[AT] Pitchforks - new vs. old.

[George Willer]

> That is one of those simple things that you normally don't give a lot of 
> thought to but
> can make a huge difference in use. If the stall is cleaned daily or even 
> weekly the new
> fork would work fine but for packed stuff you might want to watch for a 
> good old fork
> with tapered tines. I have not had a chance to look at farm stores to see 
> if any of the
> new forks come with tapered tines.
> Now you have the "straight poop"...   ;-)
>
> -- 
> "farmer", Esquire

My favorite fork is a king sized version of the normal manure fork... I use 
it a lot for various landscaping jobs.  I don't know its' original purpose, 
but assumed it may be a fodder fork.  It had 5 or maybe 6 tapered tines that 
are maybe half again as long as a regular fork.  I remember getting it at an 
auction where it was selling along with a cheap level as a twofer.  The 
winning bidder was complaining about having to take the fork he didn't want 
to get the level.  I asked him to name a price for the fork and he said $5. 
I couldn't get it out fast enough.  My newer manure fork doesn't get used at 
all.  I'll have to check whether it has straight tines.

O K, I checked.  The wonderful fork has 5 20" tapered tines.  The newer 
Union fork has 4 13" straight tines.  Funny, I never noticed that they were 
straight, only that I didn't like it.

George Willer