I am new, I am confused, and I need help.

[valerie williams]

OOPSIE, I posted this in the wrong place the first time, so I jsut coppied and pasted from the origional post. I dont know if that is "legal" here but moderators feel free to handle it as you need to

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HI
Ok, a little background first I guess.
I have 4 kidos, and a hubby. I am 25 and I live in tennessee. I am a stay at home mommy, hubby is the menager of the local advanced auto parts. I love to crochet but I have large hands and the metal hooks are to short to be comfortable for me. I got this idea that I would make my own out of wooden dowels from wally world. It didnt would out the way I thaught it would! In the meantime my hubby comes home and freaks out because I am trying to do this with my kitchen knife, and while I was cooking supper he made me one! I had no idea that he could do this stuff! He did it with a pocket knife and sandpaper. here are some pics, these are his first hooks ever! http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...n22/DWW045.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../mikeshook.jpg
So I started looking into getting some meterials that we could use to make some nicer ones with. I think all I need to start is a mini lathe, right? The wood blanks I am finding are all to short though! How do I find blanks that are at least 8 inches or so? Any advice for a newbie
huggs
Val

[RL Johnson]

Val
The Jet variable speed mini is the way to go and you can get longer blanks in a variety of woods from Craft Supply/
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/
Welcome to the addictive world of turning

[Bill Stevener]

Hi Valerie,

Well I see, and am glad you found the turners forum.

First things first, Welcome to the Creek, The Wooden Encyclopedia, Great folks and a world of Crazy turners..

As noted in the post above, a Jet vs would do you just fine. That's a start.

As far as blanks go. The internet is a big world. Various auction pages are a great place to start. However, the best place is your local wood lot, until one is confident enough to purchase some of the more expensive exotics.

I don't do the crochet thing, however do enjoy turning the hooks. I have included a photo of some. Some have the hook carved, some do not.
They sell quite well, many with out the time to carve the hook I sell as hair picks.

The hooks shown are Holly, which should be abundant in your area?? and make a great hook, well that's what some of the gals tell me. The others are of Blood wood and Ebony.

Took me some time to understand the sizes, but if that's your thing, you should have no prob. very exacting, down to the O.010"

Best of luck in your adventure, hang around, love having you on board.

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Ernie Nyvall]

Welcome to the Creek Val. I don't know anything about the mini lathes, but there are several here that will have that info.

As far as the wood... yep the dowels at Wal mart are probably not the best. Actually I haven't seen a good dowel at any lumber yard lately. If you can find a hardwood lumber store, Woodcraft, or Rockler in your area, they will have dowels of various hardwoods that would be good for this application. They also have flat stock that you can rip up and put on that mini. If you don't have any of these stores in your area then you can get oak boards at most of the lumber yards which you can cut up and turn. Hope this helps.

Ernie

[valerie williams]

Thanks guys! Bill, I had to do a double take at your hooks, they look alot likt bill's at turn of the century. They are beautiful! I think that we are going to go out in tho woods and find some stuff to work with, for now anyway. my husband has it in his head to make one out of a deer antler, lol. Bill, how much do your hooks sell for, just curious. check these out, http://www.dodos-design.com/listings/picture/dodo/ I will probably never be able to do anything like that, but arent the nice!

[Ernie Nyvall]

Took me some time to understand the sizes, but if that's your thing, you should have no prob. very exacting, down to the O.010"

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What do you mean by this Bill.

My daughter just this morning gave me something she crocheted... something she just started. Funny how this thread came up when I was thinking of making her some nice sticks... sorry I have no clue what they are called

And Val, I'd like to know what size you come up with as comfortable.

Ernie

[Dennis Peacock]

Thanks guys! Bill, I had to do a double take at your hooks, they look alot likt bill's at turn of the century. They are beautiful! I think that we are going to go out in tho woods and find some stuff to work with, for now anyway. my husband has it in his head to make one out of a deer antler, lol. Bill, how much do your hooks sell for, just curious. check these out, http://www.dodos-design.com/listings/picture/dodo/ I will probably never be able to do anything like that, but arent the nice!

Valerie,

First of all Welcome to SMC.!!!!!!!!! It's a great place to be.

Jet mini is a very good choice of lathe for doing what you are desiring to do. But, be aware....it's adictive!!!!! Don't Ask Me How I Know This!!!!!!

Now...don't pay no attention to Bill....he's just showing off again.

[Jim Becker]

Valerie, I do have to warn you that once you have the lathe, you may not get any more time for crochet work...turning is the "crack of the woodworking world"...very addictive! Welcome to SMC!

[Ian Abraham]

Hi Val

A little benchtop bandsaw might be a good option, let you cut your own blanks out of a normal sized board. They aren't ideal for serious resawing, but for making 1/2" wide blanks it would be ideal, and you could use it for roughing out the shape of the hooks too.

Next question of course is what wood to use, it has to be something strong and resistant to splitting, but I'll let the locals advise you there, our timbers are very different. So sending you out looking for a piece of manuka or pohutakawa would be a wild goose chase

Cheers

Ian

[John Hart]

Welcome to the Creek Val! Yup...Turning is addictive...but this place has the friendliest, most helpful people on the planet. All your questions will be answered....correctly hopefully!

[Dale Thompson]

my husband has it in his head to make one out of a deer antler, lol. !

Valerie,
If you have deer in Tennessee with racks large enough to make crochet hooks, they are a LOT bigger than the whitetails that we have up here in northern Wisconsin. I am already drooling over the pens, letter openers, bottle openers, etc., that I could make out of a rack that size. We have a local guy who raises a few elk. Unfortunately for me he gets about $1600 for the rack from his biggest bull. Whatever, that rack HAS to be 6' across the points but that's a LOT wider than the discretionary margin in my tool fund.

One caution: Larger racks, even with Whitetail, sometimes have a tendency to be rather "punky" in the center. That is where your crochet hook is going to be coming from so check before you spend all the effort preparing the blank. Good Luck!

Dale T.

[John Hart]

...One caution: Larger racks, even with Whitetail, sometimes have a tendency to be rather "punky" in the center. That is where your crochet hook is going to be coming from so check before you spend all the effort preparing the blank. Good Luck!

Dale T.

Don't forget the smell.

[Andy Hoyt]

Valerie - All of us are confused and need help.

That's why we hang out here.

Welcome.

[Bill Stevener]

What do you mean by this Bill.

My daughter just this morning gave me something she crocheted... something she just started. Funny how this thread came up when I was thinking of making her some nice sticks... sorry I have no clue what they are called

And Val, I'd like to know what size you come up with as comfortable.

Ernie

Ernie, size chart for ya, if this doesnt get confusing, nothing will.
The size depends on the yarn thickness and what one is crocheting.

http://www.turn-of-the-century.com/knitsize.htm

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Dale Thompson]

Don't forget the smell.

John,
I take umbrage at that statement. Have a "heart", bud. I've got a bar of Lava soap and I'm waiting for the next rain. When that happens, the "smell" will be "reduced". I'm just handicapped by the fact that all of our rain comes down in the form of that cold wet stuff. It's not that I have a vendetta against society. It just seems to turn out that way!!

Dale T.