The use of 2" x 4" timber spacers, designed to separate lumber stacks has diminished in size over the years. This has resulted in smaller spaces between the stacks. When handling longer or double depth stacks of lumber, a fully tapered fork was tried, but was prone to deflection, causing unstable load conditions. Hence the two stage Lumber Tapered Fork was developed to address and resolve these concerns. This design is recommended on forks 72" and longer.
There is a two stage taper factored into the blade design.
There is a shorter but more durable slim tip for easy entry into the stack.10% of the blade near the inside of the heel is now at full thickness, providing increased rigidity.20% from the tip of the fork is now 50% of the full thickness of the blade, thus reducing fork deflection.The top of the blade can be polished to reduce friction when engaging a load.