How to Balance a Fork and Spoon on a Toothpick 82 Comments
This is a simple and amazing bar trick that allows you to balance a fork and spoon on a toothpick. Two forks also works well.
It will turn any dull conversation into a “WTF?!” moment where people start pulling out cameras. No training or special items required — you can learn it in about 30 seconds.
It might be as inane as my video on how to peel hard-boiled eggs without peeling them. Then again, that video got more than 2 million views, so at least a few of you seem to enjoy sleight-of-hand and general tomfoolery as much as I do.
Be careful with the glasses!
Elsewhere on the Interwebs:
Tim Ferriss – 3 Tips for Would-Be Dancers: From 1st Class to World-Class in 6 Months
Posted on May 26th, 2009
- Subscribe and get the latest
- Save this page
- Stumble It
- Email to a Friend
- Print it
- Leave a comment
Did you like this article?
Related Posts
-
Most Popular
The Not-To-Do List: 9 Habits to Stop Now
The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen (and Weapons of Mass Distraction)
How to Travel the World with 10 Pounds or Less (Plus: How to Negotiate Convertibles and Luxury Treehouses)
How to Do The Impossible: Create a Paperless Life, Never Check Voicemail Again, Never Return Another Phone Call…
-
Topics
- 4-Hour Case Studies (27)
- Automation (5)
- Dance (3)
- E-mail Detox (19)
- Entrepreneurship (1)
- Filling the Void (64)
- Gadgets (11)
- Geoarbitrage (8)
- Interviews (22)
- Investing (9)
- Language (12)
- Low-Information Diet (39)
- Marketing (21)
- Mental Performance (13)
- Mini-retirements (21)
- Nonsense (5)
- Outsourcing Life (14)
- Physical Performance (25)
- Practical Philosophy (1)
- Presentations (1)
- Protecting Time (11)
- Random (7)
- Remote Offices (7)
- Rockstar Living in… (5)
- The 4-Hour Body (11)
- The Book – 4HWW (38)
- Travel (44)
- Uncategorized (19)
-
Tim on Twitter...
The most common words in the English language (and most others, too): http://su.pr/AhcGHL 17 hrs ago -
Tim's Photos and More
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That's how we're gonna be -- cool. Critical is fine, but if you're rude, we'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration)
82 Responses to “How to Balance a Fork and Spoon on a Toothpick”
May 26th, 2009
8:16 pm
I love the wine bottle trick…to get a cork out of a wine bottle with just napkin. An old Irish couple showed me this one while I was traveling. Very cool!
May 26th, 2009
8:16 pm
Well that was awesome. Going to try that right now…
May 26th, 2009
8:24 pm
Sweet post. Loving your book im reading it for the first time in Belize and im about to travel Central and South America. Thanks bro for your inspiration and information
May 26th, 2009
8:24 pm
nice! I always have a few on hand as well, makes things alot more interesting on early dates with a significant other.
May 26th, 2009
8:28 pm
I read a book recently that said “just because you do something well doesn’t make it important.” Smart guy.
;)
May 26th, 2009
10:40 pm
@Trevor,
LOL.. this is most definitely not “important” in the typical sense, but it is fun. Fun has it’s own importance, methinks.
All the best,
Tim
May 26th, 2009
8:53 pm
I learned this trick a while back from one of the best and most accessible science textbooks ever written, “Conceptual Physics” by Paul Hewitt. A great book, by the way, for dunderheaded liberal arts majors like me who want to get a practical understanding of how the universe works.
May 26th, 2009
8:54 pm
Tim, keep em coming – have you seen the sprintcuts yet? Lame attempt at corporate viral nonsense but tying shoes ultra fast seems fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yuP-pWOmRE
Peace,
B
May 26th, 2009
9:08 pm
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet Post…….. I am going to try this sometime soon.
Cheers
Jose
May 26th, 2009
9:10 pm
Very cool! My son loves tricks like these to amaze friends, so keep them coming!
May 26th, 2009
9:11 pm
If I get laid doing this I’ll buy you a drink -
May 26th, 2009
9:26 pm
I ordered the audio version and I absolutely cannot take the guy who is reading it. Am I the only one with this problem? His voice is just abrasive to me and I’m having a hard time listening. Is there any way to exchange it for the book? Did you listen to it? I wish it would have been your voice.
