I looked around on the internet for tutorials on how to bend forks, and amazingly I couldn't find too many that were useful to me. There were some which involved using a blowtorch and other blacksmithing materials, of which I do not own, then there were others that simply said to bend the fork using a pair of pliers. The pliers method was the one I was going for, but for some reason unbeknownst to me, I couldn't figure out how to bend the forks without breaking them, and none of the tutorials mentioned anything about breakage. It just seemed as though everyone had a miraculous way of bending forks into beautiful shapes without the tines breaking. I finally figured out that there is a method to it, and after countless broken forks and a few blisters I had it downpat.
These are the basic materials you will need:
The obvious....forks! I used 3 for my rack, but you can use as many as you want. I found the cheaper the fork, the easier it was to bend. Since I have about 20 forks in my kitchen utensil drawer, it was easy for me to surrender a few to my project.
Tools. A hammer to pound the fork tines flat, different size pliers for the bending process, a clamp for holding the fork still while you're bending it (although I would recommend a vice grip if you have one), a drill for drilling holes into the forks and then onto the board, and of course, an old piece of board that you have laying around the house.
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Now, the trick to bending the forks with your bare hands and a pair of pliers, is to do it slow and strong. I quickly learned that if I went too fast, the tines would break very easily. I originally wanted to bend all the tines sideways, modeled after a beautiful picture I had seen of a fork hook where they were bent into a celtic knot. I soon realized if I wanted to do that, I would need to learn the art of blacksmithing, which I may do sometime in the future, but for the time being, I needed to keep it simple.
I found it much easier to bend the tines forward. After much trial and error, this was my first successful hook. I clamped the handle of the fork to my workbench to hold it still, then I grabbed the very end of the tine with a pair of pliers and slowly began bending in a spiral like motion. It takes a lot more strength than I realized, so I really had to find the right balance of speed and muscle to get it to bend smoothly. As I said before, if you go too fast, THE TINE WILL BREAK!
After I got comfortable with bending forward, I decided to give it another try on bending sideways, just a little bit. I couldn't get it to spiral, but I was able to get it to bend just enough to give it the illusion of being a hand giving the peace sign. I thought it looked cute, and appropriate for my son's room, so I left it at that. I picked the three best looking forks, then bent the handles upward to form the hook. I then drilled holes into the forks, figured out where I wanted to position the forks on the board, then drilled holes on the board. Then I just drilled the forks into place! I was going to paint the board, but I liked the rustic unfinished look it had to it. I sanded it down a bit to give a smoother look, and....
done!!
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