A Coconut-shell fishhook

[Galemys]

As my 8 year old daughter had decided that she wanted "to taste a coconut" I bought one for her in the supermarket. There wasn't much fluid inside but the white flesh layer was quite thick. After one bite Jools decided that this wasn't her cup of tea so I munched half of the flesh away myself while I tried to yield some coconut oil from the other half of the flesh by heating it in a pan. This oil extraction didn't work out so I was just left with the hard coconut shell. What to do with it? A cup seemed a little too obvious to make so I decided to create something else from a piece of the shell. Coconut shell is a quite dense but workable material without a grain so with a small saw, a Mora knife, some small files and some elbow grease I ended up with this:

I'm not an angler so I've got no idea how this hook will work in real life but I'm still quite pleased with myself. The eyelet is capable of lifting a full 1.5 literbottle of Cola from the ground so it's kind of sturdy

Cheers,

Tom

 

[ex-member Raikey]

hmmmmm,,

now i,m thinking what else can be made form coconut shell

 

[Loenja]

thats a beauty

 

[mat mac]

very cool idea, could also make some pendants i guess, same principle

 

[Galemys]

hmmmmm, now i,m thinking what else can be made form coconut shell

Probably stuff like buttons, pendants, small arrowheads (the curvature of the shell would limit the size of the latter)...I´m not done with experimenting yet, it´s interesting stuff this coconutshell!

Cheers,

Tom

 

[shaggystu]

that's great, never really seen much done with coconut shell before (other than bird feeders) it's good to see people using "different" materials.

thanks for posting

stuart

 

[jdlenton]

nice work that : ) you'll soon be doing work like this

 

[Magentus]

That's gorgeous - let us know if you take it fishing - you may catch a bounty. I'll get me coat

 

[spiritwalker]

i like it, never thought it would polish up that well i am going to have to get mine back off the bird table :-D

 

[Galemys]

nice work that : ) you'll soon be doing work like this

Wow that´s stunning work! He´s a bit ahead of me I´m afraid... :notworthy

Cheers,

Tom

 

[gloomhound]

Very cool!

 

[bandel4]

Oh WOW...now coconut shells I can get...its the lack of skill that I am worried about

 

[Ryan Woods]

I like it. did you choose a particular angle of the shell to cut it?

 

[BarryG]

would never have thought of that...I like it....Looks like a really useful material to work with.

 

[Galemys]

I like it. did you choose a particular angle of the shell to cut it?

Thanks for the kind words

I just picked up a fragment of shell and 'saw' a fishhook in the shape, so I didn't choose a particular angle of the shell. I used a file to take away the curvature of the fragment and make the hook a flatter shape. The shell looks quite uniform, with some lighter fibers(?) going through it at some points.

Cheers,

Tom

 

[Ryan Woods]

thanks Tom

 

[gsfgaz]

Awesome mate ... amazing work i wonder if it would catch anything ...

 

[British Red]

Lovely work

Traditionally of course they were used to make cups - the shape does lend itself to it

Red

 

[Galemys]

More coconut-shell fun! Two pendants for my daughters, the one with the trunky snout depicts the animal of my avatar and forum name (the pyrenean desman, Galemys pyrenaicus), the other a cat. The eyes were made of some fake jewellery stones that I happened to find in a little container at home (let's hope SWMBO doesn't find out...).

I hope these links will work as I'm at work and can't upload the pictures to my Photobucket account...fingers crossed:

http://postimage.org/image/2iu0rd410/

http://postimage.org/image/2iunwvyxw/

http://postimage.org/image/2iuw6kpes/

A tropical coconut shell bikini (cup B) that I made for the december festivities here at work, the recipient was very pleased…
http://postimage.org/image/2iu7dii04/

If we get more snow here I might try coconut snow goggles as my next project

Cheers,

Tom

 

[g4ghb]

Love the cat! - in fact love them all , cracking work mate!