One-handed hoisting?

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bluedogz

bluedogz

Minister of Fire
Oct 9, 2011
1,245
NE Maryland
The crowd here has been so helpful with solutions I figured I'd pick your brains for one more...

As some of you know, I'm missing my right arm at the elbow. Yes, I was left-haded to begin with.

Anyway, picking up rounds off the ground is kinda a pain in the &%! Small ones I can roll into my left palm and kind of scoop up, and even smaller ones I can sort of "palm", but two-handers are a challenge.

I'm not talking about juggling them, I am talking about getting them from the ground into a stack, if necessary, or off the ground into the splitter. Right now, best way seems to be to us a retractable tiedown from my motorcycling days to wrap a strap around each round, then cinch it up and use the 'tail' as a handle. This is helpful, but doesn't address the big 'uns.

Any ideas, anyone?
 
Tongs. Go to baileys.com look up liftings,log tongs. Hope you can find somethings aols ice tongs may work.
 
For the splitter, splitting vertically would be a whole lot easier for you. If you splitter only works horizontally, I'd consider selling and buying a new one. There are deals to be had.

As for lifting splits, how about something like this? Load one handed, carry one handed.

firewood-tote.jpeg


(you must get asked if you are left handed a lot :) )

pen
 
Tongs AND build a simple plywood ramp up to the splitter. Good gloves with rubber/latex/Nitrile palms could be helpful, too.

Edit: Was posting at the same time as Pen. Definitely agree about splitting vertically.
 
P.S. My great grandpa had only his left hand (but had more of his rt arm than you). Coolest two things I remember him doing were hammering one handed and tying fishing line. I've tried to set a nail and hammer it like he did, but just never have mastered it. Just kinda held the nail between his index and middle finger with the hammer head in his palm, then WHACK it was set. Then flipped the hammer so he had the handle, gave the nail a couple more whacks and he was onto the next nail.
 
An idea that may be helpfull would be to place a 6' or 8' ladder from the ground to the top of your stack or splitter cradel. I used this method for heavy rounds I could not pick up onto my splitter, we then invested in a retrofit to the splitter. See the attached picture of our hydraulic log lift retro to a horizontial/vertical splitter, vertical splitting to me is a pain in the keester.
 

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You would benefit greatly from a pickeroon/ hookeroon.

Also, either log tongs or a pulp hook.

Hats off to you for not letting it stop your work!
 
I am left handed also, & I use a pulp hook for the bigger pieces now and kinda sling them up. For carrying split pieces in, look for an old well built newspaper carrying bag, with a shoulder sling.
 
Conveyor maybe with short sides to keep the round from jumping off the sides?
 

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Danno77 said:
Just kinda held the nail between his index and middle finger with the hammer head in his palm, then WHACK it was set. Then flipped the hammer so he had the handle, gave the nail a couple more whacks and he was onto the next nail.
Click to expand...

This is how I set nails now; also have a magnetic framing hammer with a groove to hold a 10d-16d nail straight so you can just whack it into place.

The ice tongs were my first idea, but I could only find them in "antique" listings on Ebay. Bailey's seems to be just the place.
 
How about a Dolly? From the woods and then a ramp to the trailer or truck bed? No lifting.

Roll those rounds off the truck and trailer to the splitter.
 
pen said:
For the splitter, splitting vertically would be a whole lot easier for you. If you splitter only works horizontally, I'd consider selling and buying a new one. There are deals to be had.

As for lifting splits, how about something like this? Load one handed, carry one handed.

firewood-tote.jpeg


(you must get asked if you are left handed a lot :) )

pen
Click to expand...

Excellent idea... still a budget issue. I managed to squeak out the $300 for a little electric splitter, working on more.

Lifting splits is less of a concern because, well, they're smaller. Usually I can toss them from the splitter into the garden trailer without much trouble. The fireplace tote is excellent, and the Mrs. loves it for toting wood into the house.

Yes, I get asked a lot if I'm left-handed. My revenge is going into stores likes TSC and asking for discounts on gloves.
 
wood dope said:
I use a pulp hook,, works great... kinda like feel like captain hook using it %-P
Click to expand...

I'm a hooker too. :) ;)

I mean to say that I often use my pulp hook . . . for moving the large ones . . . and I often take a whack at the smaller ones and drive the hook into the wood enough to pick up the wood with the pulp hook . . . guess I'm just too lazy to lean over any more than I have to. ;)
 
I've looked at all those tools on Bailey's before. The tongs, I can understand, but I can't quite picture what you do with the other things like the Pulp Hook, or Lifting pick. (pickeroon? hookeroon? Anyone have any pictures or videos showing someone using these tools?

I've often thought it would be handy to have a heavy pipe suspended by a short piece of chain from the end of my tractor's boom pole, and from each end of the pipe have a wood tong. I think this would be a great way to bring in logs from the woods.
 
How about the Firewood Gripper:



 
Shari said:
How about the Firewood Gripper:



Click to expand...


Bailey's has these too... anyone ever use one? It looks suspiciously like a rubber bungee cord with sharp ends.
 
SolarAndWood said:
Conveyor maybe with short sides to keep the round from jumping off the sides?
Click to expand...

at first I thought that was a giant loaf/slice of bread on the back of the truck.
 
bluedogz said:
Shari said:
How about the Firewood Gripper:



Click to expand...


Bailey's has these too... anyone ever use one? It looks suspiciously like a rubber bungee cord with sharp ends.
Click to expand...


Nah. I don't think any bungee cord would up to this task. This has got to be much more solid than a big rubber band.
 
BD,

Here's a slightly different brand:




 
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