Why We Left the Tines Alone
M
Mr Uglytool
- Tool-Design
- Minutiae
- FYI
- observa-wisdom
TL;DR
Why We Build TWO Broadforks..
...Are the Tines 'greener' on the other side of the fence?
One of the questions that comes up from time to time is why we changed so much on the More-Fork but left the tine design largely alone (except the tine steel upgrade to 4140.. super glad I did that!)
The answer is pretty simple. Because it already worked.
Over the years I've spent plenty too much time thinking about broadforks. Probably more time than is healthy or normal. Followed up with hundreds of phone calls to Broadfork users.. hearing their systems, hearing their dreams.. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that changing something isn't the same as improving it.
The original Gundaroo tine design has had a long pressure test. (1980's were the good years.. right?)
Not in a laboratory, in market gardens, community gardens, schools... (all places that 'have something to prove' as a common trait, whether we admit that or not..)
In clay. In loam. Harvesting carrots, key-lining hills or planting truffle cultures..
In ground that should have been worked a month earlier.... or worse.
And after all that, it kept doing what a good broadfork tine should do. It gets into the soil, opens it up and gets back out again without creating a whole new set of problems.
Could we have made it longer? Sure.
Wider? Maybe.
A different shape? Yeppo and Absolutely.
But every change comes with trade-offs. And I sweated those trade-offs.
A tine that pulls easier might not lift as well. A tine that lifts more soil might require more effort. A tine that works beautifully in one soil type can become a liability in another.
The soil has a funny way of humbling clever ideas. So when it came time to redesign the broadfork, we spent our effort on the parts we genuinely thought could be improved. The frame. The handle arrangement. The manufacturing. The shipping.
The tines had already earned their place. Full Credit to P Thorne and M Plane and J Wilkie. Pioneers.
Sometimes good design isn't about asking what else you can add. It's about recognising what doesn't need fixing. ..and how much of new development becomes unwanted performance.
After fifteen years of growing food, that's probably one of the more useful lessons the garden has taught me.
See? It just works!
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Food. Politics. Health. Disability. It all lends into what you see in us, and that's how you know we serve alongside you.
Join the list and feel free to ask questions.. always better questions!
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