Cant hook

[BobL]

I was given a sort of challenge in another forum that it wouldn't be worth making one of these - anyway, here it is.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57208&stc=1&d=1191493134

The overall length is 62" - the intention is to move/roll bigger logs and slabs around with this one.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57209&stc=1&d=1191493134
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57210&stc=1&d=1191493134
The steel collars and protective sleeve are made from bits of 2" diameter water pipe. the hook was cut from a 1/2" slab of steel found inside an X-ray machine in the skip at work.

Handle is cut from a piece of 50 x 100 mm karri, cut down to 50 x 70 and then tapered into rough shape on a TS, Finally shaping was with a HSS blade spokeshave and then finally a hand scraper. This took a looong time, made lots of shavings, very theraputic even if karri is a PITA to work.

The most expensive material used was the $3.50 half can of spray paint, followed by $2.50 for the 1/2" tensile steel bolt and $1.50 for the karri for the handle. Don't ask me how long it took but I figure I was probably working for about $15 an hour! It can't have been too traumatic as I am making a smaller one, 48" long one for moving smaller logs, beams and slabs around.

Cheers

[scooter]

Nice work, Bob, & well finished too :2tsup:

[DJ’s Timber]

Looks very neat Bob, have you tried it out yet? Do you think it won't need some form of spike or grippers at the end of the handle?

[Andy Mac]

Good work as usual Bob! I made one a couple of months back, much rougher and just a trial piece...didn't post a pic because it was a real scrubber!:- It did work, but a real effort... which was mainly pressing the spike that djstimber mentions into the log with my boot, and fiercely too. If I didn't do that the whole thing just slipped around the log. Obviously it doesn't have the right geometry, and all I could think of at the time was to allow for adjustment up and down the pole for the swinging hook (logs various sizes). All sounded too hard, so I got the neighbour's tractor and scull-dragged the buggers around with a chain!:rolleyes:
Anyway, yours looks good, please let us know how it goes.

Cheers

[notenoughtoys]

It did work, but a real effort... which was mainly pressing the spike that djstimber mentions into the log with my boot, and fiercely too. If I didn't do that the whole thing just slipped around the log. Obviously it doesn't have the right geometry,


They normally have a 'flat" behind the hook so you can give em a belt with the back of your axe if necessary to get it to bite into the wood. When used on green wood this is generally not necessary if , as you say, the geometry of the hook is OK.

Bob K

[BobL]

I have no fear of giving this hook a good belt with the back of an axe to get it to stick.

I haven't tried it on a real log yet, that will have to wait until saturday. I just checked the strength/bend of the handle as a lever and it lifted the front (heavier) end of my mitsubushi van off the ground as easy as pie and without any noticeable bend. Regarding a spike on the handle, - I presume you mean at the the tip where it touches the tree? If so it will often be a part of the sleeve that touches the tree rather that the tip so I don't know how useful a spike will be will be. I probably should have tried it out before wasting my time painting it - but it's no biggie to weld a point on the end and squirt some more paint on afterwards. The sheer weight of whole thing plus the nose of the steel collar on the tip should be able to easily gouge a groove in pretty much any bark for the sleeve to sit in to stop it sliding around. It may be more of a problem with handling naked timber slabs.

I don't really need the hook when I work in the yard as I have access to a forklift/bobcat thingo but occasionally it's being used for something else so I'm hoping the hook will save me some time. For example, when I cut a big slab I slide it off down the side of the log edge onto a sack trolley and move it to one side before getting on with the next one. If that slab falls to the ground, just lifting it to a point where I can get the sack trolley underneath is a PITA. The hook should allow me to easily lift it to a pont where I can kick a bit of wood underneath so that I can then get the sacktrolley underneath it.

I can see the hook being more useful milling when I get into some quarter sawing or when/where I have no access to machinery.

[jmaxwell]

very good job . i spent 3 months looking for one should have taken your lead and made one but metalwork is not my thing .my hook is made by stihl not big enough for the job , but use it every day, yours looks about right.
Old cant hooks i have seen had a metal ring on the end of the hook so the handle was adjustable for thoses really big logs .

