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Digging fork improvement

Joel Bercardin

pollinator

Posts: 675

Location: Western Canadian mtn valley, zone 6b, 750mm (30") precip

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posted 5 years ago

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This is simple and commonsensical. Great idea for making a digging fork easier to use in certain situations, like clayish or very silty soils. Offers a real foot rest (your foot can’t slip off the shoulder as easily) and by this it affords a more efficient transfer of muscular effort. For someone who can heat & bend rebar, and weld steel, it will be simple to make.

The image comes from this site: Digging Fork Mod You’ll find a decent discussion of this little project on the page.

By the way, I’ll tell that this site itself has a lot of practical stuff on it, even though I haven’t explored it a lot as yet. Although the site is aimed at preppers (and I do not particularly identify as one), my personal feeling is that the site owner/moderator is not panic-stricken, and is open-minded and rather inclusive, non-extremist, and so on.

modified-fork.png

My online educational sites:
https://www.pinterest.ca/joelbc/homestead-methods-tools-equipment/
https://www.pinterest.ca/joelbc/mixed-shops/

John C Daley

pollinator

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Location: Bendigo , Australia

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posted 5 years ago

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I am not sure its accurate to say the site is mainly for preppers, I am not one.

That improvement is clever, by adding the reinforcing rod to the top of the flat blade fork.
You may need heat to form it, and then an arc welder to complete the attachment.
Very manageable.

John Daley Bendigo, Australia The Enemy of progress is the hope of a perfect plan
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Joel Bercardin

pollinator

Posts: 675

Location: Western Canadian mtn valley, zone 6b, 750mm (30") precip

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posted 5 years ago

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John C Daley wrote:I am not sure its accurate to say the site is mainly for preppers, I am not one.

Thanks for posting John.

I only mentioned that because the first page I happened to arrive on, at that site, explained the proprietor's personal commitment to rational prepping, though on the site's home page he made clear his tolerant, open-minded, relaxed attitude.

My online educational sites:
https://www.pinterest.ca/joelbc/homestead-methods-tools-equipment/
https://www.pinterest.ca/joelbc/mixed-shops/

Chris Kott

pollinator

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Location: Marmora, Ontario

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posted 5 years ago

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Interesting. Something of a specialisation, though. You wouldn't want to be pitching anything overarm or overhead with that mod.

For digging where penetration is difficult, though, I like it.

-CK

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein

John Pollard

pollinator

Posts: 298

Location: Ozarks

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posted 5 years ago

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I left mine out in the weather too much and the handle rotted off down inside the lower collar. It was a cheap one and my tiny arse bent the tines on a regular basis. I've been thinking about building something from scratch. Maybe a hybrid between a broadfork and a forked garden spade. Haven't put much thought into it yet but I had thought about using rebar for the tines. Some round stock would be nicer to work with but rebar is cheaper and harder. I did see forked spade handles at the feed store last time I was there. Might just get one of those and find a way to reinforce the tines and also do the improved step spot at the same time. I've got a spot where a high tunnel is going that I want to double dig and a broadfork is no good for that. Clayey loam here. When it's dry, you can't do anything with it.

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Eric Hanson

Steward and Man of Many Mushrooms

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Location: Southern Illinois

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posted 5 years ago

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Genius!!

Some places need to be wild

William Bronson

gardener

Posts: 5412

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio,Price Hill 45205

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posted 5 years ago

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Check out the fork in this Edible Acres video:

Not available from Reble Tools at this time.
5 tines, very broad, almost the width of a broadfork but with a central handle.

These forks push the difference between hay and garden forks further.

I think I could make a decent no weld fork by cutting, drilling and bolting together bedframe.
The metal is very tough, and the L cross section makes it even stronger.

The hardest part would be making a handle that is strong enough but also grippable.

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