Fiskars12" Hookaroon - Non-Slip Grip Handle with Pointed, Angled Blade - Landscaping Tool for Rotating, Dragging, Stacking Logs - Black/Orange

Why did you pick this product vs others?:Light but very sturdy tool. Works really well for easing back strain. I also live an area with a lot of copperheads so this tool really makes it handy to pick up logs and wood debris without putting hands in possible strike zones.

Lightweight, sharp, helpful when picking up wood chunks from end grain. Once you use it a few times, you learn how to spike more accurately and how to pull it back out of a wood chunk sooner. I use it to load smaller rounds or pieces of larger rounds into my Gorilla cart to take where I do my final firewood splitting. Saves some time and eases bending over to pick up chunks!

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.

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!

Good:- Performance: really good on CURED or DRY hard and soft wood.- As all others say.......its light. Thats good and bad- Tough. I have not tried to destroy it and paid attention to resist applying torsion or twisting to the " blade" when the point is buried into the endgrain of a large round. But have dragged, maneuvered, many large roumds (100lbs +/- ) now and it is still solid.- Handle: Grip/texture is pretty good and to me the swell/hook/flair at the end works well when needed.- Warranties. Fiskars has among the best in the business.Not so good:- This thing STINKS on green hardwoods! Especially with the factory point geometry, only thing it did well here is burying into heavy rounds for lifting or dragging.It bounces off of splits on face and endgrain strikes unless the split is larger and heavy, and then you have to whale on it to get it to set. If you do allot of green hard wood processing.....get something with more mass, a finer point, or be prepared to modify the point geometry on this tool as i did.- Hand shock: the light weight, hollow handle, combined with the necessity to swing it hard on green hardwood, i do experience some hand shock. Staying off of the end of the handle, choking up a bit and wearing good gloves apropriate for wood processing mitigates most of this though.All said......with some light file work to tune the point for more effective use in green hardwood and to make it more tolerable of less than perfect swing/form when setting the point......I would definately recommend this tool as a general use "sappie".Just be aware of its inherent characteristics and i think most people will not be disappointed.

After 50 years of man-handling logs and wood chunks by hand, I saw a video of a fellow using a pickaroon. It seem like it was worth a try. After reading reviews and a bit of research, I decided on the Fiskars. Man, am I glad I did. This thing seems almost weightless and the design is as close to flawless as I can imagine. It's sharp light and just works. No more bending over and lifting, I just stick it in a log or firewood size chunk and drag it into place. If you think a tool like this would be in any way helpful to you, I would suggest you buy one as I don't think you will be disappointed. It's a great tool.