making wooden pitchforks

I was reading a book the other day - Ploughing with pigs - and they talk about home made/hand made tools. I resolved to try and craft a VERY rustic pitchfork using a ready made kind of shaped branch from the multiple silver poplars we have plaguing us around here. Seeing one of these divinely beautiful forks though has me coveting in a major way. I'm in Victoria Australia and we don't have, to my knowledge, the history of wooden handworked tools you seem to have in the States.

Thank you, everyone....I really am enjoying this also.
There are a few more pictures I will take...I missed the morning he felled the tree and splitting out the first log. He will be splitting a second one today or tomorrow and I will catch that and the tools used...By the last log he will be steaming to bend, I think, or he may decide that the rest will be something else
At some point S. will go over this thread more thoroughly...so far he hasn't found much to correct but I am a weaver not a woodworker so we don't always think with the same terminology.

I would be happy to take any other pictures of a detail or a tool or anything...just ask.

...and yes, Peter, that is my five tine fork

Judith - two questions:

1. Do you sell these anywhere or take orders to make them? People here might be interested in that info.
2. When will you start a "thread" on your weaving?

Jennifer, question # 1 He was really more interested in sharing knowledge than sales at the moment... We are hoping folks will either give it a try or search out someone local to themselves...the number of craftsmen and women near by might be a surprise
When they are all out of the jigs and completely finished I'll ask him again...he might reconsider

Question #2 I do have a thread on natural dye plants here dying recycled fabric has been my focus and interest for awhile now. I am not sure if there is much interest here in weaving as a subject...at least 4 harness floor loom weaving....too much 'tool' to start with, maybe off loom/frame loom stuff? My big loom isn't very active now anyway...

Judith Browning wrote:Jennifer, question # 1 He was really more interested in sharing knowledge than sales... We are hoping folks will either give it a try or search out someone local to themselves...the number of craftsmen and women near by might be a surprise
When they are all out of the jigs and completely finished I'll ask him again...he might reconsider

There will always be those of us who truly enjoy the product but may lack the access to resources, time, skill or patience (or have crappy vision - hint) to create such lovely heritage pieces. I understand sharing the craft and a huge THANK YOU for sharing so generously with us. Perhaps S. would consider a video series on how to create these tools (Kickstarter anyone?)

Judith Browning wrote:Question #2 I do have a thread on natural dye plants here dying recycled fabric has been my focus and interest for awhile now. I am not sure if there is much interest here in weaving as a subject...at least 4 harness floor loom weaving....too much 'tool' to start with, maybe off loom/frame loom stuff? My big loom isn't very active now anyway...

My mother did a lot of weaving at one time - it always fascinated me. I grew up in a home filled with hand woven rugs, runners, table runners and placemats, ponchos (yes - it was the era), blankets, tea towels, etc. Although some at school mocked me for my "weird clothes" - when those same kids came home with me, they were awed by the unique beauty of these items. It became an oddly coveted status symbol to have a hand-woven poncho in MI where I was at the time.

Hi Jennifer, et al,

Traditional hand made wood garden tools are not cheep...when I sell them (or see folks like Judith's husband sell them) they start at $125 and go up. I recently saw a 8 tin hay fork sell for $450, but that was a beautifully oiled and finished piece that will most likely end up on a wall ...oh well, it made the craftsperson's day when it sold. They work great and are not overly difficult to do. Great to see another person teaching it. It is a great project to start learning "green woodworking."

Regards,

j

Jay - I have no doubt that they cost much more than mass produced commercial tools. I have randomly collected handmade tools and furniture from time to time over the years. Usually I find these beauties at yard sales! The patina of careful craftsmanship and the worn areas of hard use make these pieces come alive for me.

this morning he is back out in our woods with his cart load of tools...splitting out another log. The first (used up for the forks so far) split into sixths, this one being slightly smaller into fourths. The tree was about 11 inches at the butt and he cut the logs into six foot lengths. These pictures were all taken within 10-15 minutes...very graceful work and he is fast...I stood behind a tree to the side and managed to stay out of his swinging range

Love the pictures. Keep em coming.

and then quarters.....

This whole thread is a lot of "WOW!" for me. S. really shows his knowledge well, and you've done a great job documenting it. Thank you.

Just a short update.....S. is working at his shop in town three days a week now...demonstrating and interpreting coopering, spoon carving and for another week or two, pitchforks. He has twelve successfully in jigs, he worked fourteen all together and two cracked. The ones done first will come out in early May and I'll post more pictures then. Thanks to all for such wonderful input

S. had time to reread this thread more thoroughly yesterday and found a couple things for me to edit. I have corrected these in the text...once where I said 'barrel' instead of 'bucket' hoops.
The BIG correction though was that I put '6p' nail instead of a '10p' nail...that is corrected now and the size is really important in it's use as a 'stop' for the split and to have a thick enough nail to spread as a rivet.
He has 13 good forks in jigs now and is planning something else for the next log....the top will be a bit of firewood for next year.

