Help, my garden fork is……..forked!

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Help, my garden fork is……..forked!

Home Forums Beginners questions Help, my garden fork is……..forked!

Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)
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  • #658491
    John Doe 2
    Participant
      @johndoe2

      One tine on my garden fork is bent out of line – owing to it catching under a root or boulder.

      Question, how can I bend the tine back without damaging it or weakening it? I only have a small propane plumber's torch for heating the metal, which I suspect won't get it very hot.

      The fork is made by Wilkinson Sword and the metal is steel – not stainless – there is surface rust on the top and where the handle joins, but not on the tines themselves which stay clean and bright.

      Thanks for any suggestions.

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      #11562
      John Doe 2
      Participant
        @johndoe2
        #658492
        Bazyle
        Participant
          @bazyle

          Don't heat it as that might reduce the temper and make it permanently weak. Just use a scaffold pole to bend it back.

          #658496
          Mike Poole
          Participant
            @mikepoole82104

            I have straightened tines that I have bent by using my bench vice to hold the bent tine and bending it straight using the leverage of the handle. I haven’t used heat and not encountered any problems.

            Mike

            #658504
            JasonB
            Moderator
              @jasonb

              Same as Mike

              #658506
              John Doe 2
              Participant
                @johndoe2

                Thanks guys, that's exactly what I needed to know. yes

                #658514
                John Doe 2
                Participant
                  @johndoe2

                  14971116-aab6-4e63-bd58-7199f4970a4c.jpeg

                  All sorted – well, close enough. I should have taken a "before" photo, but the third tine from the camera was about 70mm out. Not having a scaffold pole, I first tried two branches of a tree, (suitably protected), and then the tube of a garden lawn aerator to bend the tine !

                  Thanks again for the help.

                  #658518
                  Dave Halford
                  Participant
                    @davehalford22513

                    I've used a calibrated 2lb lump hammer over a brick as an anvil.

                    If you lean on the handle after already miss-treating it due to bending the tines in the first place you may need to find a new handle as well.

                    If you can't shift sometime without bending tines get a pickaxe.

                    #658528
                    SillyOldDuffer
                    Moderator
                      @sillyoldduffer
                      Posted by John Doe 2 on 30/08/2023 13:51:52:

                      One tine on my garden fork is bent out of line – owing to it catching under a root or boulder.

                      Thanks for any suggestions.

                      You're working much too hard on a time-waster; Mother Nature always wins in the end. Throw the fork away and move permanently into your workshop. It's a safe space where only good things happen.

                      Dave

                      #658531
                      John Doe 2
                      Participant
                        @johndoe2

                        Dave and Dave, +1

                        Yes, I know, but in our heavy, compacted clay soil, it can be difficult to realise that one tine is stuck under a stone or a brick and apply a bit too much force !

                        I was mindful and gentle with the wooden handle when bending the tine back – successfully, luckily.

                        SoD, agreed, but the garden does need attention from time to time to make it look nice ! The heavy clay soil where we recently moved to is a real bugger, and many plants cannot get their roots into it. So I need to dig it all over and dig in manure etc.

                        I've also tested the soil, and it's very alkaline, which is a surprise.

                        #658552
                        noel shelley
                        Participant
                          @noelshelley55608

                          Take 12" or so of 1/2" or 3/4" water pipe ( old ) and drive it fully into an undug part of the garden ! You now only have to put the bent tine into the tube to the required depth and swing on the handle to straighten it ! Noel.

                          #658634
                          Pete White
                          Participant
                            @petewhite15172

                            You're working much too hard on a time-waster; Mother Nature always wins in the end. Throw the fork away and move permanently into your workshop. It's a safe space where only good things happen.

                            Dave

                            Very true, ………though not sure about safe and only good things happen? lol

                            This last 15 years working a large garden things have got progessively harder, rain no rain, excessive heat, loads of pigeons, butterflies, slugs, flys of all colours, old muscles …etc etc. I have given up and taken Dave's advice smiley, going to get myself a "train set" as well.

                            Gardening was never like this, 50 years ago with 1/2 and acre and a Fergy 20, a 410 and spray made it easier, but were accepted then!

                            Pete

                            #658639
                            duncan webster 1
                            Participant
                              @duncanwebster1

                              Gardening is for control freaks, leave it alone, something will grow. 😜

                              Fortunately I have an agreement with senior management, I mow the grass and do the heavy lifting, she does the rest. If it was left to me it would be grass and borrow a sheep from a local farmer now and again.

                              #658642
                              roy entwistle
                              Participant
                                @royentwistle24699

                                Get a goose. Yoou can knock it off at christmas.

                                Roy

                                Edited By roy entwistle on 31/08/2023 12:45:43

                                #658732
                                Bazyle
                                Participant
                                  @bazyle
                                  Posted by duncan webster on 31/08/2023 12:06:08:

                                  Gardening is for control freaks, leave it alone, something will grow. 😜

                                  That's the trouble it won't stop growing. Postie does a splendid job of getting up the path past the fuchsia when its prop falls down but hundreds of other bushes keep blocking access to the shed. At least the rabbits keep the grass in check.

                                  #658761
                                  Bill Phinn
                                  Participant
                                    @billphinn90025
                                    Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 30/08/2023 17:59:43:

                                    You're working much too hard on a time-waster; Mother Nature always wins in the end. Throw the fork away

                                    The wisdom of the ancients lives on.

                                    Are you sure you didn't read Horace at school, Dave?

                                    Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret

                                    "You may drive nature out with a fork, but she will keep coming back".

                                    Horace, Epistles, I, 10, 24.

                                    #658947
                                    old mart
                                    Participant
                                      @oldmart

                                      It always makes me chuckle when somebody bends something straight.

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