Refurbishing a very old Spar Hook (billhook) for woodland use

[paul standley]

Recently, I bought an 8" KNAPMAN Spar hook (small billhook) which I reckon is pretty old and it was in a sorry state to say the least but I bought it cheap as a restoration project which I have just finished.

Spar Hooks were traditionally used by underwoodsmen or spar makers to fashion thatchers spars which were made by cutting hazel rods to between 28" and 30", splitting them in half along the length and pointing both ends.
The thatcher would then bend them in half and use the inverted "V" peg as a type of staple to secure the thatch.
I will be using this as a bushcraft blade in the woods, sort of a cross between a big knife and a small parang


The final blade curve still needs further refining but I'll do this over time as I use and then resharpen it so that I'm not needlessly taking away steel from the edge.

The handle shape evolved as I went along and ended up as a cigar & butt shape which feels very comfortable. The handle is seasoned American white oak.The tang on the spar hook was broken near the tip and too short to accomodate a proper handle so I welded a piece of threaded bar to the tang to allow for fixing with a nylock nut.

The tang was burnt into the handle (drilled a pilot hole first) to get a proper tapered rectangular hole to prevent any chance of the handle rolling in use.

The ferrule was a bit off an old wardrobe hanging rail bracket.

As you can see, I'm left handed...

Here's a few pictures as I progressed through the refurb and as you can see, the edge looked more like a saw blade than an edged blade when I got it.


Cheers, Paul.

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[JEEP]

Very nice :happy-clapping:

I did the same to an old hooked turnip knife a while ago.

[Ben Casey]

You have been busy but turned out some nice stuff :)

[Roadkillphil]

Very nice :D I like the idea of restoring old tools, bringing them back to life so to speak. Great work :D

[jus_young]

Nice one. Had a good swing about with bill hooks (another name, same thing?) whilst at Dave Budds working party, had tried them on the previous visit but this time it was with a bit more oomph! Found it a very useful and versatile tool.

[Metal mug]

Lovely work Paul. It has a great look. :)

[dave budd]

always good to see old tools brought back to life :)

I've got maybe a couple of dozen hooks that are used either by me or soe of my willing helpers and I don't think any is less than 50 years old! My old favourite, currently MIA, was a spar hook very much like that but was laminated wrought iron and steel so must've been pre-20th century. At present I'm between favourites so will have to make myself a new one soon. Not a fan of turned handles though, they always twiest in my hand ona wet day (so most of the winter when I'm using it!), I've modified a couple of old turned ones I have by just flattening the sides a bit and that worked nicely

[paul standley]

always good to see old tools brought back to life :)

Not a fan of turned handles though, they always twist in my hand on a wet day (so most of the winter when I'm using it!), I've modified a couple of old turned ones I have by just flattening the sides a bit and that worked nicely

Fair point Dave... I went through a couple of incarnations of handle design and settled on a turned one but with no varnish or other finish so as to minimise risk of twisting but the proof is in the using and if I have problems with twisting then I'll make a more rectangular one. I have some experience with hooks but will be using this one and it's big brother quite a bit over this winter so I'll get more experience with handling and potential problems.

[dave budd]

I think its a personal thing more than anything, though I've not found it to be as bad with a small hook as it is with a larger one. With the big hook there is so much force going through the stuff being cut (and in the swing to it) that unless it hits true the thing twist on impact and pulls my wrist in an unpleasant fashion :(

[tinkers]

nice work paul, its good to see a rusty old blade brought back to life and giving good service once again.

[ian c]

I have 2 bill hooks in good condition that we use when the misses an me go ferreting they work very well would not know how to replace them if lost also we have a slasher.