Hi Bill--

As usual, Scott G pretty much said it all.  I've never tried to peel an oak
log, but we peel hundreds of feet of spruce logs almost every year.  The
spuds I have came from a legendary local galoot, Don Lowe, who made them
from about 3' of 1-1/4" pipe with a piece of leaf spring welded into one
end.  The shape of the spring is a blunt triangle about 4" long, and you
use it like a thumbnail peeling an orange.  To start the job, push the
tooth along lengthwise for several feet, then start working the bark open
like a banana peel.

Note that this all depends on the bark.  Dry bark needs a drawknife, and
other species may do better with a different tool, like the shovel blade
Scott mentioned.  The log building books seem to recommend shovels cut down
to about 2 or 3" wide.

For your one-time, fairly small job, I would probably pick up a nice big
crowbar or a tire iron.

PK