No need to be peeved over the peavey! It’s from Maine!

I knew the answer to today’s DownEast.com trivia question because we had one or two of these tools around the garage while I was growing up. Um, of course, our peaveys were normal-sized, not giant-sized.
What is that strange-looking implement held by Bangor’s Paul Bunyan statue?

Answer:

It’s a peavey, a logging tool invented by Joseph Peavey of Stillwater in the 1850s.

Here’s a bit more about the peavey tool. This is from Wikipedia, so I won’t vouch for the accuracy, but it does seem correct.

A peavey or peavey hook is a logging tool consisting of a handle, generally from 30 to 50 inches long (0.75 to 1.25 m), with a metal spike protruding from the end. The spike is rammed into a log, then a hook (at the end of an arm attached to a pivot a short distance up the handle) grabs the log at a second location. Once engaged, the handle gives the operator leverage to roll or slide or float the log to a new position.

The peavey was named for blacksmith Joseph Peavey of Stillwater, Maine, who invented the tool as a refinement to the Cant Hook (also known as a cant dog) in the 1850s. Many lumberjacks use the terms interchangeably, though a peavey will have a spike in the end of the handle, and a cant dog will have a blunt end or possibly small teeth for friction.[1]

The Peavey Manufacturing Co. is still located in Maine and manufactures several variations.

The entry has a line drawing of a logger using the peavey so here’s a link to the entry.