CraigM
Silver Member
Has anyone ever had any success replacing the handle on a tool such as a pitchfork? I was given an old pitchfork, silage fork to be axact, that had about 4 inches of handle beyond the ferrule. It took me over an hour to get the head out of the ferrule. Now I have the head sitting in the barn, but I can't find a handle that looks like it will accept the tang ( I think that is what you call the thing that sticks into the handle) on the head. The holes in the handles I've been able to find all look too small. How do they ram them together at the factory anyhow? I'd appreciate any advice there is to get a new handle on this fork
Based on the above experience, when I broke a pitchfork handle last month, I smoothed the broken surfaces on the jointer and spliced in another piece if wood to make up for the lost handle length. It broke on a long diagonal and there was over a foot of broken surface. By the time I jointed them smooth, I lost a lot of handle length. Now I have a handle with a nice oak insert. It isn't quite round any more, and has a little bit of a bend in it, but not really enough to cause problems. It is strong enough to lift a 40# bale with. Figured it was a fun test of the theory that the glue joint is stronger than the wood. Sure was a lot more fun than taking the head out of the ferrule.
Thanks
Craig
Hershey, PA
Based on the above experience, when I broke a pitchfork handle last month, I smoothed the broken surfaces on the jointer and spliced in another piece if wood to make up for the lost handle length. It broke on a long diagonal and there was over a foot of broken surface. By the time I jointed them smooth, I lost a lot of handle length. Now I have a handle with a nice oak insert. It isn't quite round any more, and has a little bit of a bend in it, but not really enough to cause problems. It is strong enough to lift a 40# bale with. Figured it was a fun test of the theory that the glue joint is stronger than the wood. Sure was a lot more fun than taking the head out of the ferrule.
Thanks
Craig
Hershey, PA