Judith Browning wrote:S. had time to reread this thread more thoroughly yesterday and found a couple things for me to edit. I have corrected these in the text...once where I said 'barrel' instead of 'bucket' hoops.
The BIG correction though was that I put '6p' nail instead of a '10p' nail...that is corrected now and the size is really important in it's use as a 'stop' for the split and to have a thick enough nail to spread as a rivet.
He has 13 good forks in jigs now and is planning something else for the next log....the top will be a bit of firewood for next year.

Just the pictures have been a huge help... not that I am making a fork, but in helping me think outside the "use a saw for everything" box that modern manufacture uses. The array of tools for splitting, mostly hand made, and the choice are instructive too. Steel for working or moving the split and wood for holding it open it looks like.

Len comes from a world of plywood and epoxy.... from building boats.

Len Ovens wrote:
Just the pictures have been a huge help... not that I am making a fork, but in helping me think outside the "use a saw for everything" box that modern manufacture uses. The array of tools for splitting, mostly hand made, and the choice are instructive too. Steel for working or moving the split and wood for holding it open it looks like.

Len comes from a world of plywood and epoxy.... from building boats.

hi, Len...thanks
...about the wedges he says..."sharp, hard steel to start the split, wooden gluts (wedges) thereafter. Ideally, hit steel with wood (minimize mushrooming the wedge) but OK to hit wood with steel sledge. Mostly, each split is in the (radial) middle, to equalize resistance and minimize run-outs."
...and also...."boat strakes used to be split this way and steam bent while still green..."

....a boat builder! sounds like a wonderful craft to know and a whole skill set in itself.

Judith Browning wrote:
...about the wedges he says..."sharp, hard steel to start the split, wooden gluts (wedges) thereafter. Ideally, hit steel with wood (minimize mushrooming the wedge) but OK to hit wood with steel sledge. Mostly, each split is in the (radial) middle, to equalize resistance and minimize run-outs."

Good to know.

...and also...."boat strakes used to be split this way and steam bent while still green..."

Planks too in the Viking long boat.

Closer to home, the cedar planks for the long house are all split out. Some of them direct from the live tree. Cedar is a good straight grain wood and splits quite well.

....a boat builder! sounds like a wonderful craft to know and a whole skill set in itself.

Stitch and glue is pretty much cut and assemble stuff. It is nice to have something other than a "white boat" (factory glass) though.

The forks are all out of the jigs. He spent some time going over each one with 100 grit sandpaper and a spoke shave or file where needed and has given them several coats of raw linseed oil.
Thirteen good ones plus two cracked ones. This is the part I have been looking forward to.........

Three, four and five tine pitchforks.

The three tine is solid heartwood....some others have heartwood on the back side.

Art. Just, art.

Peter Ellis wrote:Art. Just, art.

Thank you, Peter...I showed him your post and he thanks you also:)
What you say is what I think too and still have them in the corner of the living room waiting to get boxed for shipping to the farm in Missouri.
I am hesitating to use my five tine that first time....I think today though, moving some hay to the compost pile.

This is a wonderful thread. I will have to make a few of the pitch forks for use on my land. I would love to see the making of his buckets, I am a tight cooper but have only made casks. Now I am getting a hankering to have a go at a bucket.

Bryant RedHawk wrote:This is a wonderful thread. I will have to make a few of the pitch forks for use on my land. I would love to see the making of his buckets, I am a tight cooper but have only made casks. Now I am getting a hankering to have a go at a bucket.

Bryant, Thanks, and I will pass that on to my husband.....
I plan to do a thread on his coopered buckets next. He does those at his shop in town so I have to spend a day or two there to get the pictures and I avoid town as much as possible. I thought I could picture a variety of coopered things and the tools but since he isn't making any this summer not so much of the production...he is working on carved spoons and bowls this season.
Glad to hear you are going to make some pitch forks....I was hoping this thread would inspire that.

off topic I've noticed that you are in Vilonia and wondered if you were well out of the path of the tornado?


Here's a link to his COOPERED BUCKETS

Thanks ! yes we were blessed, it missed us by 1.5 miles, we live about 4 miles out of town to the north. I have lots of white oaks and hickories. I've always loved to work wood with the tools handed down to me by my grand father, some of them were his fathers.

