Cant Hook
Encyclopedia
A cant hook is a traditional logging
tool consisting of a wooden lever
handle with a movable metal hook at one end, used for handling and moving logs. Unlike the similar peavey
, the cant hook has a blunt tip, often bearing teeth.
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. In 1858, Joseph Peavey, a blacksmith
in Stillwater, Maine
, 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 arborists, tree care professionals, land owners and portable sawmill operators now use cant hooks for moving logs and timber.
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
tool consisting of a wooden lever
Lever
In physics, a lever is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to either multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object or resistance force , or multiply the distance and speed at which the opposite end of the rigid object travels.This leverage...
handle with a movable metal hook at one end, used for handling and moving logs. Unlike the similar peavey
Peavey (tool)
A peavey or peavey hook is a logging tool consisting of a handle, generally from 30 to 50 inches long , with a metal spike protruding from the end. The spike is rammed into a log, then a hook grabs the log at a second location...
, the cant hook has a blunt tip, often bearing teeth.
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. In 1858, Joseph Peavey, a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
in Stillwater, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, 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 arborists, tree care professionals, land owners and portable sawmill operators now use cant hooks for moving logs and timber.
External links
- Cant Hook or Peavey? — A great article on the history of the cant hook and peavey.
- Logging Lingo — Here's a quick brush-up on the lingo used by loggers, with fair warning that terminology differs from one region to another.