In article >,
Gloria P > wrote:

> Not quite. My late mother-in-law had a bone-handled carving set with a
> fork that had that rod. It is a "rest" to prevent the fork tines from
> touching the tableclolth and getting it dirty if it slid off the
> platter. On MIL's fork the rod swiveled down so it wouldn't be in the
> way when you were carving.

I'm posting very late and too often. I just tried swiveling the 'guard'
into position and using it as a rest for dirty tines above the table. It
worked great. In all my life, I've never ran a knife up a fork to cut
myself.

leo