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Buy cheap pay twice...

Zoomer44Zoomer44 Posts: 3,267

Whilst digging up brambles my 20yr old fork snapped...image...it was so light weight and easy to use...rather than it go to the tool graveyard in the sky ...image...it has become two very useful tools, the handle is now a dibber for parsnips and the like...and the fork has become an extra large hand fork...

To cut to the chase, I then purchased a cheap garden fork and one of the pronges has bent on first use. Now I didn't expect it to last 20yrs but did expect it to dig up bramble crowns and stop when it came to a stone.

Q is would you take it back or should I just bite the bullet and get a better fork....         

Posts

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    Take it back and then get a better fork.

  • BiljeBilje Posts: 811

    It wasn't suitable for purpose...take it back.

  • PalaisglidePalaisglide Posts: 3,414

    Zoomer, always take things back they will be happy if you are upgrading to a better fork. My fork is my old dads and all of sixty years old if not more, it is shorter than it was but the tines still straight and sharp. I do oil the steel and the wood after cleaning which is why I got so annoyed when Toby from the old GW threw his tools on the ground, they need respect.

    Boiling day over here today the tomato's and strawberries are loving it.

    Frank.

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,012

    I know cheap is a comparative term but I've learnt that lesson with petrol mowers.  I had a Flymo petrol mower for years but when that died I bought a Mountfield which lasted about 4 years and then a Qualcast which was rubbish from the day I got it.  Grass cutting was uneven, it was the noisiest mower I've ever owned and even on a highish cut setting it managed to scalp parts on the lawn at random.

    I've just invested in a Honda at twice the price and already the difference in cut quality is obvious.  When buying it I got into conversation with a customer who had had one for over 20 years so hopefully this will give similar service.

  • BluebaronBluebaron Posts: 226
    How much was the 'cheap', fork?
  • Zoomer44Zoomer44 Posts: 3,267

    It was less than £8, so very cheap, the next grade up is double, I'm happy to pay extra if it does the job. Will take it back...Zoomer goes off to see if she can find the receipt...

  • John HardingJohn Harding Posts: 541

    I used to manage a hand tool shop in the 1970s and 80s and we sold thousands of gardening tools. For me the best makes for forks and spades were Spear & Jackson and Wilkinson Sword - 'Stainless Steel'

    I have has  S&J all steel handled garden fork and a S/Steel garden spade for over 30 years and both are still in very good order (spade had a wooden handle which I snapped trying to dig the root out of an old apple tree so I bought a new hickory handle and fitted it and it's been fine ever since). About 10 years ago I then bought my wife a 'ladies' fork & spade in stainless steel and that is still 'as new' condition.

    Stainless steel I'd a lot more expensive but they will give a lifetime of good service and they are so much easier to use as soil (especially heavy clay) doesn't stick anywhere near as much as it does to carbon steel. Definitely a worthwhile investment if you can afford it. My philosophy is to ask myself what I will think of my purchase in a years time. There is an old American saying 'quality is remembered long after price is forgotten'

  • http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c186/DavidKnapper/DSCN0508.jpg

     This the only spade & fork I've ever had......made by Elwell in the Black Country and bought by me in the late 50s.

    They're never put away dirty (the way I was trained) and about once a month the shafts are oiled with linseed oil. 

  • BluebaronBluebaron Posts: 226
    ??8 is pretty cheap not surprised it broke my ??25 Joseph Bentley broke in 8 months or so. Just got a wolf garten for ??25. Let's hope this one lasts.
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