Hook of some sort?

[R.Smith]

Hmmmm.  Some say this is part of a logging cant but I can't see that...  at least for now.

[gibsontool]

I can see that being part of a cant hook. Google "cant hook" to see what I mean.

[mikeswrenches]

A friend of mine has one hanging on the porch of his rv Park Office. It is a kind of 'do it yourself’ cant  hook. Instead of carrying a big long cant  hook, you took this and cut your own pole that would fit through the loop and you had a cant hook. Certainly not as fancy as the 'store bought' ones, but good enough if you only had a few logs to move around.

Mike

[wvtools]

A few years ago I bought a bunch of hooks at one of Donnelly auctions from one of the largest logging tool collections in the US.  Those type are generally called swamp hooks.  I have been told that they were used to put under a log to give you something to pull against, but they may have had another use.  There were a lot of those in the collection. 

There is a similar one called a J hook that had a ring and hook on it.  I cannot remember the exact configuration of those.  Those were used to pull logs down mountains.  If the log slid down faster than the horse or mule pulling it, the hook would undo from the chain, so that the horse was not pulled down the mountain to its death.

[jdjax]

I have seen old pics of hooks like yours being called end hooks, there are two hooks used with a length chain longer than the log being lifted.  The hooks would be set with one in each end of the log.