Restored hooks

[Momcrochets]

Thanks to a tip from another villager, I did find the thread with all sorts of good advice about restoring hooks. These two were hooks I found at my local thrift shop, in such rough shape, they marked them as 10cents. Well I couldn't leave them there, so I adopted them. and now they look much better. One, cleaned up, turned out to be a Boye size 6 steel...fairly modern (no prices stamped into it or anything)...but that made it nice for being the guinea pig too... The other, I don't know much about. There's a "0" in it, and beside that, in tiny stamp, appears to be nn51 (DH looked through his little magnifier 15x)...I know that it looks small enough to use with sewing thread.

 

What may be hard to see, is that the hook end of the Boye, up to the thumb rest, was grayish and rough, almost tacky. The tiny one with the decorative end, was quite tarnished, rusty colored at the hook end, and black-ish, pretty much all over...

(before, sitting on white tissue paper. looks like I need to fix white balance again)

 

The yellow light is not true to the hooks. They are silver again. The older one does have some black deeper inside than I was able to get out, but I think it gives it character. It's smooth as silk, and silver and pretty

(after)

 

After all the 0000 extra fine steel wool and 2500 grit sandpaper, I found some metal polish (in the auto dept at walmart no less, same place I found the sanding paper...)...then I remembered DH still had some beeswax (block form) from college when an art class involved indian style bead work...and used that. love the results.

[cat3crazy]

They turned out very nice. Now I know why I can't find any crochet hooks at the thrift shops, you beat me to them. LOL

[lhendrix35]

I have a hook with the decorated end like yours. It has a piece that comes down to hold the thread instead of using a pin. I prefer the pin. I have found hooks made of bone or something like, and the size numbers are gone. I have no way of knowing what size they are. It's well worth fixing up hooks, becuse you never know when you'll lose or damage one, and extras are good to have.

[Momcrochets]

They turned out very nice. Now I know why I can't find any crochet hooks at the thrift shops, you beat me to them. LOL

I think I just got lucky that day. Probably because they were in such rough shape. It's rare to find anything like that out here though.

I am happy with how they turned out.

[HomekeepingGran]

Who would have thought? Restoring hooks! Cool, Mom!

[HappyOldCro]

Lovely job on those hooks. the old ones are well worth restoring...

 

I have a hook with the decorated end like yours. It has a piece that comes down to hold the thread instead of using a pin. I prefer the pin. I have found hooks made of bone or something like, and the size numbers are gone. I have no way of knowing what size they are. It's well worth fixing up hooks, becuse you never know when you'll lose or damage one, and extras are good to have.

 

You need a needle and hook gauge. This is just a sample pic but you can get them for as low as 2.00

[hooklady]

Next time you find such goodies that need a little tender loving care, try washing the hooks with dishwashing detergent and/or soaking them in alcohol before getting out the metal polish. You will be surprised at how much better the hooks will look and it will make the other cleaning efforts easier.

 

This works for new hooks too. If you find them dragging, give them a bath and wax them good.

[sunnywolfgar]

I use Dawn and wax paper alot........your clean hands still has oils on them so your hooks do need a cleaning time to time. I sometimes will use wax bars, they work to.......wax paper is great to.

[Abigail1280]

Those hooks look great!! I have quite a few old hooks myself, though they were given to me by a friend. She's in her 70s and hasn't crocheted in years. I have no idea how old they are. Some are plastic and some are metal. Most are very small. I have one with an end sorta like yours too, but the end is plastic and black while the hook is metal and silver.

[Monique39]

Looks good!

[bigfunfam]

That's really cool!

[froggy]

What a transformation! Nice job!

[Momcrochets]

Thank you