[BobL]

very good job . i spent 3 months looking for one should have taken your lead and made one but metalwork is not my thing .my hook is made by stihl not big enough for the job , but use it every day, yours looks about right.

Yeah I get the impression that the regular commerical hooks are made more for handling smaller or softwood logs and wouldn't be up to dealing with the gnarly hardwoods I normally play with, that's why I made mine so chunky - I want to make sure it really stays together.


Old cant hooks i have seen had a metal ring on the end of the hook so the handle was adjustable for thoses really big logs .

I have seen those and the might have a go at making one of them some time.

[BobL]

Took the Cant hook to the milling yard today. It works great even on small logs although being so large its a bit clumsy and will be good to have a smaller one as well - I'm working on that in the shed. Excellent on bigger logs, should stand me in good stead when I have no forklift access.

I observed it already has that finger protection thing built into it because the hook cannot rotate all the way back and hit the handle or ones fingers.

Although I have forklift access in the yard the logs are not always in the right orientation for milling when I place them on the supporting gluts. Just before I drop the forks I can rotate the log exactly into the right orientation using the cant hook and all is good. The yard owner turns logs by doing this crafty "pancake flip thing" with the log on the ends of the fork - well beyound my skilf level.

The other thing I did was test the handle. Here's me placing my full 120+ kgs on the handle - it seemed to bend maybe 1/4 -> 1/2 inch - otherwise all good.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57316&stc=1&d=1191662950

In review, although it's probably too a touch too heavy it's working well.

[BobL]

Using my Cant hook I noticed that one has to be very close to square onto the log for the pole face part of the hook not to slip on the log. So with this in mind here is what I came up with. I'm calling it the "Cant Dragon".

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57914&stc=1&d=1192324367

Here is a close up of the set of gripping teeth.
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57915&stc=1&d=1192324367

The teeth are oriented at an angle to the hook swing so if the handle is not applied square this angle will twist the handle toward being squarer to the log and engage the other parallel set of teeth. Together both should naturally set a square handle.
The teeth themselves are not sharp or designed to cut, just to grip.
The individual tooth angles are oriented such that as one applies torque to the handle the will ratchet up onto the log.

That's the theory anyway. If it all goes to pot I will grind the teeth down, or off completely and leave a pair of parallel ridges. Point one above should apply (perhaps better) to ridges better than teeth.

Here's how the dragon compares to the regular hook I made a few weeks ago. The regular hook is 62" long while the dragon is 48" long.
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57916&stc=1&d=1192324367

Cheers

[Barry_White]

Here is my Cant Hook, Log Roller, Star Post Remover that I purchased at Agquip about four years ago. I paid $100 for it as it was the demo one he was using. The new ones at the time were $130 and these were designed and made by some indigenous guys and were very popular.

It is ideal to lift a log up out of the dirt to cut it without hitting the dirt with the chainsaw because we have granite soil here one nick in the dirt and you have no edge on the chain saw.

When using it for log rolling you remove the lug off the hook. The lug is used for pulling star posts out of the ground.

[BobL]

Hi Bazza, yeah I've seen those around and am thinking of getting one for small/medium logs. I particularly like the lifting mechanism although I'm not sure about having it there all the time if you just want to move logs. What's your experience with that aspect?

My experience with cant hooks is, it's not just the size of log that affects what you can move. In theory you should be able to move a large, smooth, cylindrical log on hard ground with a very small hook and short handle - provided of course you can grab hold of the log. However, if you have a burl or branch sticking out of even a small log, or the log is slightly bowed, these things can make a big difference in how easy a logs are to roll. Of course you can cut pff these protruberences but sometimes that is where the most interesting wood is.

I have a new gizmo in the construction pipeline for lifting logs. It involves a small steel cradle that attaches to the end/underneath of the log and has a square opening in it that accommodates the lifting prong of a hi-lift jack. Basically you roll the log onto a couple of railway sleepers just to get it off the ground then attach the cradle / jack onto the end of the log, insert the jack and off you go, providing suitable back up support (ie large log rounds) as you go up. When you have reached the height required, lower the log back onto the back up support and remove jack. The cradle can be left attached to the underside/end of the log or moved to the other end of the log. I'm doing this because I like to mill on a slope and typically have one end just off the ground, while the starting end is such that the top of the log is around hip height. If it's a log log this may not mean much slope so I often lift the log more after every couple of slabs are cut. Up until now I have been using a car jack but don't like the idea of crawling under a log to put a car jack underneath. Should have it assembeled and ready to show next week.

