# Home Made Hookaroon......



## Shmudda (Feb 11, 2012)

I was looking at a Hookaroon for the last few weeks to purchase and could not get over the cost of these things.  I ended up building one for about $12.00 with pipe and fittings I had laying around the shop.

The body is a piece of 1" schedule 40 pipe x 36" long.  On the back end of the pipe I put a cap so my hand doesn't slide off when swinging and pulling on the thing, and on the attached pictures you can see the head end.  The only thing special on this head end is you must use a 5" long grade 8 bolt, and it will most likely need to be threaded down the shank to about within 1 1/2" or so of the head.  I needed to do this so the nuts would tighten down on the coupling.   I tried a grade 2 carriage bolt the first time around and it failed miserably!  

It works very well for dragging and moving splits and full rounds around, sometimes to well as the tip doesn't want to come out of the wood at times!

Craig


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## CTYank (Feb 11, 2012)

Shmudda said:
			
		

> I was looking at a Hookaroon for the last few weeks to purchase and could not get over the cost of these things.  I ended up building one for about $12.00 with pipe and fittings I had laying around the shop.
> 
> The body is a piece of 1" schedule 40 pipe x 36" long.  On the back end of the pipe I put a cap so my hand doesn't slide off when swinging and pulling on the thing, and on the attached pictures you can see the head end.  The only thing special on this head end is you must use a 5" long grade 8 bolt, and it will most likely need to be threaded down the shank to about within 1 1/2" or so of the head.  I needed to do this so the nuts would tighten down on the coupling.   I tried a grade 2 carriage bolt the first time around and it failed miserably!
> 
> ...



Long term, I'd be suspicious about where the pipe is threaded into the coupling. Good spot for a bead of weld.


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## Flatbedford (Feb 11, 2012)

Looks like an effective weapon. I prefer a wood handle.


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## bogydave (Feb 12, 2012)

Shmudda said:
			
		

> I was looking at a Hookaroon for the last few weeks to purchase and could not get over the cost of these things.  I ended up building one for about $12.00 with pipe and fittings I had laying around the shop.
> 
> The body is a piece of 1" schedule 40 pipe x 36" long.  On the back end of the pipe I put a cap so my hand doesn't slide off when swinging and pulling on the thing, and on the attached pictures you can see the head end.  The only thing special on this head end is you must use a 5" long grade 8 bolt, and it will most likely need to be threaded down the shank to about within 1 1/2" or so of the head.  I needed to do this so the nuts would tighten down on the coupling.   I tried a grade 2 carriage bolt the first time around and it failed miserably!
> 
> ...



Good idea.
On my "to do list" to be ready for this wood cutting season.
A wooden handle should be an easy install in the fitting but an aluminum pipe handle may be a perfect match.


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## backpack09 (Feb 13, 2012)

I would temper the bolt.  Grinding it like that probably took away most of the "grade 8" strength that it had.


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## Axe140 (Feb 13, 2012)

That looks like a handy tool. That should work for many year to come plus it has a replaceable tip if you break it. The best part is you made it yourself a job well done.

I made one out of an old axe. It had a longer tip but it broke off. I just reshaped it a bit and it works great for moving wood.


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## JustWood (Feb 13, 2012)

Nice engineering/fabricating and great to see people think outside the box !


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## Ken45 (Feb 14, 2012)

Well I went the cheap route and it's been a big help!






Made out of an old horseshoe and a scrap piece of 1x2.  

Axe140, that's a good idea too.  I think I have an old fireaxe around here somewhere, maybe I can adopt it like yours.

Ken


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## bogydave (Feb 14, 2012)

Ken45 said:
			
		

> Well I went the cheap route and it's been a big help!
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Another good idea  !!
Left some of the "U" in the shoe too. 
Don't want to let all the luck out


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## Waterbug (Feb 14, 2012)

bogydave said:
			
		

> Ken45 said:
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Yeah !!  But what good is a barefoot horse ?


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## mliiiwit (Feb 14, 2012)

Backpack09 said:
			
		

> I would temper the bolt.  Grinding it like that probably took away most of the "grade 8" strength that it had.