Here is a link to a thread with information about "Country Woodcraft" by Drew Langsner https://permies.com/t/40375/books/Country-Woodcraft-Drew-Langsner

I know you are busy and I hope it's not asking too much, but I have so many questions...
What "other" types of wood can be used? I have Ash, Autumn Olive, Basswood, Beech, Black Locust, Eastern Hornbeam, Maple, Poplar and Red Oak
Can you provide dimensions for;
Cut lengths (Overall, and Fork split).
Dowel placement.
Dowel diameter
Angles of bends (tines and handle)
Dimensions of Jigs
Thanks for ANY help you can provide. LOVE this thread...............

kirk dillon wrote:I know you are busy and I hope it's not asking too much, but I have so many questions...
What "other" types of wood can be used? I have Ash, Autumn Olive, Basswood, Beech, Black Locust, Eastern Hornbeam, Maple, Poplar and Red Oak
Can you provide dimensions for;
Cut lengths (Overall, and Fork split).
Dowel placement.
Dowel diameter
Angles of bends (tines and handle)
Dimensions of Jigs
Thanks for ANY help you can provide. LOVE this thread...............

Hi, Kirk........no problem, it may be a few days but he would be happy to answer your questions.

kirk dillon wrote:I know you are busy and I hope it's not asking too much, but I have so many questions...
What "other" types of wood can be used? I have Ash, Autumn Olive, Basswood, Beech, Black Locust, Eastern Hornbeam, Maple, Poplar and Red Oak
Can you provide dimensions for;
Cut lengths (Overall, and Fork split).
Dowel placement.
Dowel diameter
Angles of bends (tines and handle)
Dimensions of Jigs
Thanks for ANY help you can provide. LOVE this thread...............

The first thing he said is try to find Country Woodcraft by Drew Langsner as a starting point. Pitchfork 'how to' is only one chapter but jig dimensions and so forth are all there. It is THE book to have for learning many homestead wood craft skills.
.....and then "the fork ends up 65" long, the spreader dowels are 3/8", the dowels in the jig are 1" and the angles and placement and so on I'm still tweaking. (But Langsner's a good start.) As for wood, it's all about splitting and bending, so out of your list I would say ash, beech and maybe maple."

I measured 'the fork split' distance from the tip of the tines to the rivet...it varies on my two forks from 19-20 inches but that is not set in stone .
Anything else?

I will be ordering the book soon. Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply and all your documentation of the craft.

I have just found this thread bout an hour ago, and have ordered the book, actually a hard cover for reference and a paperback for the workshop. I had also typed a long reply which I lost when I went to look for a link, doh!

Thank you both so much for the work to generate this, I had been looking for a while for a pitch fork to go with the hay rake and the scythe, now I can have the full kit. We have a fibreglass handle fork which is HEAVY!! and a wooden handled metal fork which is a bit lighter, but it will be nice to have a real one. I am in the UK and we have suffered from "progress", unlike the Eastern European countries which still use wooden tools as a matter of course.

I will need to get some jigs made for the rakes as I suspect they will be popular (except when they hear the price perhaps ).

I will let you know how the fork making goes.

Now that we are getting Buzzard's Roost more finished, I find need for a couple of pitch forks. I have selected the tree and will get two forks, two rakes and a new froe handle out of it, the rest will be cut into stave blanks for a new whisky barrel. Like S, scraps are fire wood or they get turned into forge charcoal.

I just read this all in one go! Fascinating and wonderful!

I'll agree with those that mentioned "Art. Just. Art."

Thank you for the detailed beautiful pictures. They are a perfect accompaniment to your words.

You desired to spark a flame of action from us readers and you have done so in me! I'll be scouting the trees for likely prospects.

Which brings me to my question: What is desired in a tree? You mentioned that it was 11 inches at the butt end.
Also what time of year is best to do the rake making?

I'll put the book on my list of desired items.

I realize this is an old thread.

~C

Carma Nykanen wrote:I just read this all in one go! Fascinating and wonderful!

I'll agree with those that mentioned "Art. Just. Art."

Thank you for the detailed beautiful pictures. They are a perfect accompaniment to your words.

You desired to spark a flame of action from us readers and you have done so in me! I'll be scouting the trees for likely prospects.

Which brings me to my question: What is desired in a tree? You mentioned that it was 11 inches at the butt end.
Also what time of year is best to do the rake making?

I'll put the book on my list of desired items.

I realize this is an old thread.

~C

Hi Carma...I just happened to see this, I guess I don't have notifications set for it any more.
Thank you for your kind words, so glad you enjoyed
Steve will be happy to answer your questions...it will likely be tomorrow though so just check back later.

