Fiskars 28" Hookaroon Saves Your Back - Lift, Drag, & Load Heavy Rounds of Firewood and Split Wood - Sharp and Lightweight Pick Tool for Logs - Pickaroon Logging Tool - Forestry Tools

The is one of the favorite things I've ever purchased. It's an absolute must have tool when cutting and moving logs around. It makes it easy (and hands free) to lift, drag, and stand logs on their ends. There is almost no weight to it at all but still solid and durable and it feels really good in the hand. Well designed product.

So I bought this on a whim doubting I'd need it, now it's my goto when bucking wood. I'm 6'2 and this is worth it's weight in gold for moving logs, manipulating huge logs, stacking etc!! Works perfectly in soft/wet or "lighter" wood. In really dry or dense wood it takes a little more effort to get it to penetrate and "hook" enough. I'm going to sharpen the hook a bit and see if that helps. The long fiberglass handle is perfect for my height while keeping it super light!

I bought three different hookaroonsMade by Council Tool (USA) 44$Made by Fiskar (Finland) 42$Made by Ochsenkopf (aka OX Head) (Germany) 66$The first one I got was the Council tool. It comes as an unfinished wood handle with red powder coated head. I didn’t like the color so I wire brushed off the paint and oiled the handle. Of the three, I think doing this gave it the best allure. It is the most dull of the three, but has a lot of material so it can be sharpened.Second I got the Fiskars. It is extremely lightweight because it is hollow. It is made from a strong plastic so weatherproof with a good handle that won't slip. This one is the sharpest of the three, but also seems to be the most fragile.Last I got the Ox Head. It is kind of like a hybrid of the other two. It is middle sized, sharper than the Council Tool but not as sharp as the Fiskars. Lacquer wood finish with a yellow painted head and handle.Honestly, at first I was not impressed with the Council Tool due to it being dull. I had a hard time getting it to bite small dry branch size cuts. It has really grown on me though. I thought I would like the Ox head the most because it was durable yet still able to stick into the wood. After taking all three up to the mountains I learned they all work really well, but for very different tasks. The Council Tool is excellent at dragging the biggest and heaviest logs. You can get a good full swing into the wood and it does stick just fine. Its having the longest handle makes pulling easiest. I do think it is only good for dragging wood though, not lifting. The Fiskars is the opposite. I couldn't get it to drag anything, plus it is way too short so I would have to hunch over to drag, which defeats the purpose of a hookaroon anyway. On the other hand, the Fiskars is the best for lifting wood above your waist due to its light weight and sharpness. So when I am trying to load rounds into the back of the truck or stack splits, the light weight of the Fiskars is perfect. The Ox Head is a good all around. I think it is kind of ugly at first, but I am sure I can sand the paint and finish off everything and oil it like I did the Council tool. It does seem sturdy. It is capable of both dragging logs around almost as well as the Council tool and it also can stick into rounds and splits well too (while being a little heavier than Fiskars). Im glad I bought all three to figure out the differences. All serve a specific purpose and all come from countries with reputations for producing high quality products.

I've only had this hookaroon for a week but have already formed an opinion that it is a great help to saving my back while retrieving firewood logs for my stove. I no longer have to stoop over 20-30 times a day while transferring firewood from my woodshed to the Otter sled and then from the Otter to my wood bin in the house. It will definitely get used in the woods, also, while chain sawing firewood. As anyone who burns wood in a fireplace knows, each piece of firewood gets handled 5 or 6 times before it gets burned. I go through 15 - 20 18" logs of various diameters each day so those pieces represent between 75 - 120 times (5x15 all the way to 6x20) picking up pieces. I plan on getting a LOT of use out of this tool.That being said... it is only the 2nd hookaroon that I've ever used so my "experience" is not "in-depth". I bought a different brand, heavier unit several weeks ago that would just not hold onto the log long enough to get it from here to there before falling off. It actually caused more work than by just grabbing the log by hand. I sent it back for a refund. I hesitated buying another hookaroon but after watching reviews on YouTube I took the chance and am VERY GLAD that I did. Fiskars tools have always been of top quality and this little tool is no different. It's so light and so well designed that I never get tired from swinging it and stabbing the log (either in the log's end on anywhere in the side). The tool is easily removed once it has transferred the log to it's new resting point. On YouTube I watched reviewers of other brands have sooo much trouble getting the hookaroon to release the log that I wondered if those were actually more trouble than they were saving, also. Then I saw a reviewer use the Fiskars and his only "beef" was that it was so light! I wondered why he thought that was a 'con' instead of a 'pro' because after using it instead of the one that I sent back I KNOW that the lightness is a definite 'pro'.One more thing... I may eventually buy a longer handled (26"-28") hookaroon for those rare times that I have logs that are just out of reach for my little Fiskars. It may not get used much but I'm in my mid-70s and bending over while reaching to pick up 40-70 lb. logs is not my cup of tea anymore. This little one, however, will probably always be my 'go-to' logging tool.