Another right tool for the job

[Richard]

Every year we mulch three areas and it takes about 3 yards. I usually drive truck to Co-op and get one load at a time and shovel each load into bucket of my backhoe so the mulch is now mobile.

I learned over time that a flat nosed shovel works best when doing this because it would scrape nicely against the truck bottom.

boy was I WRONG.

Other day I got a 'bug' inside my head so I bought a new tool. I bought a pitchfork. I always thought that was a "farm" kind of thing for straw, manuer, other...

Boy oh boy..... that pitchfork made "shoveling" the mulch WORLDS easier to deal with. Those slender tines just slide right into the material with nary a thought (much unlike a shovel)

This year I had almost 4 yards delivered and had a huge pile that needed "shoveled" into the loader bucket and then "shoveled" back out.

If you are preparing to do a lot of mulch and are as ignorant as I was about a pitchfork, go get one, it IS the right tool for the job.

(The wife even made a snide comment about me carrying around a pitchfork and how appropriate that was (like I was the devil)... I simply responded by admitting it and told her she could park her BROOM next to it /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

She swore she saw that coming. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[MossRoad]

I bought a pitchfork when I started composting about 10-12 years ago. So much easier than a shovel. We never had a pitchfork when I was growing up, so I never learned how well they work for moving material. Also good to be seen with one by the pesky neighbor kids. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Freds]

Thanks for the heads up.

I know exactly what you are talking about describing the effort to push a shovel into mulch or bark. Last time I used a spade shovel until I was down to the deck of my trailer. I may just have to pick up a pitchfork or maybe one of those stall/manure shovels with the tines.

Either that or make a toothbar for my shovel.... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[dubba]

Since we are gonna talk about pitchforks..

One of my pet peeve's are the quality of pitchforks made now. I find the best pitchforks are the ones that can be purchased at a barn sale that are as old as the hills.

The new ones seem to be of a cast steel instead of forged? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

On my wedding day I saw one of the farmers from down the road putting something in the back of my truck. He looked at me with a grin & said "no sense bringing that into the reception". I smiled & forgot about it. 2 days later something was banging around in the bed. I opened the cap & there lay a pitchfork with a red ribbon on it. Not a new pitchfork, one that looked like a cow or something had chewed on the end of the handle, the wood was old, black & smooth. As smooth as is someone had spent days sanding it, but the way the grain stood up in the wood, I knew it was from many, many gloved hands.

I've used that pitchfork every day for the last 14 years. It has outlasted anything I've ever bought at the grain store.

Sorry for the rant. Back to your scheduled programming

 

[kossetx]

A pitchfork is used around my place constantly. Between compost, manure and hay, I couldn't be without one. I find them to be real handy around burn piles also. I bought mine at sears. A Finish head and the rest made in USA. It works well.

 

[beenthere]

dubba
I was thinking the same thing when I read the post. It is pathetic about the quality of tools (hoes, rakes, shovels, pitch forks, axes, etc) that are put forth on the public buyers today. Glad I have the tools from the 60's. Wanted to buy a quality bow (dirt) rake and have looked for several years. Not there, at least in the Ace, True Value, HD, Lowes, etc. stores. Have not looked at such tools in McMaster Carr, but found a good 3' stepladder there at a reasonable price. (somehow the market just dried up on 3' stepladders).

Found the 5 tine pitch fork at McMaster.com on p1963, item #6231A5 for $56.

 

[riptides]

Yep, mulch makes for a difficult day without them. Teeth on the FEL make for a shorter day on the mulch pile too. For cleanup I have found a horse manure sifter most appropriate for short grass surfaces.

Not sure what the horse people call those manure rake/shovels with teeth on them, but they have a nice deep "bucket" like area towards the handle. Shaking keeps the large stuff in the rake/shovel.

-Mike Z.

 

[ToadHill]

Someone makes a product called a mulch pitchfork. It's a bit wider than a regular one and it has flat tines. I don't have one anymore but I did several years ago.

 

[Jagmandave]

Brought back a memory for me..........

My dad tilling the soil in the back yard for a garden, the sound his wedding ring made on the wooden handle as he turned the soil...........

Yes, I still have that pitchfork, I think he got it from his father.........

 

[turnkey4099]

Dubba - Right on!! A few years ago the old pitchfork that I inherited from my old man broke. The metal blade that holds the handle borke right at the tines. I wish I had had someone try to weld it. Got a new one from the local hardware store.

Where the old one had a nice handle with some 'spring' to it, the new one felt like a club, had no spring and was at least seferal ounces heavier. A few years ago I got REAL stupid and caught a farm auction. Did I bid on a couple nice old pitchforks!! Of course not!! Have a couple more farm auctions coming up next week and will be trying to get another one.

Jagmandave: minor correction. The fork you father was using is a 'spading fork', quite different from a pitchfork and there are many, many variations on pitchforks, such as a 3 tine 'bundle fork', multi tine straw fork, etc. A farmer rancher almost always will have in mind a 4 tine hay fork when he says "pitchfork".

Harry K