Granny fork???

[atty]

I have two of these treasures, and I have not been able to find more of them anywhere. From the pics that I have been able to find on the Net, it appears to be a type of Granny Fork, but finding one with 4 tines has been quite a challenge. These were my mother's, and since I'm 63, you get a rough idea of their age.

Overall length is 7 1/4". Tine length measured from bottom of the wood handle is 3 1/2". Besides scouring yard sales, anybody know where I might score a few of these?

 

[brasicana]

We were just discussing my mom's fork -- she got hers when she got married in 1959. We would LOVE to find one again! All I can find are 3-tined ones. If you find any, let me know!

 

[justplainbill]

The tines on many older forks were more needle-like
Eichenlaub Besteck - Messer Roedter gegr. 1909 scharferLaden.de Messer Kochmesser Rasiermesser Scheren aus Solingen Laden Versand Schleiferei

 

[mcnerd]

Interesting conversation. My memories of the Granny Fork was 3 very sharp prongs and straight, instead of curved like an eating fork, and much longer (over 7 inches) since it needed to reach further for kitchen preparation, but shorter and smaller than the 2-pronged carving fork.

Saw something similar on Amazon.com and thinking about buying it, but the one I remember as a boy seemed longer and did not have the bend. My granny was in upstate New York when I first experienced it. Oh yah, I'm 67 now.

 

[Janet H]

Interesting. My mom had a bigger fork called a Foley Fork that she used to make gravy, strain steamed veggies and serve drippy things (to leave the drippy stuff behind). I covet it! It was about 11 inches long and the fork part about 2.5 inches wide. Unlike the one you mention, the tines weren't sharp however.

 

[CWS4322]

I have a couple of those! I didn't know they had a special name. I learn something every day on DC. Thanks for sharing.

 

[pacanis]

Interesting. These are called granny forks? When my mother gave it to me she called it a testing fork, for sticking into a baked potato (or whatever) to see if it was done. At least that's how she used one.
I had to do some rummaging through the drawer to find it

 

[GLC]

Isn't that wild. I'm 62, and my mother had a number of pretty much exactly that fork. Just a little utilitarian fork. I always took it to be part of a cheap flatware set. We used them for everything. Can't find them at all anywhere, today.

But we're still cleaning out her house. Next time I'm there, I have to look. She never threw away anything else, so maybe...

It also feels like a thing to watch for at Goodwill.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Can't find them at all anywhere, today.

Well, Amazon has everything under the sun, including Granny Forks:

http://www.amazon.com/LamsonSharp-3-Tine-Granny-Fork-7-Inch/dp/B0018N0X1Y

For less than $12, it seems like a pretty good buy.

 

[Steve Kroll]

By the way, my dad always called these "meat forks". Maybe that's something different, though it looks like the one in the original poster's photo. Anyway, I still use the one he bought back in the 1940s.

 

[atty]

A little update

I've been busy hitting a few flea markets and yard sales, but my best luck was on Ebay. These are not exactly what I was looking for. In fact, they are considerably older than the vintage I first posted. Also, they are old, pure steel, so if you have the bad habit that I do of tossing them in the sink to wash later, you will find the tines highly rusted in less than an hour. I think my original post was stainless steel as they never seem to discolor no matter how long they stay in water.

Steve: Saw the Amazon link, but alas, they are 3 tines. Just don't know what is so hard about 4, but it certainly is a challenge.....and I wonder why all the culinary tool manufacturers decided that 3 is the way to go. Cheaper to produce maybe?

 

[justplainbill]

I've been busy hitting a few flea markets and yard sales, but my best luck was on Ebay. These are not exactly what I was looking for. In fact, they are considerably older than the vintage I first posted. Also, they are old, pure steel, so if you have the bad habit that I do of tossing them in the sink to wash later, you will find the tines highly rusted in less than an hour. I think my original post was stainless steel as they never seem to discolor no matter how long they stay in water.

Steve: Saw the Amazon link, but alas, they are 3 tines. Just don't know what is so hard about 4, but it certainly is a challenge.....and I wonder why all the culinary tool manufacturers decided that 3 is the way to go. Cheaper to produce maybe?

Interesting patterns. Might well date back to the early 1900s. A lot of that stuff was originally tin plated. I have a couple that have tine wear like the bottom specimen. The roots of the tines can be a bear to keep clean.

 

[mcnerd]

Just don't know what is so hard about 4, but it certainly is a challenge.....and I wonder why all the culinary tool manufacturers decided that 3 is the way to go. Cheaper to produce maybe?

The forks had different purposes and wasn't an issue of cheaper. The Granny Fork, as I grew up with 60+ years ago, had 3 tines and a longer straight length since it was used to reach across the stove or across the table when passing food to a plate. The 4 tine fork is a regular table fork for eating, a meat fork as someone mentioned earlier. The 2 tine fork was for carving. I had no experience with the multi-tined 'Foley' Fork, but it seems to have more uses around the stove, useful as a cooking fork and more versatile than a slotted spoon.

 

[atty]

The forks had different purposes and wasn't an issue of cheaper. The Granny Fork, as I grew up with 60+ years ago, had 3 tines and a longer straight length since it was used to reach across the stove or across the table when passing food to a plate. The 4 tine fork is a regular table fork for eating, a meat fork as someone mentioned earlier. The 2 tine fork was for carving.......

I will have to agree. I've even come across some sales listings that are allegedly for some civil war utensils that appear to be the same vintage. I guess my question was: Why is there no manuf. for 4 tines now? As Schazz points out, there are plenty of places for 3 tines, but 4 seems to have been relegated to the history books. The 4 tine is far more flexible than a 3, and to me, far more versatile, but then again, I grew up on two of those in the original post, so it may just be me. Just seems strange that the producers today have seem to have accepted a 3 as the standard in that size.

 

[Bigjim68]

I've been busy hitting a few flea markets and yard sales, but my best luck was on Ebay. These are not exactly what I was looking for. In fact, they are considerably older than the vintage I first posted. Also, they are old, pure steel, so if you have the bad habit that I do of tossing them in the sink to wash later, you will find the tines highly rusted in less than an hour. I think my original post was stainless steel as they never seem to discolor no matter how long they stay in water.

Steve: Saw the Amazon link, but alas, they are 3 tines. Just don't know what is so hard about 4, but it certainly is a challenge.....and I wonder why all the culinary tool manufacturers decided that 3 is the way to go. Cheaper to produce maybe?

If you are looking for a particular pattern, like the OP, you might send a photo and description to Replacements, Ltd, in NC. It is amazing what they have around.

Some, if not all those you posted appear to have bone handles. I would be careful about leaving them in water. Bone will crack and warp.

 

[DMerry]

My mother had a three-tined "granny fork" that she got from her grandfather, and she used it while I was growing up until it was ready to fall apart. This fork was built like a knife, in that the shank went straight down through the handle to the bottom of the fork. In 1968 or so, I found a fork made by Case, which they do not make anymore by the way, that had the three tines, was almost the same size, and had the same kind of shank, so I bought one for her for her birthday and she bought one for me for Christmas. I now have both the forks, and of all the neat stuff in my kitchen, those two forks are the most important to me.

 

[mark111757]

i remembered this place...i hope it might help

Kitchen Fork available at The Vermont Country Store