Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: woodybrown on August 29, 2014, 16:26:24
-
hello everyone,
can anyone recommend a decent digging fork for under £25, as have a well known make and it bent whilst digging the spuds up.
many thanks
:wave:
-
My recommendation would be a carbon steel Bulldog brand (Clarington Forge, Wigan).
http://www.claringtonforge.com/forks
This link shows a fork in manufacture. Note that all the fork is formed from a single billet approx 8"x4"x1".
I have seen the whole process in the old factory that was Elwell Tools, then at St Pauls Rd. Wednesbury.-alsolutely fascinating.
Whether you will find one for less than £25 is open to research. There is little point in buying stainless steel for if you keep using it it wont have time to rust!. Always buy drop forged digging tools. The cr*p fabricated type are not worth the space. If ever you get the chance while in the South West, visit Finches< foundry at Sticklepath, Okehampton (National Trust) It is the link between the iron age and life today.(Great Devon cream teas as I recall....)
Research: You could do here:
http://bulldoghandtools.co.uk/bulldog-forks/standard-range.html
-
ive dug over a bramble patch and snapped 4 or 5 spades and then i got a wilkinson they also come with a 10 year guarantee
-
I agree with ancellsfarmer that a forged tool is essential. And indeed Bulldog is a great brand, although I think you'll struggle to find one much under £35.
For ordinary lottie use, we're quite happy with Spear & Jackson Neverbend. I know that gardening pros turn their noses up a bit at S&J, and the finish isn't always brilliant, but Screwfix have them at fifteen quid http://www.screwfix.com/p/neverbend-digging-fork/26207 (http://www.screwfix.com/p/neverbend-digging-fork/26207)
If you can run to it, the Neverbend Professional range are better, but probably over £30.
And depending on your soil (and your own strength), it may be worth considering a narrower border fork rather than a full-size digging fork. You can get a Bulldog standard one within your budget: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bulldog-Border-Fork-Brand-New-Quick-Delivery-/271192468157?pt=UK_Home_Garden_GardenEquipment_HandTools_SM&hash=item3f2454aabd (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bulldog-Border-Fork-Brand-New-Quick-Delivery-/271192468157?pt=UK_Home_Garden_GardenEquipment_HandTools_SM&hash=item3f2454aabd)
-
Just had a look at Claringdon Forge. Potato fork, price listed is $185, yes the price is in dollars???
-
I found the draper fork very good but at the end of the day if the ground is that solid it is bending a good strong fork maybe using a mattock is the better method of breaking the soil up first.
-
I accept your comments regarding the Clarington Forge.com site I referred to it only to show the still photos of the process that creates the quality the OP requires. I agree the W/Sword are of that quality, I believe they originate from the old True Temper plant in Eire. Spear & Jackson came originally from the Elwell works I mentioned, having been Spearwell branded until their demise The brand is now part of the Neill group, not known if UK made.
If you seek quality as these on a budget<consider pre_owned. There are house clearance outlets in most towns <often with used furniture in front. These are the result of "executor sale" clearances and if you can find any of the brands mentioned above< or Tyzack ,Brades, William Mills then subject to the ash shaft not being worm-eaten, you might get one for £5 or so. A bargain.
-
Keep your eyes open. Old tools are usually good, if the handles are OK. You might fins somethng in a junk shop or a market. I got my fork for a fiver in the local market in 1998, and it's still going strong.
-
Ta everybody , just bought B and Q own brand for a fiver and have dug half of plot with no signs of bending or cracking Happy days. As we keep getting turned over I thought it best to buy cheap and easily replaceable . Thanx again WOODY
-
My border fork broke tonight. Shaft went :sad10: I've had it for a number of years. Liked it's small size.
Now using the Big Guns - the digging hoe. I've got the heavy duty one (which is on the big side for me as I'm very small) have learned to let it do the work and getting on great with it.
Think the new allotment is going to be much easier to dig over (so far it is and it's good soil) than my other one which is very hard clay.
-
Well if itss an old friend,, why not simplyy fit a new ash shaft. Its only a 20 minute job
-
I use a Canterbury fork, it enables sustained use with great leverage (with no backache).
I use mine on my couch grass and bramble prone plot with great effect and it takes a lot of punishment without complaint or repairs required:
https://www.chillingtontoolsonline.co.uk/heavy-duty-canterbury-fork-p126
-
I have had one of these Canterbury forks for a couple of years and have never used it until this year although I have been using a Chillington hoe. The Canterbury fork is a really brilliant tool, quick and easy to use and as DebP said, no backache.
-
This looks like a good deal for a Canterbury fork (don't forget to go through the A4A link to Amazon)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Very-High-Quality-Chillington-Canterbury/dp/B00FNNB8QE (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Very-High-Quality-Chillington-Canterbury/dp/B00FNNB8QE)
-
It is only £14.80 for the head only from Chillington - http://www.chillingtontoolsonline.co.uk/canterbury-fork-head-only-p4 plus £9.40 for the handle - http://www.chillingtontoolsonline.co.uk/wood-handle-to-fit-digging-hoe-head-p7
-
My apologies - I didn't notice that the Amazon one is complete with handle.
