Boat hook, exercise, zen time….

[William Fretwell]

Found the hook at a yard sale a few years back. Uncovered my ash remnant and the “one day I will” arrived.
Scrub planed the ash with my old renovated wood plane. The low friction of the wood and hand forged blade make this tool an absolute pleasure to use.

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The metal bodied plane was far more work. After squaring the stock I planed of the 4 corners to make an octagon. Altogether a very good work out, 64’ to plane.

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The hook end remained large. I made a paper template for the widest part of the hook opening to give me a target. I then shaved down to get the hook fitting, no easy way to do this. Lots of twisting to make grey marks and shave them away. The old Sheffield spoke shave was lovely to use, my progress down the pole remarkably fast, a tranquil therapeutic session. It’s tapered gradually then the handle thinned and rounded. The end is left thicker to reduce the risk of slipping out of your hand. A few coats of spar varnish and ready for the dock. Total length 8’ 3”.

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Need a couple of rings to mount it upright to make it handy and reduce the UV exposure.

[Lisa Starr]

Wow....I'm not a Neader.....Nor do I have any of the components....but my brother would be thrilled to have something like this outfitting his 38' Chris Craft Commander.

Absolutely beautiful.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice work William, I need to find a fat piece like this to make a handle for a peavy.

[Jim Ritter]

Nice work. I’ve got a bronze hook fitted to the square shaft but still need to shape it. Two things a great boat hook should have, a small groove down the shaft at the handle end on the same side as the hook so when the hook is out of sight in the dark you always know where the hook is to catch things. The other is a bit tougher to achieve and that is the handle should be shaved so that if dropped overboard it floats upright with the handle sticking out of the water, not lying flat.
Still a good job.
Jim

[William Fretwell]

True Jim, mine has a ‘planned’ slight curve in the handle encouraging the hook to point down. If it’s too dark to see the hook then docking will be a nightmare!
As for the floating upright, that was the idea of leaving the top thick, when the water warms up I will find out!

[Tom M King]

I want one! Nice find on that hook. We have boat renters that reluctance gets the most of the majority of them coming in to a dock. The funniest ones turn the steering wheel when the boat is not moving expecting results.

[Frederick Skelly]

Very nice!

[Stew Denton]

William,

Very nice job!

Stew

[Maurice Mcmurry]

That is fun to see! A nice job on a neat item. Your bench and workspace look very nice too!

[Jim Ritter]

I probably should have said dark murky water.
Jim