Broadfork Prices

[crunch1224]

I have been looking at broadforks, and what in the heck is going on with the prices I have been seeing.
The best deal if you could call it that is one I found for 120 bucks on amazon. Now this was the low priced one that wasn't absolute junk. The others went all the way up to 450 bucks... This is insane...

~Rant over

[JRinPA]

New truck, $80k, that's what. You know who to thank...

Weld one up. If you don't have a welder, the savings will pay for the welder, the way I figure things. I welded my own I found the one I wanted was $245 at johnnys. And I'm quite sure it is better, at least for my needs. I want to weld up a potato fork this year. I already did some hoes and fixed some shovel last week. And I'm planning a root puller, too.

They aren't imported from China, they are hand welded and that takes time. Well the Amazon ones probably are from China.

[JRinPA]

Is the $120 one you saw on Amazon the one made by Bully?

[crunch1224]

Is the $120 one you saw on Amazon the one made by Bully?

Yes it was the Bully one. The one downside I saw was the handles kinda get loose after awhile.

[crunch1224]

New truck, $80k, that's what. You know who to thank...

Weld one up. If you don't have a welder, the savings will pay for the welder, the way I figure things. I welded my own I found the one I wanted was $245 at johnnys. And I'm quite sure it is better, at least for my needs. I want to weld up a potato fork this year. I already did some hoes and fixed some shovel last week. And I'm planning a root puller, too.

They aren't imported from China, they are hand welded and that takes time. Well the Amazon ones probably are from China.

I seen that one at johnnys. It looked great but for 250 no thank you. I should start up my own business making broadforks and become a millionaire.

[JRinPA]

Yeah I don't think there is that much demand...

The bully one...that is a low price. And if the replace policy include shipping...a good price, to use on already worked soil.

It almost looks like it is machine welded, like a truck ladder rack, but tough to say being powder coated. Powder coated, that is just stupid on a garden tool. Every cut in the coating will rust. That forward angle on the blades make no sense to me. Mine are straight. I push it straight down, then forward 30, then pull it back 60+ degrees. Mine is 24" wide. I could not fit in 20" too well. And that "heavy duty 10 ga" for the tines is only 1/8". I made mine of 2 layers of 1/8" welded completely around the rim, for a 1/4" thick and very strong, hard weld bead edge. When breaking sod, I stand on it with all my weight, which is quite a lot, but it might only sink it 4". Not sure how an angled one would work at all to break sod.

I will say right out, that one would not last 50 feet in our virgin soil without bending those forks on rocks. It can be a broadfork or a potato fork, not both. The tines look too long, angled weirdly forward, not wide enough base, not thick enough tines, not enough metal for the tines to attach to to distribute the load. Tines will either bend, break welds, or break out the base metal at heat affected zone. The handles are bolted on? With only 2 or 3" between the bolts, they are going to round out the holes and wobble in no time - all the force is being transmitted through two little bolts 3" apart. If they were gonna do that, those tabs need to be a foot long so the bolts can be 10" apart. But that extra dimension would increase the shipping costs...

I want to make a potato fork with 1/2" round tines that are long and curved so I can get under the whole row.

I just looked at the johnny's ones...I'm not certain those are the same design as 7 years back. Maybe. Boy they look lightweight now. They were red, not green. Mine is similar to 727 hardpan. Call it a 624 hardpan. But, my base is much heavier built with 3" of base to tine contact. So 3" of weld on each side of each tine. That 727 shows about 1/2"+3/4" for 1-1/4" of weld instead of 3". And the ends are unbraced.

If you do make one, don't put a bolt through a wood handle up top like those johnny ones. If you need a bolt, it needs to be at the bottom, away from the flex of the handle. The location they use severely weakens the design, the handles will break right there.

But yeah.. I want to make a potato fork like that 920 but with much longer, more curved round tines. Like 5" longer, for digging up potato rows.

[JRinPA]

I was looking at the bully reviews...wow that pipe is even thinner than I thought. Looks like EMT!?
That's what I meant about a failure mode of tearing out at the HAZ...makes me want to smack them with that 100% sticker.



Edit that pipe is WAY thinner that it needs to be, it seriously looks like EMT which is .065" and isn't even a structural steel. I looked through all the pictures. Those 100% stickers should be placed over both mouth and nose of all the people that collected any pay from this...I'd be embarrassed to let my neighbors know I worked for Bully and to put a sticker like that on such a product should carry repercussions.

[JRinPA]

The johnny prices are not much more than they were 7 years back. Maybe 7-10% more, which is way way under inflation. I don't have pics saved of the old ones, though, to compare.

[crunch1224]

I was looking at the bully reviews...wow that pipe is even thinner than I thought. Looks like EMT!?
That's what I meant about a failure mode of tearing out at the HAZ...makes me want to smack them with that 100% sticker.



