I made a hookaroon from an old axe, which I like a lot for moving rounds that don't require a cant hook or tie tongs.
To pull rounds back out of the trailer bed, I first used a hoe or a rake. They worked, but the heads are not firmly attached or intended for forces in the pulling direction. Then I made one from a piece of conduit and Grade 5 bolt, but it was too heavy to use one handed. Then I modified a garden weeder with a molded on head that was quite strong. Used that for years.
Last month I made one from Harry's idea here using the 1-1/8 inch wood closet pole about 6 ft long. I used a ½ inch grade 5 bolt, tack welded a piece of curved tubing to the bolt to prevent it from rotating, then heated and oil quenched it to put some hardness back (although this is used as a hook to drag things, not to pierce into the wood grain.) The conduit connector works well to spread the load and prevent the wood from splitting out. The picture shows the point about 2-1/2 inches past the side of the wood, but I’d go 3 inches, using a 5 inch bolt. I table sawed off part of the side for my fingers to orient the hook without looking. This works REALLY nice and is very light. Kudos to Harry.
I used the axe hookaroon around the splitter (to drag rounds off the lift/shelf onto the beam) by short grasping the handle up near the head. It worked, but was clumsy.
Then I made this shortest one from an old framing hammer that the owner had destroyed by pounding the face on metal framing bar. I ground the back side to sharpen the point, and the sides to narrow the points to about ¼ inch wide each. I grew up using a bale hook on the farm, so am accustomed to an 'arm extension'. I use this all the time to reach across the splitter, pull rounds from the table or log lift, and onto the beam. One thing I found accidentally but the two points give a much better grip than single point. I can twist the wrist and turn the rounds. Single point hooks pivot and come loose. The two points stays bit and twists the round around. For picking up rounds, I hook the far end with the hammer, and pick up the near end with my left hand. Big difference in how far I have to bend over to pick up wood. Love it. It lays on the splitter toolbox right near my hand. The claws sort of work to chop through elm fibers above the wedge. I suppose I could weld a piece of flat stock on the hammer face side, but it works fine for now. I end up using this one far more than the axe length one.
kcj
