I've never used a hookaroon but have been thinking of buying one to match my Logrite peavy. ;D
I split about 5 cords a year or so on the high side, and was wondering if people found them to be extremely helpful?
Do you guys use them when splitting wood?
What do you find it most useful for?
I have a LogRite Hookroon. I've tried it when cutting or splitting firewood and ended up not using it much for that (If I had a real worktable for my splitter it would be of more use in sliding logs within reach to feed the splitter).
I do find it helpful when unloading wood from my trailer. I was killing my back leaning over to reach the stuff near the middle of the trailer. with the hookaroon, I can pull it over to the edge or out the back easily. If I were running a sawmill or a firewood processor, I imagine the hookaroon would be indispensable.
The most useful tool I've found for stove-length rounds is the Husqvarna 8" Timber Tongs (http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=HVA+574+38+75+01&catID=) (link is to the Bailey's page for this tool). The jaws open to 8", but I regularly pick up 10 or 12" diameter logs with it. Saves a LOT of bending, and I can pick the log with one hand. They make a 12" set, but it's more than what I need. If I get bigger than what I can pick up with the 8" tongs, I probably need both hands on the log anyway.
I use mine almost daily at the sawmill. When I have the wood splitter set up at the truck bed it is a constant companion, use it on almost every piece of wood. Use it to pull the juggles over to the splitter.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11671/Img0729.JPG)
I use a pickeroon unloading my truck. It works great for sliding wood or rolling wood. Like a pulp hook it takes some practice to get the full benifit from it. I used one up to 84 hours a week working in a paper mill, sliding wood from a flume into a grinder.
Yeah...I have an old Dixie hookaroon...use it to pull rounds out of the pile or off the truck...
I didn't even think about using it for the mill, I imagine it would be helpful on those logs that are small enough to roll by hand without using the peavy, but a pain in the back to bend over and roll by hand. I could just reach across the mill with the hookaroon and pull the log onto the mill.
I have some back issues and I was thinking the hookaroon might help out a bit by not bending over as much, but I wonder if the tongs John posted might be worth a shot as well.
I think DanG uses one on his mill too to help him reach boards or slabs.
Piston, I use one while processing firewood,with the six way wedge on I get 2 oversized pieces of split wood on the top as it goes through the splitter,we simply reach out and hook and pull them back into the splitting tray as they go through,saves the back big time :). Tim
Tim,
My splitter is the type that pushes the wood through a wedge, rather than holding the wood stationary and pushing the wedge through the wood, which I believe is what your saying as well.
I have a 4 way wedge (the 6 way must be awesome!) and a lot of times I have to resplit the top 2 pieces, so what your saying is you hook the pieces you need to resplit and pull them back to the splitter?
Sounds like it would be very helpful. ;D
Piston, I am using a firewood processor and it drops the sawn round into a tray before the wedge,then the ram pushes the piece through the wedge with a 4,6,or 8 way head in back of the vertical wedge,then you drop the next round into the tray and push it into the system,the first round is pasted through the 6 way and into the conveyor, we use the hookeroon to pull the top pieces back into the tray to be split again. here,s a picture.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/27356/3736/Wood_pile_008.jpg). If you look close you can see the tray in front of the saw bar. we simply rest the hook on top of the big pieces and let the ram push the wood through it and it flips the top piece back into the tray. it save,s a lot of bending over, and after a full days worth of doing this you figure out real quick how some one invented this tool. :D Tim
hmmm....
ya, umm, my splitter looks pretty much just like the one you have there Tim.
:D :D :D
...in my dreams!
Quote from: Piston on November 05, 2011, 02:54:27 AM
I didn't even think about using it for the mill, I imagine it would be helpful on those logs that are small enough to roll by hand without using the peavy, but a pain in the back to bend over and roll by hand. I could just reach across the mill with the hookaroon and pull the log onto the mill.
I have some back issues and I was thinking the hookaroon might help out a bit by not bending over as much, but I wonder if the tongs John posted might be worth a shot as well.
The hookaroon has the advantage when you are sliding wood around (the work table of a splitter or processor, the bed of a truck or trailer), and they have a longer reach.
The tongs have the advantage when you are picking up rounds off the ground (such as lifting rounds into a splitter). I have yet to find any tool that works better (and I've tried a couple). I also use it to grab and lift an end of a longer log if I have to drag it by hand for short distances. It's easier than grabbing it with my hands. The tongs do not work all that well with smaller split pieces.
bought the logrite hookeroon for my wife to pull wood from the top of the pile to feed the OWB when I am gone. I use it far more myself when making firewood. Saves a lot of bending.
I would if I would put a new handle back in it. :D Tim
Tim,
Just looking at your sig and admire all that heavy machinery you have ;D
Do you have a FEL grapple for your tractor?
QuoteI would if I would put a new handle back in it.
Ya, it would probably work a little better that way :D
Wife and I both get a lot of use out of our Logrite hookaroon. It is great for unloading from a pick up bed as will as reaching to top of the pile.
