Little rain this morning, decided against cutting wood. Found the tractor supply hatchet that I'd been missing. It's use has been negated by a better kindling splitter. A meat clever. Sorry, grew up using meat cleavers to split small boards into kindling and I'm just more attuned to using one than a hatchet. So I decided to sacrifice that poor hatchet to the whims of my fancy and power tools. My first stab (no pun intended,,,maybe) at making a small pickaroon. I left that funny birds mouth on the bottom as a fulcrum to aid levering it out of the wood. Preliminary tests says it works alright but needs improvement. I also put an edge on the top, once again to theoretically aid in removing the tool. I think I need to grind that edge flat as it also helps the round to cut itself free. The birds mouth seems to work well as intended, perhaps it can be cut deeper but you know the saying. Easier to remove than add back on. I take criticism well so have at it. There's some changes I think I would've made already and a thin hatchet may not be the best tool to start with. I'm toying with the idea of using one of those tiny cutoff whelks in the Dremel to create sirations on the flat of the blade for more grip. But hey it was raining and nothing good happens in the rain.
Hmmmmm. Good attempt! Will that short reach work well for you? What's the immediate condition for use, besides the obvious? Nice hand tool machining
Yes it's shorter than preferred. Personally I would think 18-24" would be best for my uses. My thought was to try it out on this shorty which I have no real need of anyway. I have another hatchet I use in the field and does double duty as a small pickaroon. It actually works pretty well if you sink the bottom half of the blade in. That's where I got the idea of mimicking the bottom curve. Now that I've used this one a bit I think the curve is a mistake. This one does ok to pick up small and medium rounds and splits. 14+" oak rounds it'll pick but sometimes you'll lose one. It's great for unloading the trailer where extra length can be a nuisance due to tight quarters but a little short for most uses.
I have found that various pick shapes and handle lengths on pickaroons (and pulp hooks) can all have their sweet spot. Sometimes one will come squirting out of a green piece of wood and be useless and then a year later when the piece is significantly drier it sticks with little effort. Meanwhile a different shaped head never has a problem with it when green. And as you point out a short one can shine in tight quarters where a long handled one couldn't even be swung.
Good info Paul. Yes I've noticed there will be a learning curve. On the mishmash of varying species I cut I've already noticed some woods react differently. Large oak rounds like the standard whack to the end grain along with large Sassafrass rounds. Get to the smaller Sassafrass rounds and they require a shot to the bark. Well seasoned small splits also like to be hoisted by the body as opposed to the end grain. Much probably has to do with the amount of splitting that occurs from the whack itself. Do you have a shape of preference over others?
I just got the aluminum logrite hookaroon. It is super light and works perfect. Weight comes into it when working all day.....
Looks nice, how does it perform picking up largish rounds from ground level? How does it work at releasing the wood? Can you just flip splits off or is there a little wrestling involved? Thnx
No specific preference on the points. The length would dictate what I reach for. The most preference I have is for pulp hooks over a short pickaroon and even over a long pickaroon sometimes.