A log lifter of the sort you have Barry would be a simple way to get the log initially off the ground to get the jack/cradle under it.

[jmaxwell]

that cant is used to lift fence post offthe ground at one end prior to lifting post to slide in the hole on larger logs that tends to catch on the log apart from that it is a very good tool for fencing removing star pickets rolling post and lifting in position.

[salty72]

some one care to post the geometry of one of these cant hooks, or is it a trade secret???

[BobL]

some one care to post the geometry of one of these cant hooks, or is it a trade secret???

There's nothing complicated about it. The hook should be an inch or so shorter that the post it is attached to, and the hook tip should be oriented so that after it bites it won't slip out of the log. While neither have slipped if I were making mine again I would probably give the tip an extra 10º of rotation.

[Sigidi]

As I have no support equipment, no hydraulics, no winches just my 2 arms and 1.5 legs (yeah 1.5 legs and no I didn't fail maths) I move all my logs by the help of a self-made cant hook and a very tired looking iron bar.

With the hook I've moved some weight. Just to brag the largest log moved with my hook has been a spotted gum 5.8m, small end dia 600mm and moved it up hill just over one full rotation

[Burnsy]

I have been meaning to make a cant hook for the last six months and even went as far as getting a tracing of Bob's but a lack of time has seen me fighting logs with a crowbar instead. I was wasting some time today while it was raining in a place called the Rustic Gallery, basically it is a second hand store/yard full of old agricultural steel and other relics. I am sure much of it ends up in sculptures and garden wall hangings so I was really happy to take this baby home and give it an extended life rather than it wasting away screwed to someones wall. $18 and a lump of 50 x 50 spotty I had lying in the shed and it works like a champion. Might have to paint it a nice shiney colour like Bob's so it doesn't hide in the sawdust. Judging by the wear on the link hole it has seen some work in it's time.

[BobL]

Nice one mike!

[tdi-rick]

I was doing a search for log rollers to get some ideas and lo and behold, I found some more of Bob's handiwork on this forum.

G'day Bob, how are the cant/rollers going ?
Also wondering if anyone would care to comment on this one from eco saw.

[BobL]

I was doing a search for log rollers to get some ideas and lo and behold, I found some more of Bob's handiwork on this forum.

G'day Bob, how are the cant/rollers going ?
They are going just fine. I use the little one a lot more than the big one, but when I need to move something BIG the big one is amazing what it can roll.


Also wondering if anyone would care to comment on this one from eco saw.
I have never seen one up close but think they look just fine. They use a 3 point spike to stop the point slipping which is similar to my cant dragon.

[tdi-rick]

cheers Bob. :2tsup:

[glenn k]

Here are my cant hooks both 6' long. The top one is an old original very heavy (with the sliding hook which is not that useful) The other one was, when I bought it, a bit of water pipe with the hook attached with a chain it was next to useless. I used it for years then when I got my Lucus I made a handle with the first log I milled (Tassi Blue Gum) and welded a couple of bits of angle on the end. It works realy good but I wish I had made it a bit lighter its 30% lighter than the other but could be less.

[BobL]

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[auscab]

What happened to the pictures in this thread ? I cant see one ??

Rob

Edit . No, I found one at the bottom of page 2 . above this post . They look great Bob!
sorry I didn't see page 2 .
Nothing on page 1 though ??

[BobL]

What happened to the pictures in this thread ? I cant see one ??

Rob

Edit . No, I found one at the bottom of page 2 . above this post . They look great Bob!
sorry I didn't see page 2 .
Nothing on page 1 though ??


Those pictures got lost along with whole lot of others about a year ago.

[auscab]

Those pictures got lost along with whole lot of others about a year ago.

I see Bob . As well as Me not seeing page 2. I didn't notice the date of the thread Oct 2007.
Your fixing it up then . Great !:2tsup: .


Rob

[Cal]

They look better than the one I threw together! [emoji106]


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[BobL]

Full 120kg handle test.

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