The Broadfork Guide: History, Fork Fit Workout + 2 Shop-Ready Build Plans (PDF + CAD Files)

Build your own broadfork at your local metal shop, or just learn to use one like a pro. This 23-page Alt Ordo field guide covers where the broadfork came from, how to use it, how to turn bed prep into a full-body workout, and two complete, shop-ready designs you can hand to any welder.

The broadfork loosens compacted soil deep down without flipping it, so topsoil life stays on top, water soaks in, and buried weed seeds stay buried. No engine, no fuel, no noise. And every bite is a mini deadlift, row and lunge.

What's inside

• The origin story: André Grelin's grelinette from 1950s France, and how Eliot Coleman brought it to American growers as the "broadfork."
• Why it beats a tiller: an illustrated soil cross-section, plus honest limits.
• How to fork a bed: a 4-step technique diagram, soil-moisture tests and a soil-type chart.
• The Fork Fit workout: 5 moves, 3 levels (Seedling, Sprout, Oak), a sample week and back-safe form cues.
• Design 1, AO-5: straight 5/8 in round-bar tines through a 2x2 steel bar. Two dimensioned drawing sheets, a full cut list, steel specs and a handle-length chart by your height.
• Design 2, AO-5C: curved tines cut from 1/4 in steel plate by CNC plasma or laser. Two more drawing sheets, a half-scale tine profile and the CAD cut files.
• Working with a local fab shop: where to look, what to bring, questions to ask, red flags and a copy-and-send quote script.
• What it costs: line-item estimates built from real 2026 steel prices and published welder rates.
• A bolted DIY version you can build with a drill and a vise, with the honest trade-offs.
• Buyer's guide: 9 ready-made broadforks compared, with links: Meadow Creature, Johnny's, Valley Oak, Bully Tools and DeWit.
• Care, safety, a cut-out quick-reference card and a full sources chapter.

You'll receive (instant download, one ZIP)

• AltOrdo-Broadfork-Guide.pdf: the full 23-page illustrated guide
• AO-5C_tine.dxf: a CNC cut file for the curved plate tine. Upload it to any laser or plasma cutting service.
• AO-5C_gusset.dxf: a cut file for the handle gusset plates
• AO-5C_tine_fullsize.svg: a full-size printable tine template for tracing by hand

A custom shop-built broadfork typically runs about $200–$700 depending on your region and shop rates. The guide shows you how to land at the low end.

Digital product: nothing ships. The drawings are a starting design for your fabricator to review, not certified engineering. For personal use; please share the shop link rather than the files.