Quote Originally Posted by AlanB View Post
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One of the modern trends with these patterns is the use of short shank hooks. I have no idea why this should be. If you look at the old illustrations the hooks are on the longish side. As most of these tiers made their own hooks they would have more control over shank length than we have today, the choice of that shank length I can only presume is deliberate. Using short shank hooks then puzzles me.
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Cheers,
A.
Alan,
May I suggest one possibility for longer shanks on homemade hooks. Although I don't know if this was involved at all or what tools they used to make their own hooks, a long shank would be easier to bend into a hook shank than a shorter one because of the greater leverage. It is simply a guess and I stand ready to be corrected.

Regards,
Ed