lever with an adjustable hook and having a blunt end instead of a spike. Used for handling and rolling logs (contrast with peavey).

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
cant hook (noun)
a lumberman's lever that has a pivoting hooked arm and a blunt often toothed metal cap at one end - compare peavey
cant hook (Wikipedia)
Baileys-online cant hook.jpg

A cant hook or pike or a hooked pike 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 working end of the handle, whereas a cant dog has a blunt end or possibly small teeth for friction. Many lumberjacks use the terms interchangeably.

A log driver using a peavey

A peavey is generally from 30 to 50 inches (0.76 to 1.27 metres) long, with a metal spike at the end. The spike is rammed into a log, then a hook (at the end of an arm attached to a pivot a short distance up the handle) 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 (one statement says in the spring of 1857).[citation needed] The Peavey Manufacturing Co. is still located in Eddington, Maine, and manufactures several variations. From early times to about 1910, the peavey was written about with various spellings such as "pevy" and "pivie".

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