Question about cant hooks

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Thanks guys.
Your advice is much appreciated but you guys should realize I don't under-engineer anything I make.
Cost (as in hard $$ forked out) depends on what materials I already have and what I can scavenge. If this works out more than the cost of the item I will buy the item.
I do have access to some nice manufacturing facilities as in the machine shop at work and BILs shop. Of course if I take my time into account I usually end up working for $5 an hour but as I really like making tools and gizmos that's just the my cost of my hobby.

Cheers

Bob I have no doubts that you could make anything that you so choose to make. Your posts reveal your admiration for design and building. As has been said before using a tool or jig that one has built themself gives great satisfaction. I say go for it! BTW, as before we will expect pictures.:D
 
Make your own

Bob I have no doubts that you could make anything that you so choose to make. Your posts reveal your admiration for design and building. As has been said before using a tool or jig that one has built themself gives great satisfaction. I say go for it! BTW, as before we will expect pictures.:D

I agree with Dustytools , go for it BobL make your own , after seeing how you made your mill mate , top job.
 
I agree with Dustytools , go for it BobL make your own , after seeing how you made your mill mate , top job.

I tossed around a few idea with BIL this evening over a beer and we reckon we can do something for not much if we can scrounge the steel for the hook from somewhere. I need to do the rounds of the skips/dumpsters at work again when I have some free time. Could be a while though as have several other projects on the go to attend to.
 
I have the 60" logrite one as well. It isn't going to move a 30" log on uneven ground, but I've moved 24" x 10' sections of white oak without pulling any muscles.......I'm about 160 lbs, btw. Not exactly a weightlifter.

I've seen this one at Northern Tool; looks a lot like the logrite brand, but a different color, and about half the price of the equivalent one. I'd have bought this one if I knew it was available.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200333231_200333231
 
The biggest Logrite (78")is almost $200.00 with tax so for now at least I will stick to the wood models. We have a 60" Logrite that has a bent handle from moving redwood logs and a 48" (I think) Stihl. There are copies of the Logrite tools made in Red China that are painted the same shade of blue so be careful of what you buy.
 
Pee-Vees, hm, I love me el-cheapo with massive 5' handle for moving anything over 800lbs, does the job and does not break the bank. Have to agree it is much cheaper to buy one or find a head and replace the handle (ie make one), people break 'em and are too lazy to replace the handles, sure would like to find another 50's vintage one (nice steel). To the OP, yup, you want the end of the hook just above the point, this is what makes leverage work,

:cheers: & my useless 0.02$ worth for the wet afternoon (pizen rain right now, bah!)

Serge
 
I like chinese

The biggest Logrite (78")is almost $200.00 with tax so for now at least I will stick to the wood models. We have a 60" Logrite that has a bent handle from moving redwood logs and a 48" (I think) Stihl. There are copies of the Logrite tools made in Red China that are painted the same shade of blue so be careful of what you buy.

Hi 2dogs I have got a 48" Logrite . When I got mine , I got mine directly from logrite at the time , was rather expensive , close to $250au delivered to Aus , about $120us of that was freight , Logrite were great , they gave me a free 24" hookeroon , well worth the money. The 78" is $160 now directly from logrite . http://www.logrite.com/ I have used mine to roll 36" plus logs. I like chinese gear , they make some great gear . I got a chinese ute crane , bloody great , also got a chinese jolly grinder $90us an exact copy of the Oregon 511a from Northerntool usa , the Oregon is about $700au over here , me neighbor got an oregon cheap at $600au . stuff that . got heaps of other chinese stuff generators etc . No wonder all our company's are going broke eh. I also buy quite a bit of USA gear , even with freight , most of the time its still a quite a bit cheaper to buy. When I bought my Stihl MS660 it was $2400au before negotiating and $2000au after in Aus , same saw in USA $1013us even with freight exchange rates etc ,landed in Aus about $1300au. Kind Regards Manfred
 
Hey Manfred. I don't know how $2400.00 AU translates into FRNs but it sounds expensive.

About those logs in the crane pic? Is the wood shrunk back from the bark or is than an illusion?
 
FRNs

Hey Manfred. I don't know how $2400.00 AU translates into FRNs but it sounds expensive.

