mike landrich

21 minutes ago, jlpservicesinc said:

Pictures are worth a thousand words anytime iron work is involved.. 

I'll get, and post, some tomorrow.

On 4/7/2017 at 5:05 PM, jlpservicesinc said:

 If they were vintage pitch forks,, 2 or 3 tine (3 tine were rare on small farms) then they most certainly were hardened and heat treated..    

A vintage 2 tine pitch fork in the normalized state will twist up like a pretzel in use.. (I have made vintage 2 tine types for moving loose hay) They have to be hardened and then a peacock or purple temper.. Just like a spring..      As a bragging rights kind of thing.. It was said who ever could make a pitchfork to the exact pattern, model, thickness.. etc, etc.. And the 2 tines would bend to touch and then spring back with no distortion was consider a master/ workman of the day..

 

Oil quench then smoke off should work great.. 

 

Real question is.. What kind of pitch fork?     They only made 200 different kinds..  Thus a picture would help pin point the right way to solve the problem.. 

I have 10 different forks. Most are indeed 2 tine, since I throw in the Northeast, where we can use them. I'll just start by straightening and then see about hardening

Thanks to all who replied. I will take before and after pics and post them then

I have a bunch of antique pitchfork heads that were a barn that burned. They were to be used for the Scottish Highland Games, so they need to be able to withstand a lot of stress, which they were great for, before the fire.  The tines are bent. I'd like to straighten them, but have no idea what I would need to do to heat treat them, to retain and, hopefully, regain some of the spring qualities of the steel. Any advice?

Background on me. I've done a lot of welding and fabricating, but have no experience as a blacksmith. I would most likley do the heating and straightening using either an OA or oxypropane torch. I could do a primitive coal forge if needed though, if there is an advantage