Why?  It's holding up as is, and what is the risk if it fails?  Not like it's the "jesus bolt" on a helicopter.  Temper deterioration is indeed probably why the grade 2 carriage bolt failed miserably.  But, either he kept the grinding-induced heat low enough on the grade 8 or it took the same amount of grinding heat without excessively degrading the temper for the needs of the application.  I believe the more likely failure will be in the PVC handle.  I personally would choose aluminum tubing for the handle.  But, being in the "air capitol of the world" I probably have more ready access to cheap surplus aluminum tubing than do most other "Hearthers".  KISS and work with the materials at hand.


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## mliiiwit (Feb 14, 2012)

Shmudda said:
			
		

> I was looking at a Hookaroon for the last few weeks to purchase and could not get over the cost of these things.  I ended up building one for about $12.00 with pipe and fittings I had laying around the shop.
> 
> The body is a piece of 1" schedule 40 pipe x 36" long.  On the back end of the pipe I put a cap so my hand doesn't slide off when swinging and pulling on the thing, and on the attached pictures you can see the head end.  The only thing special on this head end is you must use a 5" long grade 8 bolt, and it will most likely need to be threaded down the shank to about within 1 1/2" or so of the head.  I needed to do this so the nuts would tighten down on the coupling.   I tried a grade 2 carriage bolt the first time around and it failed miserably!
> 
> ...



Great idea Shmudda!  Thanks for sharing!


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## Ken45 (Feb 14, 2012)

Just a comment on the different designs.  Craig's looks like it will penetrate and dig in a lot better than my horseshoe design but mine is lightweight and is very good for hooking _behind_ the round and pulling it toward me.  Since it's lightweight, it can work very fast.  It also works very well for rolling big rounds over to the splitter.   

Probably need one of each design 

Ken


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## oldspark (Feb 14, 2012)

"I believe the more likely failure will be in the PVC handle"
 What did I miss, where is the PVC handle?


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## kettensÃ¤ge (Feb 14, 2012)

I thought about making on out of an old pick that I have. I would like to have a longer handle on it vs. the standard pick handle.


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## Jags (Feb 14, 2012)

oldspark said:
			
		

> What did I miss, where is the PVC handle?



YOU didn't miss anything sparky.


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## billb3 (Feb 15, 2012)

I read that as hookah room.


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## mliiiwit (Feb 15, 2012)

oldspark said:
			
		

> "I believe the more likely failure will be in the PVC handle"
> What did I miss, where is the PVC handle?



My bad.  My brain inserted "PVC" right after "schedule 40".  Darned brain.


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## PapaDave (Feb 15, 2012)

billb3 said:
			
		

> I read that as hookah room.


Chuckle of the day.
Which would have taken WAAAY too long to build while smoking from a hookah. :coolsmile:


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## bogydave (Feb 15, 2012)

Made one tonight
3/4" EMT conduit.  Heated & drove a 4" 1/2 sched 40 galvanized nipple inside the EMT
Drilled 11/32 hole, threaded 3/8" X15.
Cut head off a bolt, shaped the bolt with a hack saw mostly so not to get to hot.
Tape on the EMT for a handle 
Thanks for the idea  Shmudda 
Need some Flo-orange paint


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## oldspark (Feb 15, 2012)

roundoak16 said:
			
		

> oldspark said:
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 Mine gets in the way all the time.


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## Shmudda (Feb 16, 2012)

I had made one before from an old Chopper Axe.  This thing is worth more than the Chopper ever was

Craig


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## Kenster (Feb 17, 2012)

Ken45 said:
			
		

> Well I went the cheap route and it's been a big help!
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I like this.  My first thought, though, would be to use two cut down horseshoes, bolted on parallel to each other on the handle.  (one on each side of the head of the handle) so you'd have two points digging in and would avoid the torque you might get from pulling unevenly with the shoe mounted only on one side.  You could use the same bolts to hold both shoes on.


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## Ken45 (Feb 17, 2012)

Kenster said:
			
		

> I like this.  My first thought, though, would be to use two cut down horseshoes, bolted on parallel to each other on the handle.  (one on each side of the head of the handle) so you'd have two points digging in and would avoid the torque you might get from pulling unevenly with the shoe mounted only on one side.  You could use the same bolts to hold both shoes on.



I haven't noticed the unbalance being an issue at all.   

