Suggestions: a bent Forklift tine?

[Crawler]

A forklift at work got its tines replaced due to one of them getting the tip bent straight up. After getting permission, I scooped up the bent one when the contractor technician finished swapping them out.

Anyway. I'm still very inexperienced at smithing. This tine weighs over 100#, thus is a decent score for someone such as myself who is lacking both experience & funds.

I know it's got potential, but can't think of the ideal use(s) for it. I could just cut it down to more manageable pieces. Or it could be used/modified into tooling of some sort?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[LarryFahnoe]

Aside from practical uses you may find for the fork, I'd have loved to have seen (heard!) when that forklift stubbed its toe! 

--Larry

[Frosty]

OWWW ! I wonder how badly the operator was injured? I've come to sudden stops on forklifts and it's never pleasant. That had to be a brutal impact.

What to do with a fork. Well, the section where it mounts to the truck can be cut a little ways out the tine, say 10" +/- and mounted bend up to make a fine anvil. The steel is typically in the 4140 or equivalent medium carbon steel heat treated to be tough and NOT bend! 

It's excellent steel but I don't know what a person would use it for as smithing stock. It's WAY too heavy to do much with without a serious power hammer in which case a number of hammers and bottom tools are on the list. I suppose a person could take slices about as wide as it is thick and hand forge hammers, top and bottom tools. Just be aware it WILL not move easily under the hammer.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Goods]

I’ve been using forklift tine as source material for all types of tooling: hammers, sets, fullers power hammer saddles, hatchets, chisels, punches, drifts. The material in mine is tough as forged and holds an edge quenched and tempered. Test your material. Then cut pieces off in the size you need for the project at hand.

Keep it fun,

David

[lary]

 

 As mentioned, good for anvils and hammers. What did the rest of the Hyster look like? Where I work, I think the only time a fork gets bent that badly or worse, is when the driver runs the forklift off the dock. If the other one is getting scrapped, you might ask about it.

[Crawler]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. For the time being, it will likely just help anchor a corner/small area for my projects & materials at the Makerspace I go to, partially because the massive semiautomatic bandsaw slipped the blade last week.

As for the Toyota forklift, it's only about a year old and this is the most abuse it's received so far. The other tine was fine, so it was stowed in the maintenance shop as a spare (contractor replaces them in pairs).

The driver, a lil'ole ladie in her early 60's that literally runs (on foot) circles around everyone else was quite shaken, but otherwise fine. She isn't very fond of being on a forklift anyway. They did revoke her forklift certification for the time being.

As to how it happened: an empty one of our larger pallets (82"x64" or 112"x64") had become askew, so she was using the lift to push a corner against a structural I-beam column. We work in a large section of the 100+/- year old former International Harvester complex. The structure was built to last, but the floors are slightly different elevations where a new section was added on, or entirely uneven/rough because of wear and tear over the years.

Edit: I forgot to add that the tine was already bent slightly when a different operator caught it on a mangled dock plate. It had maybe a 30-40 degree curve.