The whole portable sawmill and cant hook thing was unknown to me before I met Kevin. When he ran a portable sawmill I was amazed he made any money. Then we started Logrite and again I was thinking how many cant hooks a tool I never heard of could the world need.
I learned there was a company called Amidon that made sawmills and cant hooks. I became obsessed with finding one of those cant hooks because they were produced right near where I lived as a teen. I lived on Amidon Rd! I had found one but the handle and some of the hardware was not original.
Yesterday, Kevin met an oldtimer who had one listed on craigs list. He was secretive about where he lived. So Kevin drove to the town from which his family once farmed. After some discussion Kevin learned the man lived on Bantle Rd yes land that used to be part of the family farm!
Seems like it was destined that I should get this cant hook! She is a beauty!
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11461/IMG_3040.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1522331930) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11461/IMG_3041.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1522331949)
Congratulations. Always good to hear of another dream realized.
Nice find. Since I am not going to ever use it again, I guess that I should make a wall hanger out of my old short cant hook.
I'm going to hang it next to my other hard to come by cant hook. (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11461/DSC04430.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1393267703)
Nice find :)
Nice find :)
Nice story Tammy and what a keepsake to end up with. Jack
Never heard of them,but glad you have one.
Every cant hook I have used is blacksmith made so none of them have lettering to identify the manufacturer so that is a new one for me. Glad you found one.
That is a neat old baby cant hook.
Maybe I could get my wife to help at the mill if she had a pink one, but not likely because A) that she would help and B )that the pink one would be available.
Congrats on finding such a precious thing and it is new to me. I have never saw it before.
Congratulations. In my collection are several interesting cant hook/peavys. One, about the same as your amaidon, is an Ireland from Norwich, N.Y. I have my great grandfathers peavey and a cant hook from Orono, Me. that is very old. When I ordered a Bellsaw in 1979 they sent a 4 1/2' cant hook [ American logging tool] that still has the ash handle it came with and has been in continuous use. Wood handles on these tool either break right away or last until they rot or somebody wants to prove something. If you roll and turn logs all day llong you want a handle that has a little spring in it and is turned down to fit your hand at the end. If you look at really old handles they are very small where the hand goes and they never break there anyhow.
Moodnacreek
do you have a pic of your old cant hooks? I agree old tools are interesting. I only have a few old saws and now my cant hook.
Tamiam, thanks for showing interest. I am new to the digital world, no cell phone etc. but my wife has a small camera that can start the process of posting photos, we did it once, took all nite. I would love to show you my collection and hope to soon, Doug
Doug
any chance you are coming to our open house next week? you only live n the next state over.
Tammy
Ttamiam, thanks for invitation, have to be here Saturday. We have been trying to do photos and post them, very difficult for me. here goes: (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/44989/IMG_0401.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1523536936) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/44989/IMG_0400.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1523536910) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/44989/IMG_0399~0.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1523536864) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/44989/IMG_0399.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1523536821) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/44989/IMG_0391.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1523536727)
Doug
you have quite a few! I recognize a few of them in the pic. I see you have both peavey and cant style.
thanks for posting the pics!!!!
Yes, I have collected junk all my life. Not shown are 2 'farmer' type cant hooks that are rather clumsy. They are solid wood except the hook and pivot pin. It's too bad the metal ones that you currently make [?] could not be tapered. I am sure that would be absolutely too expensive. Doug
I'd really like one of these. I saw this in a museum in Maine.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11461/swing_dingle.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1404767495)
Never saw that style but it makes sense given the time. It wouldn't be hard to make. The Ireland I showed has the wrong style handle. It should have a 'flat mill roll on handle' like peavey still makes. I was lucky to get an Ireland catalog [re-pro] and it shows this tool or I would not know. Snow and Neely was another maker. We got a peavey from them once and it was worthless. I have a bark scraper from them, very heavy. It's amazing there are still 4 or 5 companies still making these tools, Doug
Quote from: moodnacreek on April 12, 2018, 12:34:23 PM
Yes, I have collected junk all my life. Not shown are 2 'farmer' type cant hooks that are rather clumsy. They are solid wood except the hook and pivot pin. It's too bad the metal ones that you currently make [?] could not be tapered. I am sure that would be absolutely too expensive. Doug
I actually have a LogRite Peavey style hook with a reduced handle at the end.
It's a standard 60" LogRite peavey, with the top of a badly bent 30" LogRite "Mill Special" pressed into it (it was the only part of the mill special I could salvage). The smaller diameter top of the handle makes it much easier for me to work with.
And just so's everyone knows -- the mill special got bent in (three dimensions) when it got between some 30" logs, with the top one weighing in at over 2000 pounds. And, yes, Kevin at LogRite replaced the handle even though I told him I'd pay for it because that kind of abuse is way more than any warranty should cover.
wow' somebody agrees about the smaller grip. I was starting to think I had very small hands. My taped up wooden handles have been run over by some big logs while I sat on the loader. In the sawmill nothing is un breakable.
Last week a logger friend of mine walked in with this. It is probably as close as I will ever get to a dingle hook. There are no markings on it at all. There have been many arguments about how the hook was made and how old the tool is.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11461/IMG_3147.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1524676644)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11461/IMG_314628129.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1524676688)
Tam, that's a cross between the dingle and the farmer style I tried to describe. On the farmer style they slot the wood through and insert the bill hook and pin it so it swings. The one you show is a better style and more compact. Keep collecting, Doug
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Savage_s_cant_hook.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1270086988)
A HickoRite.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/Image0116.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1305744815)
And an AllRite.
Looks like a NeHi bottle opener. ;D
Looks like a BrokeRite.
Tam-i-am, my brother has one similar to that last one you showed, except it has a slot where the hook mounts and could be changed to one of 2 or 3 different holes on the hook arm, depending on the log diameter. I don't believe my brother ever tried to move it to a different hole however In addition to being a rusty bolt and nut badly needing Blue Creeper, he welded the nut on. Not even Blue creeper can penetrate a proper weld.
Tamiam. I have a small hook that is the same make as your first picture. I use it every day. It came with the first LT 30 I had. How did it get here to northern Wis.?
Millwright
I don't know much about Amidon other then they made sawmills and cant hooks. I don't believe they were portable and I'm not sure how far their reach was. But old tools seem to get passed around and show up in some funny places.
The typical portable sawmill of 40 years ago was not on wheels or powered. It was 3 pieces of track ways, the husk [saw frame] and the carriage. Each section men could get on a truck manually to move to a new set up. Often the carriage and track sections where 15' long. A tractor sawmill was the same except the mandrel was extra long to keep the belt farther away and allow room for an edger. Amidon, Lane, Chase, Oxford, American, Frick and many other sold these portable sawmills in this configuration.