Few things in a blacksmith's repertoire are as satisfying as the humble S-hook. It is the first project most smiths make, and with good reason. Two tapered ends, two opposing curves, and a piece of iron that will outlive you — all from a short offcut of bar and an hour at the forge.

What makes it such a good teacher is that it demands three core skills in quick succession: drawing out, bending and scrolling. Get those right on a hook and you have the foundations for fire irons, gate scrollwork, chain links and a hundred other things. Get them wrong and you will still have a hook, just a lumpier one. There is no better way to spend an afternoon.

Getting Set Up: Steel, Fire and Tools

Start with around 200–250mm of 8mm round mild steel. It is cheap, forgiving, and moves beautifully under the hammer. Avoid galvanised stock entirely — the zinc coating gives off toxic fumes when heated — and steer clear of mystery metal from scrap piles, which can spit, crack or harden unpredictably.

You will want:

• A forge capable of bringing mild steel to a bright orange heat
• An anvil with a clean face and a usable horn
• A 2–3lb hammer, cross-peen or ball-peen
• Tongs sized for 8mm round — bolt tongs or a v-bit pair work well
• A wire brush, a hot cut or hacksaw, and a quench bucket
• Beeswax or boiled linseed oil for finishing
• Eye protection, leather apron and gloves for the tong hand only

Learn the colours. Bright orange to yellow means the steel is ready to be drawn out under heavy blows. A cherry or dull red is the right heat for bending. Anything below that — the famous "black heat" — is when you stop and return the work to the fire. Striking mild steel cold does nothing but bruise the metal and your confidence.

Step One: Drawing Out the Tapers

Bring the last 70mm of one end to a bright orange heat. Place the bar on the anvil with the tip roughly 25mm from the far edge, then strike just behind the tip with the hammer face very slightly angled, working your way steadily back toward the shoulder. Each blow should shift metal rather than simply flatten it.

Turn the bar a quarter turn between blows so the taper stays round rather than spreading into a blade. Expect two or three heats per end. Aim for a taper roughly 60–70mm long that finishes at about 4mm at the tip — thin enough to look elegant, thick enough to hold its shape.

Repeat at the other end. Leave the middle section at full thickness; that is the part that will take the load, so resist the temptation to thin it out for the sake of symmetry.

Step Two: Bending the First Scroll

Heat a zone starting about 50mm back from one tip and take it to a good cherry red — never bend mild steel cold, as it will crack or develop a cold shut that fails later.

Lay the taper across the horn of the anvil, or over the edge of the face if your horn is busy, and begin tapping the end downward and around. Use light, rapid blows and let the horn do the shaping. Work the curve progressively, rolling the bar a little with each pass, until the taper curls back on itself by around 270 degrees into a neat scroll. Keep the bend flat — the scroll should sit in the same plane as the rest of the bar, not twist off to one side.

If the scroll starts to look lumpy or your blows are marking the inside of the curve, you are hitting too hard or working too cold. Back in the fire, then try again with a lighter hand.

Step Three: Bending the Second Scroll

The second scroll mirrors the first, but in the opposite direction. Heat the remaining taper and roll it around the horn the other way, so the two hooks curl away from each other and the bar reads as a clean letter S.

Consistency is what separates a good hook from a passable one. Compare the two scrolls as you go and adjust while the steel is still hot — a chalk mark on the horn, or simply turning the work end for end and checking it against your eye, will keep the pair even. Small corrections are easy at red heat, impossible once the metal cools.

Step Four: Truing and Dressing

With the S formed, sight along the bar and check it sits flat on the anvil face. A hook that rocks will never hang properly. Correct any twist with gentle blows on the horn or by clamping the work in a vice and easing it straight.

Next, deal with the tips. A hot cut or hacksaw will tidy any ragged end, and a few light hammer blows — or a quick pass with a file — will round them off so they do not snag fingers or fabric. This is also the moment to even out the curves: compare the two scrolls side by side and bring the tighter one out to match.

Step Five: Waxing and Putting It to Work

While the hook is still warm, scrub it with a wire brush to lift off the scale. Then heat it gently to around 150–200°C — hot enough that a drop of water sizzles and vanishes, but well below any colour change — and rub in beeswax or boiled linseed oil with a rag. The wax smokes, goes tacky, then sets into a deep, durable black finish that resists rust for years. Buff it with a clean cloth once cool.

Eight millimetres of mild steel will happily hold a few kilograms, so hang it wherever you need it: in the kitchen for pans and herbs, in the workshop for leads and cords, or by the back door for a lantern. Wherever it ends up, you will have made something with your own hands that started as a dull length of bar and a hot fire. There are worse ways to spend a morning.