Champy "S" Hook

Picture
This hook was inspired  by my time in Lake Champlain and a fellow I met at Fort Fredrick.  I have added my own style and touches and Champy was the result.  I'm going to be doing a demo on how to make him in Febuary, so I decided to make a step x step.  Lets make a sea monter.


You will need a piece of 3/8" hot rolled round stock cut 11" - 13" long.   Larger stock can be used but smaller stock will  make it almost impossible to do the face detail.
Start by squaring and pointing your piece before you start to draw it out.  I do this by placing the end of my metal on the edge of the anvil and strike with hammer at an angle, Rotate  90 degrees and strike again till you have a point.  Keep drawing the point out.
After you have drawn your tail out  to 16" long.  You will need round the tail.  You need to turn your square to a octagon and then round the corners.  Rounding will streach the tail about another inch.  Once this is done its time to switch ends and start on the face.  Heat and square your end up.   This will make it easier for you cut the mouth and ears. 
Take the center punch and punch 2 nostrels.  The deeper you make them the more animated the face will look.  Use a veining chisel to cut the mouth.  The deeper you cut the mouth the happier your sea monster looks.
Bend the head  over so it can lay flat on top of the vise.  This will allow you to use the vise as a work table.  Use the center punch to make your eyes.  I have found the eyes need to be located closer to front.  The further back it turns into a mule or a cow.  Cutting the ears or horns can be tricky.  You need to start to chisel about twice as far back as you want it to be long.
The  bottom bend can be done in many different ways.  I have a turning  jig but a anvil horn, bending U all will work fine.  There is no set amount of  bend, its all in the eye of the beholder.  The tail is next, and how you want to do it, is also a personal prefrance.
I used the horn to wrap the tail to form S of the hook.  I  then used round nose pliers to shape the rest of the tail.  How you want to finish your tail is part of the fun.  I have done knots and kinks and even leafs.  Nothing is worse than having a knoty sea monster.