From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
LB2007.1.72063
Lumbering, Men Cutting Down Trees, Horses. 458 The man in the foreground, as well as the man behind him are holding peaveys. The man on the left is holding an axe. The team at the rear are dragging tree trunks which have been cut and limbed. A peavey or peavey hook is a logging tool consisting of a handle, generally from 30 to 50 inches long, with a metal spike protruding from 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 location. Once engaged, the handle gives the operator leverage to roll or slide or float the log to a new position. The peavey was named for blacksmith Joseph Peavey of Upper Stillwater, Maine, who invented the tool as a refinement to the cant hook (also known as a "cant dog") in the 1850s. Many lumberjacks use the terms interchangeably, though a peavey will have a spike in the end of the handle, and a cant dog will have a blunt end or possibly small teeth for friction. The Peavey Manufacturing Co. is still located in Eddington, Maine and manufactures several variations.
