To make a rug hook, you first off need the right wood handle. Make efforts to use hard woods like walnut, oak or birch. Don’t use soft woods, for example pine, as the soft woods will split. The grain in the hard wood must be straight and the wood should be dry so that it will not split. Start with a piece that is 1 inch ( 2.5 cm ) square and about three inches long. Drill a hole about one / 8 to 1 / sixteen inch in the center of one end. Do not drive a nail into the wood without a pilot hole as the wood will split. The hole should be [*FR1″> inch deep, or more. You can save carving time by employing an one in. hardwood dowel.
You need to carve the handle next. First, round the corners and taper the wood to roughly 0.5 inch round at the end with the hole drilled. You need a extraordinarily pointy blade to cut the hardwoods. The Xacto carving knife with curved blades works great. Keep a supply of bandaids nearby. employ a wood rasp if you are not used to working with a knife, as it won’t be as hazardous, although, it does take longer to carve. Sand the handle so that it is smooth. Start with 100 grit sandpaper then finish the handle with two hundred grit. Wipe all the sanding dust down with a dry coarse material, such as a tack fabric. Then oil the handle with linseed oil. Let the handle dry at least overnight.
Use old nails to fashion the hook. The old nails are the type with four flat sides. They’re wider at one end, then taper to the other without a head. The old nails are not round and even like the nails used today. There’s more metal at the wider end of the nail so it was employed to make the hook. Clamp the nail in a vise and file the end of the hook with a metal file to the correct size, then file a point on curtains for the hook. Then file in the “V” portion of the hook. These steps must be done in the correct order or you could break the end off of the nail.
The old hooks don’t have an inset notch. The edge toward the hook is at a 90 degree angle and chiseled toward the handle. Modern hooks are easier to use because they contain a deeper notch. Use an eight penny ( 8d ) or sixteen penny ( 16d ) finishing nail and file the hook from the head of the nail. The nicer quality handles had hooks that were made with a brass rod instead of iron nails. Brass is not as hard as iron and the rods are already round, thus filing a hook is easier. With a brass rod, you must file a hook on one end and a point on the other end to go into the handle. One method by which you can accomplish this job is to go to an ironmongery store and look for repair kits for toilet tank fittings. Most brass rods are used to attach to the float valve. Then cut off the threaded ends.
To put the hook together, place the hook vertically in a vise with the hook part down. Then place the handle with the hole on the end of the nail. Hold them perfectly straight as you do so. Tap the handle punctiliously onto the hook with a wooden mallet. Don’t pound the hook into the handle because this may ruin it. If this doesn’t work best, take off the handle and drill a slightly bigger pilot hole. Don’t fight with the handle or you’ll split the wood. Tap the handle down at least a half inch onto the hook. You must get an understanding of it when it wants to stop at the end of the pilot hole.
To reinforce the end of the handle, you need to bolster the wood where the shank enters it because you’ll be applying leverage on the hook and that could split the wooden handle. ( This is especially the case with hooks that have massive shanks. ) In the olden days, narrow strips of rawhide were used. They’d be wrapped around the handle and the ends of the rawhide were tucked under the wrap. As the rawhide dries, it’ll shrink and hold the shank and handle together forcibly. After the rawhide dries, varnish it to get a smoother surface. You may reinforce the joint by wrapping it tightly with heavy linen thread or fine metal wire. Acquire carpet stair tread.
Tags:
grit sandpaper,
hardwood dowel,
rug hook,
wood rasp