A canthook or cant dog is a traditional logging tool consisting of a wooden lever handle with a movable metal hook called a dog at one end, used for handling and turning logs and cants, especially in sawmills. A peavey or peavey hook is similar, but has a spike in the end of the handle, whereas a cant dog has a blunt end or possibly small teeth for friction. A peavey is generally from long, with a metal spike at the end. The spike is rammed into a log, then a hook grabs the log at a second place. Once engaged, the handle gives the operator leverage to roll or slide or float the log to a new place. The peavey was named for blacksmith Joseph Peavey of Upper Stillwater, Maine, who invented the tool as a refinement to the cant hook in the 1850s. Many lumberjacks use the terms interchangeably. The Peavey Manufacturing Co. is still in Eddington, Maine and manufactures several variations. From early times to about 1910 the peavey is written about with various spellings such as "pevy" and "pivie".
Description
A logging tool description from the Lumberman's Museum at Patten, Maine, reads in part: "A cant dog or cant hook was used for lifting, turning, and prying logs when loading sleds and on the drive. At first, a swivel hook on a pole with nothing to hold it in position was used. This was called a swing dingle." However, the term swing dingle is more often published as being a type of logging sled. These early types are also called a ring dog or ring dog cant hook. In 1858, Joseph Peavey, a blacksmith in Stillwater, Maine, made a rigid clasp to encircle the cant dog handle with the hook on one side. It moved up and down, but not sideways. All loggers have used it ever since." While this tool has its origins in the logging industry, many arborists, tree care professionals, land owners and portable sawmill operators now use cant hooks for moving logs and timber.
Gallery
File:Waldarbeit 1040984.jpg| A German type of ring dog cant hook File:Waldarbeit 1040993.jpg| German type in use Image:Cant Hook.jpg File:Photograph of a Load of White Pine Logs on a Sled - NARA - 2127491.jpg|Logs loaded with cant hooks which three of the men are holding. File:Seattle - Man with crosscut saw and peavey at Northeast Relief Depot, 1931.jpg|Man holding a crosscut saw and a peavey. File:Peavey.png| A peavey is a cant hook with a point.
