Recognising and understanding the object
- Materials
- metal, wood
- Parts
- two curved prongs, long shaft
- Purpose
- Support and move a cooking pot inside an oven.
- Period
- Context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century household collections and historical accounts; individual objects differ in date.
- Place and distribution
- Institute of the Lithuanian Language dictionary and household museum collections.
What it is and how it works
Puodšakės are long-handled pot forks with two curved prongs for drawing pots from an oven. The Institute of the Lithuanian Language records this meaning. Unlike a hay fork, the tool is shaped around a vessel rather than intended to pierce loose material.
Evidence and examples
Alytus and Kazimieras Būga museum presentations place these implements in the oven setting. Read the working end together with the shape of a pot: the space between its prongs relates to a rounded container. A long shaft alone cannot distinguish a pot fork from a poker.
How to identify it
Record the curve and spacing of the prongs and their joint with the shaft. A missing handle need not prevent identification when the metal head and documentation survive. In a museum demonstration, observe the movement being explained; historical use is not permission to try a fragile exhibit with a heavy pot.
