Carving fork with lever?

meako

meako

Gold Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2006
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Oddly I have never seen one like this.
It was only 1$.
Anyone know what the moving part is all about?
20150424_181957_zpssxtzuh8t.jpg
 
Tri-pod to keep the serving set from touching the Table cloth after use. you prop it up then lay the carving knife across the back of the fork. so no meat juices gets
on Grandma's best Lace. Have an old Antler Handle set.

DSC_0007.JPG
 
When raised, it's a guard to protect your hand, in case the knife slips while slicing toward the fork. Old Navy, I haven't seen that tripod arrangement before, but it appears to incorporate a guard as well.
 
iSaur said:
When raised, it's a guard to protect your hand, in case the knife slips while slicing toward the fork. Old Navy, I haven't seen that tripod arrangement before, but it appears to incorporate a guard as well.
Click to expand...

Please help me understand how this works. I may be carving the wrong way.

A similar dodad was patented as a "guard."
https://books.google.com/books?id=H...zgK#v=onepage&q=guard on carving fork&f=false

Another patent as a guard in 1915
https://books.google.com/books?id=5...TgU#v=onepage&q=guard on carving fork&f=false

These guys saw their guard as also serving as a rest in 1875
https://books.google.com/books?id=l...DgU#v=onepage&q=guard on carving fork&f=false

Wusthof says its a "finger guard."
 
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Ha....I always thought it was to grab the meat while placing it on the platter....but now looking at the pics that doesn't seem practical. I'll ask my wifes grandpa what he says. He always uses one

Edited to add: I'm sure I have asked someone while watching them carve up a ham or turkey and that's the answer I got...but my wifes grandpa is the most recent memory of using one like that and he never used it to grab the meat....or for anything actually?
 
Sullie said:
Ha....I always thought it was to grab the meat while placing it on the platter....but now looking at the pics that doesn't seem practical. I'll ask my wifes grandpa what he says. He always uses one

Edited to add: I'm sure I have asked someone while watching them carve up a ham or turkey and that's the answer I got...but my wifes grandpa is the most recent memory of using one like that and he never used it to grab the meat....or for anything actually?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies guys. Old Navy -that is a beautiful old antler carving set.
I'm pretty much going to write off most of what I've read about this thing so far(the theories are many) because I just don't see how it works.
There's no way this fork will stand up using that lever as a prop. The end of it is round .
OR
Do you lay the fork on its side ,deploy the contraption,and rest the knife on that? I believe that Nanas tablecloth would become befouled with meat juice,gravy,and lumps of crackling in no time-HOW WOULD THAT WORK? it is a vexing conundrum.
A meat serving grasper? It makes me laugh just thinking about the bloke who thought of that back in the day.
The knife guard? why didn't they just make a real guard? -that one is borderline because it would work maybe.
However,
The advantage of escaping from the dinner table unscathed by knife lacerations to the fingers is likely outweighed by the risks posed by the amount of food that has (I know because I just cleaned it out) accumulated in the hinge pin crevice over the years.
Not at all appetising I can assure you.
In conclusion my best guess is a technological step sideways that was successfully marketed as the latest thing of it's day. Possibly invented by a rumpled boffin,nutty professor type character who was inept at using the carving set and came up with a solution.:)
 
I always saw that used and used it myself as a prop to keep the tines off the table. Open it horizontal and rest it on the two-prong side. I'm surprised by TL's guard patents. Maybe the confusion goes way back.
 
You find no value in what the inventor who patented the device or the company that manufactured the fork with the device had to say? Tough sell.
 
I believe this is not a lever or a stand, but a platter rest. It can be used to hold the folk in place on rim of a serving platter. I would upload a photo if I could do so.
 
I think it is an auxilary handle to hold the fork with the second hand while jamming it into a tough piece of meat.
 
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