I need to get a log jack. Use will be to raise moderate sized logs to cut into firewood. Tired of trying lift and prop the log up to keep the chain out of the dirt.

Recomendations?

Peive and a piece of wood

Find an old Sotz lifter...... Kinda like a Peavy with a raised foot on it

Like this- - - - -longest possible handle- - - -leverage is your back's friend.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/404723534768?

Buy two and rock the log back and forth as you cut.

All that jackin' and jivin'.....

Its quicker and easier to cut most of the way through the entire length of the log and then roll the log over to finish the cuts. A simple cant hook for that. I made mine. Forged in fire.

I picked up a Woodchuck DualPro a couple years ago. It's been a very good piece of kit for me.

https://woodchucktool.com/dualpro

Very cool!

Yes it is!

Following. Also need a log jack.

Here are my 2 cant hooks. [Cant is an old English word for a big piece of timber.] The one on the left is five feet long, I made the handle from a dogwood tree. Dogwood is great for tool handles.
It came with a twelve inch steel post which was bolted in to the base, and you could raise the log a foot before you cut it up. It worked OK, but after several years I found it got in the way more so than it was useful, so I removed it.

I cut up a lot of firewood.

Feral American that is some nice work. What kind of wood is the handle, ash?
I have a big chisel, and a slick that I had blacksmiths make for me, those are beautiful tools, have done a lot of work with them building log cabins. Y'all blacksmiths are magicians of the fire and the hot iron.

Here is a discussion among the wood stove gear heads over on hearth.com
Four or five guys did just what I did, the little "jack stand" just got in the way, and they just removed it. But they wouldn't go into the woods without their cant hook.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/timberjack-or-cant-hook.82664/

Simonkenton

So with those tools you just cut the log most if the way through, roll it, and cut the rest of it?

What about the log pushing together and pinching the blade and bar? That was why I thought raising it would be a plus.

Peavy's and log jacks are the answer, but for smaller logs a couple of saw bucks can't be beat. Kind of a sawhorse but X shaped instead of A shaped.

Sometimes a log gets mud all over it after you skid it, so what I do is fall the tree, buck all my lengths, but only 1/2-3/4 of the way through, keeping enough wood holding so it doesn't break upon skidding.

After I skid it out it will often be clean where I need to cut the rest of the log into sections, or at least the entire log isn't covered in dirt.

This works best on a 12in or larger log and I do it all the time, saves me alot of filing.

I like the idea of a log jack, great idea!

Good post. Will be getting one for smaller stuff

Folding saw bucks are handy but bolts are easy to hit unless well designed, just put together with screws are easy to build and less risk to blade.
I like the height where the saw is at a comfortable level to run.

It is an advantage to have the log raised off the ground. Go ahead and buy the timberjack device and see how you like it. If it doesn't do you right you can always get a cant hook.

I have a cant hook it was my Great Great Grandfathers from the early 1800's it has been used to roll 100'000's of logs over the centuries and decades and I still use it today....it was given to me by my Grandfather to use....never go to cut wood and not have it....still cut wood on the same family farm.....
Have one that I built in the early 1980's out of all aluminum with a leg to get the log off the ground to cut and a handle that can be adjusted from 4' to 7' long to give leverage for a heavy piece of wood....

When I quit cutting fire wood to heat the house they will be passed on the the next generation if any of them even burn wood.....

like lots of things, its horses for courses.

The cant hook is fine to lift up the end of the log when the log is not very big, say up to about 14" or so and you are on solid ground, then rotate it onto the foot thereby lifting it up. On soggy ground it is less helpful, because the feet (or foot) will just sink in the ground.

The "cut part way, then turn the log" method works great if you can keep the chain out of the dirt. Anyway its about the only option when the log is too big to move with the cant. The cant hook also helps here to turn the log, not raise it, although the cant's feet dont come into play. Some logs are to big for the cant hook to bite so you may need to have a plan B, like another log on a fulcrum that you can lever underneath the log you are trying to cut. Or a tractor with a bucket. On the more manageable straight logs, I'll just roll them with my boot.

The sawbuck is good for smaller logs: the ones where you prefer to avoid the thrill of breaking your back to lift them onto the thing. I like them for team cutting thinner diameter roundwood, where the helper feverishly loads logs onto the sawbuck as you wack them to the preferred length.

Bottom line, the cant hook always gets brought along for any project that involves greater than about a 6" diameter log. It may stay in the truck, but its there. Very useful tool.

Don't remember where I got my cant which is of the wood handle type, but have seen solid looking Stihl cant hooks in more than one Ace hardware.

The small cant hook made by Woodmiser is the bomb. It is short, light,, works great. It is the the most useful tool that I have around my sawmill.

For cutting up the small stuff, I just made a makeshift sawbuck by notching a larger round, and resting the piece I'm cutting in that. Couple pics,





Before I started using the log jack, doing the cut-roll-cut on the larger stuff. You can see my 'sawbuck' in the first pic here,





This one still on the runners. Be sure the logpile is stable if you do this, you don't want things rolling down on you working too close to the pile.

I have the Timberjack log lifter.

https://woodchucktool.com/timberjack

I like the ‘ cut almost all the way through’ then turn log over and finsh. If I cant turn the log over, I cut down 6’ -10. ‘ make a through cut with a second saw if theres a chance in hitting ground.
I like having a second saw for that reason , keeping the main saw sharp. Also for cutting out pinched bars , etc.
I have left a few pinched bars out in the woods , retrieving at a later time !!

A beautiful sight. A 20 inch diameter fresh, green white oak trunk. Premium firewood.

My Stihl, a cant hook and the Fiskars.

I saw half way into the log, then roll it 180 degrees and complete the cut. Would this Big Boy be hard to lift with a Timberjack?

I just use my backhoe with the trencher bucket or FEL with pallet fork attachment.

Or….just the log 70% through and roll it and cut the other remaining amount.

As to bar pinching: Take along two or three small plastic wedges and put into cut before it begins to collapse. Those don't damage one's chain if there's a hit.

I do the peavy, cut, and roll over method, but handle 30+ inch diameter wood in the forest.

Watch what ur doing and don’t hit dirt or rocks

Where is Stick?



Don't wanna act like him,
so I'll just say,
"Do what ya must."


It ain't that hard to cut most of the way through and roll them.
Rarely do you need a Peavy or cant hook, I've thought of having one along,
It's something rarely used, to move around as you load, stick in once your are loaded, or forget in the woods.




PS. Look the log over before you cut.
It's never flat on the ground from one end to another. If you are getting pinched,
that's proof. Slide a limb under it where you can. Now there are places to work with.

Sometimes a little tough to turn over by hand . Especially green oak !

Yeah that one would be biting off a little too much for me

Screw those big logs unless you bring a couple kids to split. Been there done that. Give me a lodge pole or tamarack stand any day.

I like loading my truck without wasting time driving and looking, the bigger the better .