and is 7.25 inches long.  I wanted to keep it on the thicker end, since I had never worked on a lathe before, and wasn't sure how thin I could take things without it snapping.  The head was shaped (through much frustration and help from my husband!) with a dremel.  Blood wood is very dense, so the shaping took a looooong time.  It's one of my favorite woods though; the grain is beautiful. 

After the shaping was completed, I sanded it with gradually finer sand paper, finishing up with a 600 grit.  The only finish I used was a few good rub downs with mineral oil.  It feels like silk in my fingers!  I love it!

This next hook I turned from zebra wood.  It measures approximately 10 mm (N/P), and 7 & 3/8 inches long.  I was a little braver and went a little thinner this time!  The head was also shaped with the dremel and went much faster this time around since I had all that experience from the blood wood hook! ;)

I repeated the same sanding procedure, and my husband suggested I use a clear, spray-on finish for this hook.  Zebra wood is apparently very porous and it wouldn't do for it to be snagging the yarn!  He applied 2 coats to the hook, with a drying time of about 30 min in between.  The stripes run lengthwise on the hook, giving it a very striking appearance.

Lastly, I turned this hook out of leopard wood.  It's my thinnest yet :)  It measures approximately 7.5 mm (between K & L), and is 11.25 inches long!  I was going for more of a Tunisian style hook with this one.  I received an aluminum one for Christmas, and decided to try one out on the lathe.

Same shaping and sanding process.  This one's head is closer to the Bates style head, but still has some Boye shaping.  This one was also finished simply with a couple good rub downs of mineral oil. (haha ignore the writing on my hand!!)

So there you have it :)  My first three wooden hooks, and I turned them.  I'm hoping to go back soon and turn some more...it's addicting!