276 ABOUT HOOKS. 



to our suggesting any improvements in detail, we 

 intend calling attention to a few very common defects 

 in hooks, as generally constructed, to which may be 

 directly traced much unnecessary loss and disaster. 



The excessively bony nature of the mouth of most 

 fish has frequently a very trying effect upon the 

 hook, therefore, any little deficiency in its make, or 

 manner of construction, leads to untold evils. In 

 order to render ourselves intelligible to the reader we 

 shall first describe the usual system of making the 

 hook. First, then, the wire is struck off in given 

 lengths, in accordance with the size of the hook 

 required ; next, the point is formed and the shank 

 reduced by a few strokes of the file ; and next, the 

 barb is cut by means of a large knife. All is now 

 ready for bending, which is one of the most particular 

 items in the construction, as the operation decides the 

 shape, and, consequently, the particular species of 

 hook to be produced. This is quickly done by 

 means of a small steel block around which the wire 

 is bent, the shape of the block varying according to 

 the particular bend required. Now comes the final 

 operation, viz., that of tempering. This is done in a 

 large pan over a slow furnace. Millions of hooks are 

 frequently tempered in one operation, therefore the 

 greatest care should be bestowed upon this important 

 point ; but of this more anon. The most fertile 

 source of complaint is, we believe, the undue 

 weakness of the majority of hooks at the barb (see 

 diagram VI., fig. 2). A deeply barbed hook may be 

 safely discarded as being too dangerous to use. 



