PERNAMBUCO
This beautiful hand turned crochet hook is made from Pernambuco from the forest of Brazil. Pernambuco is the premier wood used for making bows for stringed instruments. This hook is shaped with a larger handle to relieve stress on the hand and wrist when crocheting. The hook has an Ergonomic shape that fits nicely in the hand. Because this hook is hand made there will be variation in appearance, grain and color.
This crochet hook measures 5 3/4" to 8" long depending on the size of the hook and is 3/4" to 1" in diameter at it's widest. General guidelines are sizes K 6.5mm) and smaller are 5 3/4" to 6 1/4" long. Sizes L (8mm to M (9mm) are 6 3/4" to 7 1/4" long. Sizes N (10mm) and larger are 7 1/2" to 8" long. Hooks with multiple woods tend to be to the longer side of these measurements. The reason for the variation is that each hooks is hand turned and while the standard shape, which gives the Ergonomic advantage, is maintained each hook is uniquely it's own. You can request a specific length please contact me before ordering a custom length.
Hooks Pictured are example of what you will receive. This is a hand turned hook, grains and color will vary.
This tree has a dense, orange-red heartwood that takes a high shine, and it is the premier wood used for making bows for stringed instruments. The wood also yields a red dye called brazilin, which oxidizes to brazilein.
When Portuguese explorers found these trees on the coast of South America, they used the name pau-brasil to describe them. Pau is Portuguese for "stick", and brasil is said to have come from brasa, Portuguese for "ember", meaning "emberlike". The wood of this tree has a deep red hue, which may be why it received this name
In the 15th and 16th centuries, brazilwood was highly valued in Europe and quite difficult to get. Coming from Asia, it was traded in powder form and used as a red dye in the manufacture of luxury textiles, such as velvet, in high demand during the Renaissance. When Portuguese navigators discovered present-day Brazil, on April 22, 1500, they immediately saw that brazilwood was extremely abundant along the coast and along the rivers. In a few years, a very profitable operation for felling and shipping all the brazilwood logs they could get was established, as a crown-granted Portuguese a monopoly.
Brazilwood trees were such a large part of the exports and economy of the land that the country which sprang up in that part of the world took its name from them and is now called Brazil.