Note, the shape of the point doesn't dig in very well like the sharper pointed ones would   (hookaroon vs. pickaroon?)  Doubling the points might make it even harder to penetrate although the additional weight might help somewhat.  

This design works very well for getting behind something and pulling it (hooking it) rather than sinking the point in deep.  Of course, the point could be made sharper if that's what you need.

This was my first attempt and it's worked well for me.   OTOH if I were trying to grab bigger pieces to pull out of a pickup bed, I would probably go for something with a sharper spike.   These are cheap enough to make several variations if you want 

Ken


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## Kenster (Feb 17, 2012)

Ken45 said:
			
		

> Kenster said:
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Not being critical of your design at all.  Looks like an easy and expensive alternative to a tool that can cost some big bucks.  "Cheap" is part of my code as a scrounger.   I did just have another thought, though.   You could mount another half horseshoe pointing the opposite direction that you could make longer and with a sharp spike or however you wanted to configure it.  Then you'd have two tools in One!


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## Ken45 (Feb 17, 2012)

Kenster said:
			
		

> I did just have another thought, though.   You could mount another half horseshoe pointing the opposite direction that you could make longer and with a sharp spike or however you wanted to configure it.  Then you'd have two tools in One!



That's a good idea!     However, I cut the extra length off of the bolts, I would have to use two new bolts and double the expensive!  There goes "cheap".  LOL

Ken


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## Cluttermagnet (Nov 14, 2012)

I couldn't resist trying my own home made hookeroon. Just finished this one. I have not had it outside yet. Will try it later and see if it's going to do the job or not.

The weak links are the galvanized 16D common nail I used, may be a little light and easy to re-bend. Also, the 32in wood handle is recycled- it used to have a 10lb sledge hammer head on it but it broke off from rough or careless use by its previous owner. It's no doubt Hickory. Anyway, the replacement handle for the hammer head was Hickory.

There was a little splitting in the head area. I sawed it slightly shorter and cleaned it up with a file and coarse sandpaper. Intentionally under-drilled the hole for the nail so that it was a tight fit to drive the nail in. I cleaned up some rough spots in the galvanize coating with a file and used bar soap as a lubricant.

The wire overwrap was inspired by traditional corn broom construction. 14 gage copper wire anchored in small holes at the beginning and end of each winding (4x holes). That's a soft solder treatment of the wires. I just used electronics 60/40 tin/lead solder I had around here to encourage it to all hold together. BTW you need a really big, heavy duty iron to get enough heat for soldering this size of work piece. I have a big old 100W iron that's up to the job. The smaller Weller 8200 dual heat gun wouldn't have a prayer of heating something this big. I imagine I will coat the whole thing in epoxy later to really toughen it up. If the nail bends too easily, I'll step it up to perhaps a 3/16in or 1/4in hardened bolt for the point.

Will let you all know how it works out.


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## Cluttermagnet (Nov 14, 2012)

Well, it 'works' but the nail is a bit too soft as expected. Still this is a useful tool and I'm getting good use out of it already. I'll get some type 8 bolts and try to get a point on one without destroying the heat treating.


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## Flatbedford (Nov 14, 2012)

I had a feeling the nail wouldn't hold up. I use my Peavey brand hookaroon to lift small logs. I strong hook makes the tool much more versatile.


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## Jon_E (Apr 27, 2015)

I have a couple old axe heads laying around.  If I were to use an axe head, how would I cut or grind away the parts of the head that I don't want?  I'd want to keep only a small portion plus the hook section, which by weight would only be about a third or quarter of the weight of the axe head.  How do you cut an axe head?

If I knew someone with a water jet, this wouldn't be a question.   Would plasma work or would it destroy the head?


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## mudbug250 (Apr 27, 2015)

I made one out of an old hatchet head. Only cost was the hickory axe handle I paired with it. Just used a hack saw and grinder to get the shape I wanted. Then sanded it down and polished a little. It came in handy today man handling some huge rounds. I'll see if I can get some pictures posted.


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## mudbug250 (Apr 27, 2015)




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## mudbug250 (Apr 27, 2015)




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## mudbug250 (Apr 27, 2015)

At first I didn't put the hook on the end. It would sink in a split nice, but if I tried to pick up the split, it would fall off. So I went back and put a little hook at the end. Works great now. The lite hook made a huge difference. It's hard to get the wood off if it now.


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