# whiffle tree



## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

What do you use for a whiffle tree for pulling logs? We always used a wooden round one, with a hook in the center, but I can't seem to find any irons anywhere to make one. Some people are building whiffletrees out of pipe, any idea where I can find plans to build a whiffle tree out of metal?


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## no1cowboy (May 2, 2004)

The pivoted horizontal crossbar to which the harness traces of a draft animal are attached and which is in turn attached to a vehicle or an implement. Also called _singletree_, _swingletree_; also called regionally _whippletree_.
just wrap a chain around the tree and hook up to the _whippletree!_


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## Barn Yarns (Oct 7, 2012)

I think i got my singletree from Sampson Harness in Gilbert, MN. got the hook with it too right away. the hook makes life easier for connecting the chain. Mine is wood. Pullers use metal doubletrees, so a metal single tree should easily be had. try the draft catalogs online.... maybe even ruralheritage.com

no1.... it can also be called a whiffletree. ive heard it called that back home.


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## malinda (May 12, 2002)

I've only ever heard it called a singletree around here. Anyway, I got mine from a local Amish harness shop.


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## no1cowboy (May 2, 2004)

heres one place http://showcase.netins.net/web/dearbornfarmservices/horse_drawn_equipment.htm


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## no1cowboy (May 2, 2004)

here is a Canadian one
http://www.albertacarriagesupply.net/store/products/24-neckyokes-doubletrees-and-hardware/


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

The freight's gonna bite you. If you end up welding one up out of pipe, do take the extra step of having the proper hooks on the ends. Did your harness come with the chains? The elongated links of chain at the end of the traces are the proper shape and size to use with those special hooks at the ends of the singletree/swingletree/whiffletree/whippletree.

A completed steel one from Aaron Martin costs $43.40 or $38.83, depending on whether you get one made from square or round stock.

You can get the complete assembly at Alberta Carriage Supply or Aaron Martin (in Ontario) or just get some of the parts to weld up your own.

Looks like Aaron Martin has just the hooks for $3.75 apiece.

If you can get a nice 2x4 by 30" of oak, you can make your own. End irons with hooks are $9.55 each. Then you want some kind of clevis to attach a ring, where you hook your load to the singletree.

Construction of harness and hitch equipment does vary by region. Here is the wood singletree that is most common where I live: 










Here's a pretty common design of steel singletree:










The kind of clevis irons that Aaron Martin stocks are different from what is shown on the wood singletree above. Not quite sure how they would go. I've got a wood one out in the barn that is constructed a little differently. I'll have a look at it tomorrow and see if it might be what Aaron Martin sells parts for.


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## CIW (Oct 2, 2007)

I think that there have been some misconceptions about what the difference is between a whiffle tree and a single tree are. 
The difference being the attachment in the center.
The singletree has a ring and is designed to be either permanently attached to something like a doubletree or using a mechanical attachment like a clevis. And can be adapted into functioning like a whiffletree.
A whiffletree has a hook in the center. I have seen them with both a grab or slip hook. The slip hooks are often used in the hayfield for attaching ropes to. While a grab hook seems to be used more often in the woods where chains are more prevalant. They are meant to be used independantly, not attached to a doubltree. 
What many folks forget is that a whiffle tree can be made for a single animal (The more common way) or it can be built to attach to a something like a doubletree to accomidate multiple animals. A singletree is made exclusively for permenant attachment to a doubletree unless you add something like a clevis to adapt it to another trailing implement.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

I would counter that I have usually seen whiffletree and whippletree used to denote the lightweight singletree found on a buggy or cart intended for a single animal, and seldom used to denote a singletree used to draw a piece of agricultural equipment, heavier vehicle or logs. In my experience, a pivoting tree that someone refers to as a "whiffletree" or "whippletree" will not generally be designed to be used with heel chains, but instead will have ends designed to be used with slotted leather traces.

Singletree and evener are the terms most commonly used in this region. The term evener is usually applied to the device used to hitch a team of two or more horses and combine their strength to draw a single implement, vehicle, etc. To even or equalize the strength of two or more horses. But it is also sometimes applied to the single-horse singletree.

Those four terms: singletree, whiffletree, whippletree and swingletree really vary in definition by region.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

So here's the nice stout wood logging singletree I have.

