(First off, long time lurker here. This be one of the few places i visit daily to see if something new stirs in the world of bushcraft.)
I`ve got one of those fire-forks from lightmyfire, and i`ve got to say that the wire is pretty darn stiff. The blacksmith in me, thinks that it might be spring steel wire. (Piano wire, 1050-1080 steel or thereabouts. (Don`t really know what piano wire is made of.))
So, if the wire isn`t stiff enough to prod things onto without bending, maybe it`d be worth going with the piano wire? Or something? The wire thickness on mine is around 2mm. (Or 1/32" for those not using metric.)
Quite a useful little tool i tells ya. Add to the fact that it only takes up a tad larger space than a large bic lighter. You might do well without it, but if you`ve ever tried to toast small sausages and other suchlike on a fire, and everything just disintegrated because the prongs on the stick were too large, and in the end you had to eat ash-sausage or go without. Well.. I`m happy with my fire-fork.
If i`d known how exactly to make one of these before i bought one... Well, i`d`ve made one!
Great idea, and great pictures too! Dare i say, :You_Rock_
(And if people used half the amount of energy required to make negative posts, on overlooking the parts they wanted to make negative comments about, things`d be a whole lot better in this world.)