Making S Hooks

This is my first effort publishing for Instructables. I hope someone may find it useful.

I have seen several ways to make S hooks. They are too complicated or involve using materials I do not have. I decided to make them using a 3 inch 3/8 extension and a 3 inch 1/2 extension. This way I could easily change the size of the hooks by changing the size of the socket I used. I used some left over solid wire clothesline for the hooks.

You will have to decide what to use to make the holes in the bottom and top of the jigs, but make sure they fit snugly. There was a lot of trial and error to find what worked best for making the holes. I tried Forstner bits, regular bits, an adjustable hole cutter and spade bits. I have not included the dimensions of the wood because the size you choose doesn't matter. Just pick what works for you. Notice the small holes next to the hole in the top of both jigs. That's covered in another photo.

The small strips of wood between the tops and bottoms are spacers to make sure the top of the extension that holds the socket is exactly even with the top with a socket attached and that there are no gaps between the socket and top.

Install a socket on each extension and place your hook material (straightened clothesline) and drill a hole next to it using a bit the same size as the nail (whatever you choose as the brace). Seen from above the nail head (removed later) looks huge. With the wire between the socket and brace (nail) slowly bend the wire around the socket until you have formed one end of the hook. Turn the wire over and bend the other end of the hook.

I was very pleased with my results. I only messed up a couple of times before I got the hang of it. The hook on the left was made on the 3/8 extension using a 1/2 socket. The one on the right was made using the same setup for the smaller end and a 5/8 socket on the 1/2 extension. I then cut off the hook from the rest of the wire, tweaked them slightly with pliers and ground off the sharp ends left from the both cutter. If you want to use other size sockets or other material for the hooks you simply need to measure out from the socket and drill another hole. I believe you could easily add three more holes (perhaps more) to each of these jigs is you need to. No photos, but I did glue the parts together. I hope you find this useful.

These show the top and bottoms of both jigs.