A cant hook or pike or a hooked pike is a traditional
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply cha ...
tool consisting of a wooden
lever
A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '' fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is d ...
handle with a movable metal hook called a
dog at one end, used for handling and turning logs and
cant
Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to:
Language
* Cant (language), a secret language
* Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers
* Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers
* Shelta or the Cant, a la ...
s, especially in sawmills. A peavey or peavey hook is similar, but has a spike in the working end of the handle, whereas a cant dog has a blunt end or possibly small teeth for friction.
A peavey is generally from long, with a metal spike at the end. The spike is rammed into a log, then a hook (at the end of an arm attached to a pivot a short distance up the handle) grabs the log at a second place. Once engaged, the handle gives the operator
lever
A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '' fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is d ...
age to roll or slide or float the log to a new place. The peavey was named for
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...
Joseph Peavey of
Upper Stillwater,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...
, who invented the tool as a refinement to the cant hook in the 1850s (one statement says, in spring 1857). Many
lumberjack
Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...
s use the terms interchangeably. The Peavey Manufacturing Co. is still in
Eddington, Maine
Eddington is a town located on the eastern side of the Penobscot River in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 2,194.
History
The town was founded by and named after Jonathan Eddy, a mil ...
and manufactures several variations. From early times to about 1910 the peavey is written about with various spellings such as "pevy" and "pivie".
Description
A logging tool description from the Lumberman's Museum at
Patten, Maine, reads in part: "A cant dog or cant hook was used for lifting, turning, and prying logs when loading sleds and on the drive. At first, a swivel hook on a pole with nothing to hold it in position was used. This was called a swing dingle." However, the term ''swing dingle'' is more often published as being a type of logging sled. These early types are also called a ring dog or ring dog cant hook.
[Mercer, Henry C. ''Ancient Carpenters' Tools: Illustrated and Explained, Together with the Implements of the Lumberman, Joiner, and Cabinet-Maker in Use in the Eighteenth Century''. Dover ed. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2000. p. 40.] In 1858, Joseph Peavey, a
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...
in
Stillwater,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...
, made a rigid clasp to encircle the cant dog handle with the hook on one side. It moved up and down, but not sideways. All
loggers have used it ever since."
While this tool has its origins in the logging industry, many
arborist
An arborist, tree surgeon, or (less commonly) arboriculturist, is a professional in the practice of arboriculture, which is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants in dend ...
s,
tree care
Tree care is the application of arboricultural methods like pruning, trimming, and felling/thinning in built environments. Road verge, greenways, backyard and park woody vegetation are at the center of attention for the tree care industry. La ...
professionals,
land owner
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
s and portable
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
operators now use cant hooks for moving logs and timber.
Gallery
File:Waldarbeit 1040984.jpg, A German type of ring dog cant hook
File:Waldarbeit 1040993.jpg, German type in use
Image:Cant Hook (PSF).jpg
File:Photograph of a Load of White Pine Logs on a Sled - NARA - 2127491.jpg, Logs loaded with cant hooks which three of the men are holding.
File:Seattle - Man with crosscut saw and peavey at Northeast Relief Depot, 1931.jpg, Man holding a crosscut saw and a peavey.
File:Peavey (PSF).png, A peavey is a cant hook with a point.
See also
*
Boat hook
*
Drawknife
*
Forestry hook
*
Pickaroon
A pickaroon (or picaroon) is a wood-handled (may be other materials also), metal-topped log handling tool that originates from the Alpine Region where it is called "Sappie, Zapin, Sapine". It is distinguished from a pike pole by having a shorter ...
*
Pike pole
A pike pole is a long metal-topped wooden, aluminium or fiberglass pole used for reaching, hooking and/or pulling on another object. They are variously used in boating, construction, logging, rescue and recovery, power line maintenance, and fire ...
*
Sappel
*
Tongs
References
External links
Cant Hook or Peavey?€”A great article on the history of the cant hook and peavey.
€”Here's a quick brush-up on the lingo used by loggers, with fair warning that terminology differs from one region to another.
Peavey Manufacturing Co.
{{Forestry tools
Forestry tools
Log transport
Logging
Mechanical hand tools