Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
"Therefore" writes:

I intend buying a stainless garden fork for general purpose use. I
have seen in B&Q a fork for £11.00 , this has square tines rather
than the usual round tines.

Is this type of fork good for heavy digging and also has it the
strength of the round tines.

It depends on its construction, the quality of the metal, and the
gauge of the tines. Square tines are 18% stronger than round ones.

For a given cross-sectional area? It would be interesting to know how the
strength was measured.

Stainless steel can be anything from excellent to dire, and light
gauge tines will bend or break no matter what they are made from.
But, generally, total failure more often occurs where the handle
attaches to the tine unit, or at the 'neck' just above the horizontal
that connects the tines.

I tend to agree with all that, but if the OP has sandy or more-or-less good
quality soil, then I doubt he will break or bend the fork under almost any
circumstances. But if we are talking about solid clay with ironstone lumps
in it, I wouldn't trust even a JCB to survive undamaged.

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)