Probably the most use it gets is moving embers and chunks in the CB.
Was using mine yesterday to hook and pull big rounds out to break with the portable splitter...sometimes easier to use than a cant hook...
Tim,
Just looking at your sig and admire all that heavy machinery you have Grin
Do you have a FEL grapple for your tractor? Piston, No,has a quick attach so I can change buckets and forks , but I have no plumbing up front on the loader arms,I would have to run lines to the grapple to operate the top clamps. But the skid steer has them
I've been thinking of making a pickeroon but so far for unloading the firewood trailer a garden rake works great. Happened to be raking bark from behind the trailer one day, decided to rake out the bark from the trailer and since I had it in my hands used it to pull the last of the wood from the front of the trailer. That rake now stays where the trailer gets unloaded and I don't bother going around to the front to flip blocks within reach of the back.
Great tool for a wood boiler. I use one for my e classic 2300 for when i get to the furnace and there is still enough logs in the furnace. nice tool to use to slide the logs around and help stir some coals.
Piston,I've made a couple of pickaroons from old picks,cut one point off and shorten and reshape the outher,a pyramid point seems to work the best for me.As stated they are handy for unloading trucks and trailers and pulling those DanG slabs off.Frank C.
At the mill, I push the round edge boards and planks back onto the log loader arms to wait further processing to square edge.
After the cant is cut up, I use a pickeroon to pull these round edge boards and planks back onto the mill table to stand up on edge and cut off the edgings.
I some times use the pickeroon to stand the board up and flip the clamp up as well.
It's nice having that long reach.
I often use it to drag the short log bunks I have next to the mill back in line where they should be if the backhoe front wheel pushes them out of the way.
I've found all kinds of uses for it, but those are the most common ones.
Jim Rogers
I think I bought my logrite hookaroon in around 2006 at a Paul Bunyan show that Chet and I went down to. I've used it for all kinds of things since then, but the reason I bought it had somehow put my back out that day at Paul Bunyan, and when I was handling the hookaroon at the Logrite display, I found it made the perfect cane to get my sad sack around the rest of that day. :D I keep it in my truck now.
A pickaroon is the first tool my father taught me how to use, yes there is a right way and a wrong way, i went on my butt many times using a pickaroon.
I was 6, 7 years old when i started straighting wood on the landing.
I top loaded many thousand's cords of wood, went off the truck a few times, never fell off a rail car, knew a couple guys that did, got hurt pretty bad.
When strip cutting a pickaroon and a pick/axe were two of your main tools for hand piling wood.
When bucking up 100" , a pickaroon is a must, to straighten wood, and pull short pieces out of pile for trucker.
A pickaroon is nice for firewood, you don't have bend over to pick it up.
If you handling wood, there is a job for a pickaroon !!!!!
Which ones work best? I've seen them with a bit of a hook, and ones that are pretty square to the handle. Or do they both have their purposes? I'm 6'4", I could use a longer reach.
Quote from: Jeff on December 31, 2011, 01:44:54 PM
I was handling the hookaroon at the Logrite display, I found it made the perfect cane to get my sad sack around the rest of that day. :D I keep it in my truck now.
Jeff, don't feel bad, I've had to use the chainsaw and axe both for canes. hurt_smiley Kinda akward, but hey, whatever works!
Quote from: rwthom279 on January 07, 2012, 04:57:14 PM
Which ones work best? I've seen them with a bit of a hook, and ones that are pretty square to the handle. Or do they both have their purposes? I'm 6'4", I could use a longer reach.
I've got a LogRite 30" Hookaroon, and it works great. It's attached square to the handle, but has a slight curve at the end. I use it for pulling chunks of firewood around... especially when unloading firewood from my trailer. My trailer has rather low sides, but I still had to either climb in to reach the stuff in the middle, or lean way over the side (that gets to my back after a while). With the hookaroon, I can pull most of it out the back, what I can't, I can easily reach from the side.
I've also used it when I volunteered to help clean up an illegal tire dump that seemed to appear and grow on its own over the years. Hooking the tires and flinging them with the hookroon sure beat bending over to grab them out of the grass which was overgrowing them!
My only complaint with the LogRite is that a slightly smaller shaft would make for a more comfortable one-handed grip (I wear a medium sized glove). That might affect LogRite's vaunted strength of their tools, but for a hookaroon, I could probably do with something less stout. Even so, I'm very happy with it.
I thought the same thing about Logrites handle...thanks for confirming. I was referring to "old school" hookaroons w/ wood handles and such. Thats what I would buy...just curious though if they actually do serve different jobs.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/27902/Curved.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/27902/straight.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21649/images.jpg)
This is the style of pickaroon you want, it stays hooked in the wood. You can drag wood, pick an carry wood, ect with it.