-
they are great tools just not for digging potatoes ( high spearing rate)
-
I find it brilliant for clearing on my heavy clay soil, it levers couch out like nothing else. Ordinary digging and breaking up soil is easy too. All you have to watch out for is soil in your hair as you whack it into the ground from above head height. The times I've been to the shops post allotment and got strange looks because I have earth and couch all over my head !
-
Well if itss an old friend,, why not simplyy fit a new ash shaft. Its only a 20 minute job
It is indeed an old friend and that's what I'm going to do. As for the broken shaft, there's still a bit of pointy end so it will make a good dibber :icon_thumleft:
-
b and q fork broke today will try home base next , hope everyone is well regards W
-
I found a stainless steel fork dumped on the plots a couple of weeks ago,the plastic handle had broken so I took it down to our local garden tool company http://richardcarterltd.co.uk (http://richardcarterltd.co.uk) and they replaced the shaft with a split D handle for only £12.50
That's typical of the younger crowd today where it is easy come easy go I'll just buy another.
I now have the best quality fork I have ever had, trouble is I don't use a fork very often.
-
I complement you on your frugal style and support your approach completely. Having done the same on two occasions, I can only hope you get greater service than I.
My experience was that the depth and diameter of the stainless tool socket so reduced the amount of timber left from the handle that it was incapable of serious work and quickly failed. In another attempt , the deeper insertion of the handle by leaving the shaft thicker, and driving it caused the relatively thin stainless socket to shatter, the steel being somewhat brittle.
For the above experiences, I have now reverted to reshafting second hand carbon steel tools of premium, ie British, quality such as Spearwell or Brades and keeping them bright with use. I wish you good luck.
-
I know what you mean about fitting it so I had the professional do it and at £12.50 fitted I think it was a bargain.
They polished the area around the rivet and varnished the shaft so it looks as good as new!
BTW the company I used is in the village I live in so it was easy to drop it in and pick it up the following day.
-
Tee gee I find the remark about the younger crowd quite offensive , this is a thread about a poxy 12 quid digging fork not a chance for you to have a pop about younger people . I'm 43 by the way so I'm not that young I get that attitude on my plot and don't want it on here. Regards W
-
Agreed ... any sweeping generalisations about a specific part of a society it is never helpful and often causes offence.
I could make a similar statement about how older people are always saying how much better everything was in their day and how everything modern is awful ... but that would be equally rude. It does seem to be part of human nature though ... and I'm sure Tee Gee was chastised in his youth by people older than himself in a very similar way :toothy10: - and I'm sure he was equally annoyed back then.
It'll be our turn in not so many years woodybrown ... so watch out!
-
By the way ... I'm slowly realising that all the best tools are really old ones that have had new handles fitted ... it's taken a while, but I am slowly replacing my awful modern ones that bend and break within a couple of years with decent steel that can be sharpened and repaired myself.
By the way if anyone is ever visiting Cardigan in west Wales they have the most wonderful shop called the eco shop which sells a massive range of fantastically reconditioned garden tools for about the same price as new flimsy ones.
-
TeeGee was right in his flip comment except that he should have widened it to include the majority of adults, of all of Society. A visit to your local amenity tip provides all the evidence one could require, together with all the commodities you could desire. Perfecly sound bicycles lacking only air, lawn mowers just requiring blades,tools of all descriptions.Its no wonder that the operators of these(vital) facilities claim to recycle ie. sell back to us, 70% of all they receive. Society even needs them to compost their green waste
The future for the human race is finite unless it learns fast to be less indulgent, more frugal and considerablly more restrained in use of resources
-
Friend just asked Mr PKL to look at her pressure washer as not working, two minutes later he had it sorted and returned it. At same time she was chucking out a Dyson vacuum cleaner as been replaced already. We already have a Hoover from the same person!
Now I was always told that Dysons are great for 4 years till they go wrong- and everyone throws them out. BUT Mr PKL takes it apart and says that it is the easiest thing to replace anything faulty so some bits are on order and at the end of today I might have a working Dyson, and a Hoover and my Miele (love Miele as they really do last for years and years!)
Right how about that for going off Topic!!!
-
We've had our Dyson for donkey's years. Every time a part breaks we just replace it.
-
I often feel the same as you ancellsfarmer - but it's not entirely the fault of the people in society who are throwing these things away - it's the big businesses who simply refuse to make tools/machines/cars that can be repaired and will last longer than 5 years. Almost 100% of big manufacturing businesses make products designed to be thrown away in that kind of time frame. This makes hunting down and paying the extra for really well made tools a very hard job indeed.
The garden tools sold in nearly every B&Q or Garden Centre, even the big name ones for 3 times the price, are normally not worth putting a new handle on and are incapable of taking a decent edge if you sharpen them. You will always save money in the long run and have a decent tool if you buy something made 50 years ago out of decent steel and do it up yourself.