About those logs in the crane pic? Is the wood shrunk back from the bark or is than an illusion?

Hi 2dogs Not sure what FRNs are , I assume thats Francs , anyway $2400au is equal to $2000.95us and $2374.62 swiss francs.Yeah it is real expensive , a roll of Stihl full chisel chain 3/8 x .063 is $570au locally now , I will be getting my next roll of chain , a roll of semi chisel , from Baileys a site sponsor next time , heaps cheaper. The shrinkage is an illusion , that photo was taken not long after I cut and loaded it , local forestry boys knocked it down with a bulldozer while clearing some pine trees , it was only down a few weeks when I got it , that photo is about twelve or more months old now , timber has a very low shrinkage , excellent timber to dry , has turned a dark chocolaty color now . I have included a shortcut to currency converter I use all the time and it is free to use . http://www.xe.com/ucc/ Regards Manfred
 
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For your amusement, here is my first go at making a cant hook.

IMG_7442.jpg

IMG_7443.jpg

IMG_7444.jpg



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 dumpster at work. As a result it is pretty heavy but as I said I did not want to under-engineer it.

Handle is cut from a piece of 2 x 4" piece of Western Australian karri, cut down to 2 x 3" and then tapered into rough shape on a Table Saw. Final shaping was with a HSS blade spokeshave and then a hand scraper - near the top the handle is just under 2" round. The shaping took a looong time, but made lots of shavings and dust, very theraputic even if karri is a PITA to work. Karri is a very high strength timber.

The most expensive material used was the $3 half can of spray paint, followed by $2 for the 1/2" tensile steel bolt and $1 for the karri. Don't ask me how long it took but I figure I was probably working for about $12 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!
 
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Nice one Bob.

Have you had a look to see how much you can buy one like that in Australia for?

Love to see a shot of it in action when you get to try it out.
 
Nice one Bob.

Have you had a look to see how much you can buy one like that in Australia for?

Love to see a shot of it in action when you get to try it out.

I've seen a 60" advertized for about AUS$190 on an Aussie website but I can't say I've seen anything quite this "chunky" anywhere so comparisons are hard to make.

Cheers
 
Top job Bob

Looks great , top job Bob and you have an advantage over us yours probably glows in the dark mate . :biggrinbounce2: :biggrinbounce2: :biggrinbounce2: Cheers MM
 
Looks great , top job Bob and you have an advantage over us yours probably glows in the dark mate . :biggrinbounce2: :biggrinbounce2: :biggrinbounce2: Cheers MM

That big hook worries me and for anything that does that I want to where it is relative to me. I usually paint all my dangerous stuff the same highly visible "volcano orange".
 
Great lookin' job there Bob! :clap:
(Wish we had something like that karri wood here, I'm getting tired of replacing hickory & ash handles, hm, maybe a chunk of oak will work better?)

:cheers:

Serge
 
Thanks Serge. Karri is very strong and when dry has the same weight for weight strength as steel but it is not really the best wood for a tool handle. If it gets beat about, it resists outright breakage extremely well but can split and the splinters generated are quite nasty so after a while it's definitely a handle to use only with gloves, or back to the workshop for a rubdown and recoat. I was going to give it 3/4 coats of epoxy but its sort of an experiment at this stage so I only oiled it. I used Karri because it was the strongest wood I could get a reasonable size piece of for small $$.
 
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YWC. Sounds like teak or mahogany (cedar for that matter) sliver-wise, all nasty infectious ones, have you thought about maybe doing a nice leather whipping on the upper part of the handle? That would take care of the splinters and also give a good grip. Still a sharp looking project mon!

:cheers:
 
YWC. Sounds like teak or mahogany (cedar for that matter) sliver-wise, all nasty infectious ones, have you thought about maybe doing a nice leather whipping on the upper part of the handle? That would take care of the splinters and also give a good grip. Still a sharp looking project mon!

:cheers:

ahhhhh, leather whipping . . . . . nice one . . . . I like the sound of that!

The handle probably needs an 1/8" taken off all round before putting the leather on as it is already a touch on the chunky side. I'll keep it mind maybe while I'm making the smaller one because I sense I will be using the smaller one a lot more that this big daddy.
 

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