This thread is a bit nostalgic for us both as we have moved from that forty acres where he made the forks to the edge of a very small rural town about seven months ago.

Carma Nykanen wrote: What is desired in a tree? You mentioned that it was 11 inches at the butt end.
Also what time of year is best to do the rake making?

~C

This is the long version and I'm going to try just scanning in his page of writing...if you (or anyone else) have any problem reading it just say so and I'll type it in as I was planning. The written version is more how Steve works, although he said he would have made a nicer copy if he knew I was going to scan.....

I thought this would be appropriate to place these photos here....be kind to your back.

This back surgery was the result of forty years of hard work, including these wonderful pitchforks.

Carrying capacity for the human body is NOT just what you are able to do......don't be fooled

This is an amazing, otherwise super healthy and vital man who always lifted correctly, except for the time(s) he did not and so many times, even though lifting correctly the weight was beyond what it should have been....be careful out there !

Judith Browning wrote:I thought this would be appropriate to place these photos here....be kind to your back.

This back surgery was the result of forty years of hard work, including these wonderful pitchforks.

Carrying capacity for the human body is NOT just what you are able to do......don't be fooled

This is an amazing, otherwise super healthy and vital man who always lifted correctly, except for the time(s) he did not and so many times, even though lifting correctly the weight was beyond what it should have been....be careful out there !

Thank you for bringing this thread back up to the top... I have put the book in my ebay watch list and will be ordering it when I get a chance.

I currently live in Iowa in the middle of corn and beans and dream of moving to the Ozarks where I can do things like this.

Thanks again.

I hope S. is recovering from that - yes, honest work is hard work and tough on the body but good for the soul.

Your update revived this thread, and I just read through it all.  Inspirational!

For those that have little experience with X-ray images let me explain what you see here. Assuming the images are placed looking from the front as is done in the medical practice {chiropractors place them looking from the back] Repeated lifting and twisting caused failure in the fibers of the disks on the right side between the 3rd, 4th,5th and sacrum vertebra. Repeated wear and tear wore them down and probably caused an abrupt bend to the right. I would love to see the before images.
What the surgeon did was place a spacer between each vertebra on the right side then stabilized the column with a rod on each side with a screw into each vertebra. A lot of hardware to put into the human body but just like olc farm equipment tied together with baling wire it keeps functioning until the end of its useful life.

I currently live in Iowa in the middle of corn and beans and dream of moving to the Ozarks where I can do things like this.

Thanks again.

J Anders, you are welcome and I hope you get to live your dream soon!

I hope S. is recovering from that - yes, honest work is hard work and tough on the body but good for the soul.

Your update revived this thread, and I just read through it all.  Inspirational!

Thank you Phil! and yes, he is almost three months out from surgery and it is wonderful...we are back taking our two mile morning walks again with no pain...still another three months for the bones to fuse completely and he won't be doing the strenuous hard work he was ever again but will be able to ease into what's possible soon.

Repeated wear and tear wore them down and probably caused an abrupt bend to the right. I would love to see the before images.

That's exactly how it happened Hans and he was very right sided...logs on that shoulder, axe swinging, etc.  The only part of his woodworking that was using both sides equally was at the shaving horse but that forward bend was damaging also.
The MRI on cd is the only before image we have and it's scary.
I know they did more x rays (we have bills for them) but didn't give us a copy.  There was exactly no disc left in those spaces, bone on bone.  After a laminectomy, steroid injections, a temporary nerve block and lots of physical therapy over the past two years this was the inevitable surgery.  Excellent surgeon and we are so happy with the results.  

Wow! I'm glad S is recovering from surgery alright! This is such an amazing thread to follow, and I would adore getting into green woodworking, but as someone who already has back problems at 25.... Maybe I shouldn't.
I wonder, is there a way to prevent this sort of damage or mitigate it?

If that's a painful debate for you guys, feel free to tell me to hush! I know how hard shoulda/wouldas can be.

Alexis Richard wrote:Wow! I'm glad S is recovering from surgery alright! This is such an amazing thread to follow, and I would adore getting into green woodworking, but as someone who already has back problems at 25.... Maybe I shouldn't.
I wonder, is there a way to prevent this sort of damage or mitigate it?

If that's a painful debate for you guys, feel free to tell me to hush! I know how hard shoulda/wouldas can be.

Yes there  is a way to prevent this sort of damage or mitigate it.  It is a mater of maintaining proper posture reflexes.  Laying on your back with your legs over a large ball and rocking it from side to side will mitigate the back problems, prevent continued damage and set up the proper environment for tissue repair.

Hans Albert Quistorff, LMT
Antalgic Posture Pain Specialist