A hookaroon is made to more less roll wood around, i know i would have had no use for it.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/21649/367-0465-lg.jpg)
Hey Piston, the longer handle works better for me as well. I like the replaceable tips, just add a piece of reciever stock and set screw. Real handy for handling trailcut and dragging sliders. A stainless pulphook is easier to find and we hang them in a tweaked hanger for a clawhammer on your belt. :)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/Hooks.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/Rocky_pt_4.jpg)
Might be a FF policy that we don't post things on eBay. Might mess up someone's bidding ??
Yah, I tried to delete it but someone pulled it.
Was a nice looking hookaroon, and a healthy price a'ready :)
But think it is more of a courtesy thing, however sending a PM to notify someone that might be looking for an item is a way to do it
Since the arrival of a Logrite 36" pickaroon a few months back, I keep finding uses for it.
It's pretty easy to drive the hook into the end grain of a round, and lift while dragging. Others have figured that out pretty quick. Saves a lot of bending-over.
Makes your arm effectively 3 feet longer. Easy to pull from wood stacks that would otherwise be out of reach, and to empty truck quickly. One fellow likes it for picking debris out of pucker-bushes at a preserve without injury.
Probably the best part, is that it lets you keep your fingers away from stuff that can crush them. 8)
Might be a good tool to keep under your truck seat to repell boarders.Anouther handy tool is an old time slice bar,thats a long steel bar with a "D" handle on one end and a right angle hook on the outher used to hook clinkers out of a coal bed.Its a dandy tool to pull chunks out of your truck bed. Frank C.
I wouldn't be without one when handling wood for all the reasons mentioned above. I found one in a lake over 30 years ago, and have made constant use of it ever since.
Quote from: Ron Scott on February 29, 2012, 09:43:43 PM
I found one in a lake over 30 years ago, and have made constant use of it ever since.
OK....there
has to be a story to go along with that comment! ???
Ron's a diver, like underwater exploration and recovery. He has lots of stories to tell. :)
Quote from: beenthere on March 01, 2012, 02:09:34 PM
Ron's a diver, like underwater exploration and recovery. He has lots of stories to tell. :)
Oh, cool. The only diving I've done (on purpose) was at Disney's Living Seas. My Nephew gives dive tours there and we all got to dive in the aquarium. Kind of neat to be with all that sea life but it was strange having all sorts of people looking in at you!
Quote from: Stephen Alford on January 10, 2012, 10:38:02 AM
Hey Piston, the longer handle works better for me as well. I like the replaceable tips, just add a piece of reciever stock and set screw. Real handy for handling trailcut and dragging sliders. A stainless pulphook is easier to find and we hang them in a tweaked hanger for a clawhammer on your belt. :)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/Hooks.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12754/Rocky_pt_4.jpg)
Nailed it Steve: Pulphook ( w. replaceable tip ) is the first go-to tool. Never have seen the extra special SS model though. It's like an extra hand, butt: be warned if you miss , the pulphook has an attraction for thighs with or without Kevlar. ::)
I never process firewood without a Pickeroon. I've had great luck with Peavy Mfg.
http://peaveymfg.com/products-logging-tools-pickeroons
I like the 24" Kathadin for some things, but mostly use the 36" Penobscot. I'd like to get another with a 6' handle for getting wood out of a pickup truck bed.
I've only briefly used a Logrite pickeroon, but like the wooden handle of my Peavy's better as the grip shape allows me to index the tip better. I know where the tip is pointed without looking.
I have a log rite hookaroon that I use constantly. It is handy for so many things. I keep it in the cab of my truck. Works great to pick your teeth with. When you have frozen boards on the sawmill it helps to get em loose. I had some firewood on the porch that was froze to it reall good, from that last rain storm that turned into ice. Hookaroon made it possible to separate the firewood from the deck in a tight spot without ruining wood. I slipped the hook underneath the log and pryed back. My hookaroon has killed a bad porcupine before (my friend operating it), it has saved my back in so many ways.
Jeff- I found that pretty funny the reason why you initially bought yours!
I come to say that youtube channel Wranglerstar has brought to my attention, a thing called an ax-aroon. Hookaroon on one side, and ax on the other. Perfect for doing firewood. When you are moving the rounds around and some aren't all the way split.
Hookaroons, found under water in ponds and lakes were used to pull cut ice chunks, and slipped from cold icy hands. Frank C.
I have a LogRite 30" hookaroon. I keep it on the hydraulic box on the Wood-Mizer when sawing, and next to my slab cutting rack when cutting firewood. It saves my back when dragging slabs onto the rack. I'm not sure I'd be able to work slabs two days in a row without it. It's virtually indestructible, although the foam is in rough shape after having been run over a few too many times this last snow storm. Oops. :D
ha! good thing you didnt run over the hook n get a flat!
my 30" logrote hookaroon has been around the block but still works great. they are awesome for breakig up thick ice. use the hook to get it started and the back of the head to keep it going
I started using a pickaroon last year. Seriously, I wish i'd heard of them 20 yrs ago. They are awesome. Actually thinking of buying another, to work with two, that's how great they are!