All the iron on it (with the exception of the bolt and nut that act as the clevis pin) was hand-forged - not by myself. It has some heel chain hooks that I can attach to the clevis at either end, but I find that when I'm working in the brush, I'll have a heel chain come off at the most inopportune moment. So I make the heel chain fast to the singletree with a clevis. This isn't the safest way to do things; and you have to have a horse that will STAND, even with gnats biting and a stick poking them in the stifle. I use this with my best horse for extracting the most difficult logs.

Note the construction of the center iron that attaches the grab hook to the stick of wood. It is essentially a large square clevis. There is a bolt that acts as the clevis pin. There is a piece of iron strap that keeps the clevis centered on the stick of wood. There is also a piece of iron strap between the bolt (clevis pin) and the stick of wood, to act as a wear iron. I believe this is the type of hardware that Aaron Martin stocks for their wooden singletrees.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

It is important to have a swivel somewhere in your works so that if the log rolls, it won't bind your chain or flip your singletree.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Here's one of my steel singletrees. I can attach this to an evener with a clevis and use it as a doubletree with a team, or take it off and use it singly in this manner.

This one also has clevises to make fast the heel chains. Note the swivel just ahead of the grab hook.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

And, finally, I hope that you won't hold it against me if I take this opportunity to make sure that you know the difference between a singletree and a neck yoke.

The top item is a pony-sized singletree with proper heel chain hooks at either end. The bottom item is a neck yoke for my draft team. Notice the _rings_ at either end of the stick of wood, rather than heel chain _hooks_. Do not use a neck yoke for a singletree! They are not designed for that kind of abuse. We had a little joke here a month or so ago about someone making-do by temporarily using a neck yoke as a singletree but in reality I have seen novices do that several times. That's just one of those things that happens when you're trying to figure things out on your own and using old equipment. They look similar enough in function, but don't purchase one thinking it's the other.


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## minister man (Jan 14, 2007)

Thanks for the info, I do know the difference between a neck yoke and a whiffle tree, but thanks for making sure. 

I am learning that growing up in Eastern Canada, and with work horses yarding, gardening, mowing, raking ect, we apparently call thing by different names than our American Neigbors! but I guess they all do the same thing. 

We always used tugs with hooks on them, and called the chains that hooked the tugs to the whiffle tree "heel chains" although you guys called those chains something different, and the chains attached permenantly to the traces heel chains. The type of whiffle tree that we used for yarding was a piece of yellow birch, about 34" long, round, and probably about 3 " in diameter. the heel chain ends were round and hammered on to the ends, and the hook had a round whole on it that the whiffle tree slides through, kind of like a pick handle. It is funny how we all speak English, but English can be so different over the miles. I never would have guessed how "tribal" we are :clap:


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Oh! I think I may know what kind of whiffletree you're talking about. Friend of mine has a couple, but I've never seen them for sale. He calls them "logging trees" because you just take the iron with you into the bush and then cut a stick when you get there. The stick just acts as a spacer for the irons, which are attached to one another. Let me find a picture. May take me a day or two.


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## Bret4207 (May 31, 2008)

That's what we call a "spreader" set up around here. I haven't seen one for sale new, ever. You could build one up out of stock rings and chain if you used a little heat to bend things into shape.

Google "I+J" or check Rural Heritage website for links to suppliers.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Yeah, I'm afraid the ones I've seen have all been home-built. Still looking for a picture. At least that way you've got something to work off or to hand to a smith to make one for you.


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## Bret4207 (May 31, 2008)

I think one of Lynn Millers books has the spreader bar evener in it. I remembered the whole name at about 3:07AM last night. If you could locate a couple of heavy rings and heat and bend them oblong, you could make one up yourself. For that matter I suppose you could leave them round and just taper the end of the stick you put in there. You could bend up and weld some rings out of re-bar. Necessity and mothers and invention and all that don't you know...


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Okey-dokey got those photos for you! If you can't read the measurements written in chalk, let me know and I'll transcribe them for you.


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## plowhand (Aug 14, 2005)

jennigrey said:


> Oh! I think I may know what kind of whiffletree you're talking about. Friend of mine has a couple, but I've never seen them for sale. He calls them "logging trees" because you just take the iron with you into the bush and then cut a stick when you get there. The stick just acts as a spacer for the irons, which are attached to one another. Let me find a picture. May take me a day or two.


They were used here in the south. There was a big oval chain link on each side, that the hewed down end of the spreader stick went into. If you break your spreader you can just hew out another one right in the woods. 
Down here in the south we used log carts alot. People would take the front of a one horse wagon and use it to pull with one mule, pick up one end to make it easier to pull.


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