Fed up with forks!

[The Nichols']

You're probably laugh but the best fork I've ever used is a Tesco Finest. It was reduced and of season and I picked it up for about £7. Lasted me for ages and always the first one I'll grab when there's tougher work to be done.

[womble]

You're probably laugh but the best fork I've ever used is a Tesco Finest. It was reduced and of season and I picked it up for about £7. Lasted me for ages and always the first one I'll grab when there's tougher work to be done.

We're not name snobs here you know, if it does the job and it's cheap, all the better.

I did have a couple of very cheap Asda ones (end of sale, £1 each, that sort of thing)........ most expensive £1 I've ever spent. I reckon my 6 year old could bend them.

[ladylottie]

Well, I've been using a B & Q fork and spade for (ahem!) a lot of years now. They get a lot of use (especially the fork) and I've never had a problem with either. They were supposed to tide me over until I could afford something better, but I've never bothered because really there's been no need to.
I think they are selling nowadays at something silly like about £8 each?

[traveler123]

Go back to the manufacturer

Have you tried going back to Spear and Jackson with your problem? Im sure they will listen to you especially if you push hard enough. Arent forks supposed to have a guarentee/warrenty just like any other product. They are not cheap so I would expect so. First point of call who be o go back to where you bought the fork in the first place who should actually replace it for you if they had any sense.

[Paulottie]

You're probably laugh but the best fork I've ever used is a Tesco Finest. It was reduced and of season and I picked it up for about £7. Lasted me for ages and always the first one I'll grab when there's tougher work to be done.

I shall laugh indeed....I had one from Tesco's...many years back when they only charged a fiver for them and I didn't boycott Tesco's on moral principal.. Thought I 'that's cheap I'll leave it on the plot' ...lasted less than a season before the inner pipe rusted through.

Have you tried going back to Spear and Jackson with your problem? Im sure they will listen to you especially if you push hard enough. Arent forks supposed to have a guarentee/warrenty just like any other product. They are not cheap so I would expect so. First point of call who be o go back to where you bought the fork in the first place who should actually replace it for you if they had any sense.

Think the fork has already been replaced

[womble]

Think the fork has already been replaced

Yes the fork has been replaced and bearing in mind that it was insinuated that I may have been guilty of fork abuse.... and not wanting to be reported to the relevant authority, I have been using it carefully, this morning was the first real bit of digging it has done.
So because the ground was quite hard and before I put too much pressure on it, I thought I'll get my heavy duty spade, pulled the fork out of the ground......... AND A TINE IS BENT.

Honestly, I don't blinkin well believe it.

[Jeanied]

Have you been eating spinach for breakfast again Womble? You just don't know your own strength!!
Sounds like you need a pickaxe not a fork.

[womble]

No, I wasn't pressing too hard at all and just tell you how bad it is, I have an old rotten fence where I was digging and bent the tine back with very little pressure using the fence.

And I've had a really bad back, so putting too much pressure on it, is a real no no. I wouldn't be that daft.

I honestly don't know what to do now, just use an expensive Spear and Jackson stainless steel fork as something to dig over my very, very easy to dig beds, I suppose.

Which means I'm back to having no fork, for the jobs I actually need it for! for crying out loud........

[Paulottie]

Maybe I was wrong and the Nichols' had the best plan...get a Tesco one...but keep it in a shed... mine broke cause it was left out and the shaft filled with water and rusted from the inside.

[maypril]

Broke 2 this week!

One of them a SS Spears and Jackson not cheap one, supposed to last for years, only bought it last year.

Spear & Jackson, load of rubbish. Who said they're supposed to last for years?

Perhaps buy from an independent garden centre rather than a DIY store? You should be able to ask for advice from an assistant that actually knows what they're talking about.

As a very rough rule of thumb, you do generally get what you pay for. Don'tnecessarily go for the most expensive you can find, but keep price in mind when you buy. Spear & jackson are a bit cheap, you have to ask yourself "why is it cheap?" when you buy it.

[womble]

S&J say they are supposed to last for years, that's why they give them a 10 year guarantee.

But if that includes bent tines, I don't know. What's the point of me getting them to send me another fork, if the next one will be the same...... I don't get that many right times to dig my unimproved soil, I need a fork I can depend on.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and spend some money :faint:
and bootsale the S&J stainless before it gets any more bent.
Look, pretty pretty fork, shiny, yours for a fiver.

[taff]

To be honest, if you've gone through that many forks, either you need an extremely heavy duty one, in which case, that is going to cost you money, or a spade.
Are you saure you're using it for what it's for? I wouldn't have thought it was supposed to be used for digging up rhubarb for example, or for levering out tree roots, or for initial digging. [course, now I've said that,I'll get killed so goodbyes in advance ]

I got a stainless steel one, can't remember the name,cost £22 quid, but it's fine, hasn't broken or bent on heavy clay soil. Will find out later and let you know in case it's one you haven't tried yet

[maypril]

S&J say they are supposed to last for years, that's why they give them a 10 year guarantee.

The reason they give a worthless guarantee is because they know it will con people into buying it! I hate gimmicks like that

[womble]

I thought I'd update you on this old thread.

I kept the new (free, sent to me, after the other broke) Stainless, Spear and Jackson fork. Even after I bent one tine the first time I used it.

Started to use it this year, heard what sounded like a few ominous cracks, but even though I thought it may have been whatever I was digging, I went easy on it. It did alright until yesterday, when the head broke clean off.
To be totally honest, I hardly put any stress on it at all.

My OH wanted me to contact S&J again and get a replacement, but I can't be bothered anymore. I've put it down to experience and bought a std Bulldog garden fork, I hope it lasts better than the other ones.
I just need one that I can reply on.

[womble]

Oh and when the fork broke, I can see exactly why it broke. The stainless where the head meets the shaft is only a thin covering over an iron core, absolutely no strength at all, the iron core just pulled through and the stainless broke.