Edit that pipe is WAY thinner that it needs to be, it seriously looks like EMT which is .065" and isn't even a structural steel. I looked through all the pictures. Those 100% stickers should be placed over both mouth and nose of all the people that collected any pay from this...I'd be embarrassed to let my neighbors know I worked for Bully and to put a sticker like that on such a product should carry repercussions.

Well damn, I didnt see that pic in the reviews. Now I have some doubts about the durability of that broadfork. That tear... is like fingernails across a chalkboard for me... I am amazed at how thin that pipe is too. The designer of that tool should be fired.

~edit The more I think about it a design popped into my head using shear pins.

[rdback]

Several years ago I was considering buying a broadfork, and a homesteading friend of mine suggested a Gulland broadfork. I looked at them, and they look like they'll do the job, but they're not cheap. They are NOT mass-produced either. He's a blacksmith, and makes them one at a time. @JRinPA, since you're talking about building one perhaps, I thought you might like looking around his website for some ideas and his opinions on design, etc.

[urlhttps://www.gullandforge.com/][/url]

I didn't end up buying a broadfork, but I'm still considering it, lol.

[JRinPA]

I built one back in 2017. I built it heavier than anything I have seen for sale. And I will say designed better...triangles are good, squares are bad.
I have brother that is a blacksmith, but he is across the country. He did like mine when I showed it to him. In fact wanted to steal it when I mentioned I was thinking about building another.

I wouldn't use round stock for the tines except for a potato fork, personally. Or maybe sandy soil? I've heard of that stuff, but never seen it! But it looks like that guy added braces to the tines, so..it is kind of a hybrid design I guess. I don't consider those overpriced.

That curve is what I want to put in a potato fork, rounded tips, tilt the whole thing forward so the curved tines are straight in vertically, then step and push the bottom while pulling handles toward so the tips of the tines end up under the center of the potato bed. I just don't see the purpose for that curve in a broadfork made for aeration.

My first handles were just scrap 2x4 ripped, lasted quite a while. I find it odd how often tools like this are broken by people that didn't make them and use them infrequently (my brother was a Marine...), but right now I have some discard tool handles on it. I don't have a lathe or I would turn my own. Some people are putting on steel handles...that would get tiresome I think. Even with scrap pine handles, I don't have a problem using my broadfork to break lawn/sod, and I think that is the first step to a great raised bed. I started a lot of beds with that thing. Even if they are going to till, it is better the fork it some first.

[JRinPA]

I have two different brothers, if that was not clear. One is good at breaking stuff, the other tries his best at taking stuff. Whereas I'm generally good at making stuff. All from my point of view, of course.

I think it is good bet buying from that guy in Tennessee, or wherever, down there in Deliverance-land. Johnny's acts like their guy elliot coleman invented broadforks. Yeah, rIght! That blacksmith guys makes a good point, one size does not fit all. That's why I think it is great to make your own.

[MissS]

A friend of mine likes this broadfork and it's affordable too.
https://www.vevor.com/broadfork-c_10959 ... ode=bfQdnI

[JRinPA]

The amazon reviews on the vevor are pretty poor, but like that blacksmith wrote, broadforks are not one size fits all. Something like that might work well for a smaller person on well worked ground. At first glance, I thought the Vevor was the same as that Bully, but they are slightly different.

I've been using my broadfork a lot this week, love that thing. The last bit was using it to dibble 4" spaced, nice, deep pokes for onion starts.
1. fertilizer on top then fork row
2. compost on top, rake, and refirm row with board. Now the row is re-raised for the year.
3. plant broccoli down the middle. Well, that is not enough.
4. plant onions down the side (use broadfork as dibble in newly furnished row side)
5. want more? broadfork row edge axially, then add more compost to edge to widen row slightly. Flatten the extra 3" of row with shovel to pack.
6. plant onions down the edge (using broadfork as dibble again)

Repeat all with cabbage and onions in next row. I had decent walkway, now it will be tight for my size 15s between the onions, but will work great.

Certainly a broadfork has some advantage compared to a rototiller when it comes to versatility.

[JRinPA]

Vevor also has a $63 stick and plastic welder? 180 amp stick welder. PLUS its a plastic welder? Free shipping.

Make a broadfork with that...

The big Eastwood distributor is only 10-15 miles down the road. I figured if I got more into welding I'd go there for something, but $63 plus can do plastic?

[Mark_Thompson]

Love my Bully fwiw.

[GoDawgs]

This is the one I have. Got it about ten years ago but I can't remember where. It's all steel and weighs about 20 lbs at least. Heavy sucker! It has 16" tines that really deal with the invading roots in some of my beds.

24.04.05 Broadfork.JPG

24.04.05 Broadfork tines.JPG