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The processing of any dacha-garden plot begins with hard physical labor – digging the earth, for which each household must have a shovel and a pitchfork. People have always tried to improve these tools, and the miracle of the swivel fork is an example of a very successful improvement.
What are the
Forks are used for digging, loosening, loosening the earth, with them, and not with a shovel, many summer residents choose root crops, get rid of weeds. There is a suitable pitchfork for every task. For example, for harvesting potatoes, carrots, and beets, they use forks with blunt teeth that take out root crops, but do not pierce or scratch them. This is very convenient – you don’t have to bend over to shake off each carrot, just take out the crop on a pitchfork, shake it so that the earth crumbles, then transfer it to the basket.
They plow and dig up the earth with more powerful, strong pitchforks with pointed teeth. So they enter the ground more easily, do not destroy worms like a shovel, do not cut weeds, but take them out with roots. But doing this is still difficult, so craftsmen tirelessly come up with new designs, improve old ones in an attempt to make the work of the farmer easier. Entrepreneurial manufacturers immediately pick up successful ideas and put them into production.
Today you can buy, and not just do it yourself, a miracle swivel fork, created specifically for digging a site, a Mole shovel, which, in fact, is a fork system, and other modifications of an old tool. Forks are made from material of varying strength for different jobs, special designs are invented to increase labor productivity, but reduce fatigue from it. When digging, such pitchforks can replace a shovel, and some turn the soil over like a shovel, while others only loosen its fertile layer.
Design features
All modern fork modifications can be made with your own hands, even drawings are easy to find on the Internet, but this will require welding – most often such forks are supplied with something additional. So, swivel forks are slightly rounded forks of different widths (they are made with five, six, seven teeth) with an extreme bayonet tooth, which is sharper and longer than the others. A sharp tooth is easily stuck into the ground with one movement of the foot, the entire frame enters the ground with it, and then the layer of earth turns over around the bayonet, which becomes the axis of rotation. In this case, the person no longer presses the forks, does not bend over, but only turns the steering wheel at the top of the T-handle. Usually the frame of the fork offered in the stores is 30 cm, the length of the handle can even be adjusted for different heights.
Another fork is equipped with a moving triangular stop in front of the frame; drawings with different size options are posted on the Internet for those who want to make a fixture with their own hands. Another option involves a wide stop at the rear of the fork, which rests on the ground at the moment of turning the ground. The design of the miracle shovel, so named only because it was made for digging up the earth, is a wide fork frame (45 cm) connected to a rectangular handle frame, which consists of two handles attached at the edges of the fork, connected by a “steering wheel” at the top. The pointed teeth are stuck into the ground by pressing the foot, and then, with the movement of the hands, the frame of the handle is rotated, like a swivel fork. The drawing of this device has the shape of a rectangle.
Another miracle shovel – “Mole” was made by combining two pitchforks into one design. Some forks cut through the ground, and their teeth at the bottom are also connected like a perforated shovel, while others, when pressed by hand on the handle, pass into the slots of the first and break the ground. For this tool, in addition to two forks, a foot rest, a back rest, manufacturers also make a telescopic handle so that it can be adjusted according to a person’s height. Of course, if you do it yourself, you can simplify the complex structure a little, at least with a handle to fit your height. When making a drawing, you can lay down dimensions calculated for the width of your particular beds.
Video “Types of forks for loosening the soil”
What are the types of forks for loosening the soil and how do they work.
Benefits of application
Why do we dislike gardening so much? It is especially difficult for summer residents in the spring, the body that has become unaccustomed during the winter does not immediately get used to country loads. When digging with a shovel, the load is unevenly distributed on the leg, both arms, shoulders, lower back. We first press on the shovel with our foot, then we bend down, pressing on the stalk with our hands, we twist the clod of earth with force, then lift it up and pour out the earth. Here, in order to reduce the number of these actions, which means fatigue of the back, shoulders and arms, people come up with various pitchforks. All design improvements are aimed at reducing fatigue and increasing productivity.
When working with rotary forks, the back does not get tired, because there is no need to squat, bend over and lift a clod of earth, instead of the waist, the shoulder girdle and arms work, which greatly simplifies the work, allows digging a bed even for elderly or physically weakened people. In addition, digging speed is increased due to fewer actions and fork frame width. If you make the pitchfork with your own hands, you can calculate the width of the beds and the width of the fork frame so that the processing time of the site is reduced to a minimum. The miracle shovel and all variants of the miracle pitchfork significantly reduce the time of digging the site, allow you to dig up the treated area several times (from 2 to 4 times) faster, especially with light soil.
Some owners argue that it is with a pitchfork that you need to dig up virgin soil, you just need to remember that the metal will have to be chosen stronger. Of course, such pitchforks are not supposed to loosen the ground between the bushes, they, as a rule, dig up and clean large beds from weeds before planting, dig up the soil, applying fertilizers to it. For loosening under bushes and between individual plants, other devices are used, which are also made on the basis of a pitchfork.
Is it worth buying
All designs of the miracle of pitchforks and shovels were created with their minds and with their own hands by amateur gardeners, craftsmen. Variants are constantly being processed and improved: some people post drawings and photographs of their inventions on the Internet, while others make changes and improvements in accordance with their needs or wishes. And entrepreneurs pick up ideas and produce better tools. Today you can buy in stores the most common forks made of metals of different strength and processing. Is it worth it? To facilitate and speed up the work, of course, it is worth it if you are ready to pay 1,5-2 thousand for a pitchfork.
The only question is affordability. But after all, all designs are quite simple, it will not be difficult to find drawings and do everything with your own hands for someone who knows how to work with metal. If you select the necessary metal and can use welding, then do-it-yourself manufacturing can bring not only cost savings, but also the greatest combination of amenities (emphasis for the desired foot, for example, or handle height, frame width). For those who cannot do it themselves, but have collected all the necessary elements, it makes sense to contact a specialist with their materials and drawings – it will still turn out cheaper and more convenient.
Video “How the Mole ripper works”
This video shows how the Krot-M ripper works.
