The English Allcocks Hooks of Redditch ‘The Making Process’

The early copies of The Fishing Gazette area wealth of angling information and past knowledge for all sectors of angling interests. 

The resurgent artisan hook makers will love the following article that we have transcribed and left in its original Victorian written English. 

 Taken from the Jan 12th 1895 edition and a detailed article on all things S.Allcocks and Co…. 

The Hook making process…

“The wire used in hook making is best English cast steel, which must be best quality, otherwise it will not temper properly, the gauge or size varying according to the requirements of the hook to be made.

FIRST – The operator takes a part of a coil of wire in his hand and placing the ends in a gauge, and the correct length being arrived at, he quickly and sharply cuts them into lengths with a large pair of shears.

SECOND,BEARDING – A number of the wires thus prepared are arranged on a plane surface, with their right-hand ends against an upright. The barb, or beard, is then cut by means of a hollow ground knife which, being pressed forward and deftly turned by the hand of the workman, opens the barb to the required angle, great care having to be exercised in this operation to avoid cutting too deep or opening too wide, or the barb breaks 
when used…. (continued below the Fish hook and Filing picture)..

THIRD, FILING – The points are now carefully filed. Using a pair of tongs, made specially to hold the wire, and rapidly turning the same, a point is filed on it instantly, forming either what is termed a Hollow, Kirby, or Dublin point. All best hooks are filed in this way by hand, thus giving to the point of three or four knife-like cutting edges, enabling it to penetrate much more quickly than the less expensive needle-pointed hook.

FOURTH, BENDING – It is now necessary to give the hook its form, and for this purpose the workman holds a mould, fashioned like the pot-hook of the copybooks, mounted on a wooden handle. With one deft movement the beard is hooked round the shorter end, and a quick turn brings the shank straight with the shank of the mould.

FIFTH – The hook is now taken, and by the aid of an ingenious machine, or hammer, the end of the shank is either ringed, flatted, or marked. If intended for salmon or trout flies, it is filed to a delicate point, or knobbed.

PROCESS SIX is most important, and it is that of the hardening of the hitherto soft steel hook. This is carried on in a specially constructed building, and it consists in placing the hooks in a white-heated furnace, watched by an experienced workman, who withdraws them on seeing them into a vat of oil; this converts the temper of the hitherto soft hook into a highly brittle condition. Mere condition will not suffice to do justice to this stage of hook manufacture.

SEVENTH, TEMPERING – The hooks are then taken from the oil, mixed with heated sand, and placed in an iron pan over a fire, both sand and hooks being kept in a constant motion. Ever and anon, a hook is picked out and tested, and as soonas one lot is deemed sufficiently tempered, it ispassed on one side and another takes its place. Of course, the experience of the operator dictates the finish of each parcel, and the man is always selected from those of the highest capabilities. The heat required for each style and size of hooks varies, and there is all the difference between a hook too hard or too soft.  In the former case, immediately it is struck against the hard jaw of a fish it breaks, either going at the bend or at the point.   Nothing is more irritating to the fisherman than to find the fish pricked and gone, and the point also minus, and this not discovered pos-sibly till he has hit, and, as he thinks, by some fault of his own, missed the rising fish. The best hooks are those which are tested, and found of perfect temper, and they are of course, of the best price. Those which, by some mistake or accident, or unavoidable chance, are not deemed A1, are placed on one side and sold at a considerable reduction.

EIGHTH, SCOURING – For this purpose the hooks are placed,  with water,  &c.,  in oblong barrels, which are kept in motion by steam power from one to two days, thus removing all scale, and leaving the hooks ready for the ninth process of polishing.

NINTH – Polishing is performed in two ways. The hooks are placed in an oblong bag, with sawdust, and are rapidly shaken from end to end, until they become quite bright. The other way is to place them in barrels, moving more or less rapidly round on their bases, inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees from the perpendicular.   It is found that this inclination has a greater and more certain effect towards the end in view than an upright or horizontal position would have.

TENTH – Consists in the application of various methods for protecting the hooks from the corrosive action of water. Japanning – that is, giving the hooks several coats of a specially prepared black japan; tinning, or coating them with tin; rust proofing, browning, blueing, and colouring them red for worm fishing, or blue, green, yellow, &c., for fly dressing.

ELEVENTH – Is that of counting and papering, and packing in hundreds and thousands, which is done by girls, who take up the hooks with a knife, and balancing them on its edge, turn over their hundreds with incredible speed. The packages of hooks are then labelled, and carefully dried, to avoid any risk of rust.

There are over two hundred different sort of hooks each having from twenty to thirty sizes, amongst which may be mentioned Quadruple, Treble and Double- brazed, Live bait snap hooks, Lip hooks, Kirby, Sneck, Round bent, Crystal, Mackenzie, Roach hooks, Chestertown, Sproat and many varieties of cod and other sea hooks.”