I don't know any place locally that would sell something like this either.

Here is a link to a a company that I have purchased from before they have several differen style tools that might work for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rock Rack

Pitch forks are for hay and other "light" materials, not for digging. The most rugged fork is the spading fork. My ACE hardware store has the following:

Ensilage Fork (76134): $49.99

Manure Fork (74132): $29.99 to 37.99

Truper Spading Fork (Bj-4p): $21.99

Compost Fork (74156): $35.99

Detail on the Spading Fork are in the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Truper Spading Fork

Nick,

I bought a digging fork at the local hardware store a few years back. I found that it couldn't hold up to digging in heavy soil. The tines just bent back whenever rocks or clay were encountered. If you buy one, spend the time and money for a superior tool which will last a lifetime. I have a strong belief that good tools are good investments and significantly reduce the swearing in my garden.

I think you're looking for a spading fork. It will handle heavy clay (don't I know it!), but if you catch a tine under a rock, it will bend.

The fork that I bent looks to be one similar to the "Truper Spading Fork" The Rock Rake looks really neat, and I might get one of those too, but its still isn't quite what I'm looking for. I'm a couple minutes down the road from the Susq. river so at some point many many years ago my yard must have been river bed. The soil is actually really great. Very loamy with quite a bit of organics in it. I have to go down many many feet before I hit anything like clay. I am burdened with an abundance of rocks. When I first moved in I used a regular shovel and a hand spade (I know, I know, I should know the correct names for them, especially from all the Gardening By The Yard I watch) anyhow, I used them to simply dig a hole for a 'lil weeping flowering cherry I got from Walmart and it took me hours. I'd hit a rock every time. I found using my fork really worked well, until I bent the one tine.....
harryshoe. You're totally right, I don't mind spending a bit of money if I can get a tool that will hold up to the rock tortue I'll give it for years. I'll take more time after work to go through the links and see if I missed it. Thanks for the links so far and please keep them coming!!!!

Lunch Break Is Over, Time to Drive Back To Work
Happy Gardening

~Nick

I have one of those heavy duty forks, and it worked okay ...better than a shovel, but it still didn't do the job as well as I liked.

What I'd recommend is something called a mattock.
Before finding one of these, I was frustrated to the point where I refused to plant anything else, simply because it took hours to dig out rocks. I swore up and down that somebody had purposely put these rocks in the ground, like a jigsaw puzzle: in order to remove one rock, you had to first loosen another rock which had it glued in place. But the second rock had a third rock holding it in place, which had to be removed first...and so on.

Now I'm happily digging holes in a fraction of the time!

I have a very old spading fork that has held up very well for many decades. It looks like the Ames® 30" Spading Fork Model: 18-940 which Lowes and other stores carry for about $20.

A similar model is the Tru-Tough BJ-4E DH Spade Fork 4 Tines for $26 at http://www.gertens.com/

Or the Vigoro Spading fork at Home Depot

Probably the best are Lee Valley English Digging Forks which run around $47.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lee Valley English Digging Forks

I use a mattock, too. Great for digging through compacted rocky soil.

Thanks for all the info, I went for a more expensive one that rhodyman suggested from Lee Valley. I got it on Friday :o) Of course with the 20-30 below freezing temps the ground had pretty much turned rock hard, but I did have a 1' hole I could test it out on. It works fairly well, and I knew it was what I wanted just by looking at the thicker tines.
Thanks Again, Its going to get quite a workout this spring!

We use a spud bar to dig holes in our rocky soil. Yep, I'm near the Susquehanna, and most of my garden design decisions are dictated by the amount of effort it would take to dig a hole big enough for the plant's root systems! The spud bar and my mantis tiller are my two most-used garden tools. Oh, and a pickaxe.

Spud Bar Link:
http://www.hooverfence.com/tools/digger-tamper.htm

I just popped into the PA Gardening forum.
Nick, you should be very happy with the English Spading Fork. I am just down the road from you(17821) and have used one for years in this Weikert soil. I should order that 42" handle one, mine is a shortie. One bend tine when I tried to move a large rock. Although, if I am doing a large area I go rent the big rear tine tiller at Cole's.

Seven years ago, I invested in a broadfork from Johnny's, link below. It was expensive, but it has saved me a fortune and my back. I don't like to till my beds, so it helps me to break up soil just enough, and since it uses your own body weight, it brings rocks up to the surface nicely.

What I'm looking for now is a fork for digging potatoes without poking holes in them...

Here is a link that might be useful: broadfork