Warmest Regards,
Rosemary Hamilton
May 26th, 2009
9:28 pm
That is so cool! Gracias Tim! I’m practicing it as we speak.
May 26th, 2009
9:41 pm
Nice one.
Btw, are you by any chance into magic? Cause there are some amazing things you could do with a napkin or a coin or a deck of cards although with cards it’s a bit more advanced -)
Love your blog, Tim.
May 26th, 2009
9:41 pm
The value/inaneness/awesomeness of the trick depends on the person you’re with. Even the best tricks may come off as dumb/awkward if the person/people you’re with aren’t the right type to appreciate the trick.
May 26th, 2009
9:48 pm
Tim! This is grand. A girl showed me this at dinner once and I’ve been meaning to replicate it.
Also – cheers for mentioning “On Writing Well” in the Le Muir interview. The book has been an awesome resource on my quest from terrible writer to readable writer. (*Note to other readers – it’s a book by William Zinsser and its’ rad.)
@Kaiser – This should grab a girls attention well – won’t make her fall in love with you – but puts you on the right path. I’ve had good luck recently with making business cards disappear. A few searches on You Tube will show you how.
May 26th, 2009
9:50 pm
a jajaja
I’ve been doing this trick as a child. I don’t remember who taught me though. There are other tricks too. Some harder, like balancing a coca-cola bottle on the tip of another bottle.
May 26th, 2009
10:28 pm
Ha! Cool. I learned this trick waiting out a storm on the Azores near the end of an Atlantic crossing. Good relaxation for sea sick tired people. (Don’t try this on a boat.)
May 26th, 2009
10:41 pm
Tim,
I am enjoy that filling the void doesn’t always have to be 100% seriousness. In fact richness for me is a wonderful conversation over a home cooked meal. Thanks for sharing what you enjoy.
Peace.
May 26th, 2009
10:42 pm
Good trick, Tim, I’ve been doing one like this for 17 years, leaving bartenders, wait staff, and dinner guests befuddled. If you want to get really creative and leave people absolutely amazed, you can use two toothpicks, balancing one with the forks on the very tip of another toothpick that’s wedged into a salt or pepper shaker. I’ll record “this” version and post a comment back here with a short video. Originally learned from Bill Nye the Science Guy (thank you PBS).
Cheers,
Eric
May 26th, 2009
11:12 pm
When I was working graveyards in the restaurant we would do kind of the same thing with two forks, two toothpicks and a salt shaker. Looks really neat when you got one tooth pick balanced on another.
May 26th, 2009
11:16 pm
Lol, thats cool. I used to have an Eagle toy that relied on the same physics to balance only on its beak.
May 26th, 2009
11:32 pm
I love silly (stupid) and impressive tricks like this. Peace!
May 26th, 2009
11:40 pm
Greetings from Hong Kong!
Fun post. Back to your twitter comment; you eyeballed a girl’s body fat?! That is far out.
Hope all is well. Keep the creative juices flowing.
May 26th, 2009
11:44 pm
Very funny! Maybe you can send the video to a spanish TV show called “El Hormiguero”. They are allways doing stuff like this “inspired” on Internet videos.
May 27th, 2009
12:00 am
That was cool. Thanks for the brain-break.
Looking forward to your next post.
May 27th, 2009
12:27 am
Hey Tim,
This was an awesome post on twitter
(http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/cheap-travel/), thanks! I loved it.
May 27th, 2009
12:46 am
You can also perform this trick by interlacing two forks.
I believe this little note could save millions of forks being damaged :)
May 27th, 2009
10:22 am
@Kiesha,
Yes, you are totally right. Waiters aren’t usually too pleased with the bent forks :)
Pura vida,
Tim
May 27th, 2009
12:55 am
About 30 years ago, one of my favorites was a book with a title like “play for knowledge”. Have a look at the cover of the recent edition: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/images/3473358517/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=299956&s=books – see that experiment at the middle of the right hand column :o)
May 27th, 2009
1:12 am
@Rosemary – I agree, I still hear his voice ringing in my head “too much human contact and blackmailing required”. But honestly, it did make a few key points stick that I missed when reading the book, so there are positives to it as well.
May 27th, 2009
2:08 am
Nice video
May 27th, 2009
2:12 am
I watched the fork, spoon and toothpick trick on The Mentalist last week. He made it look so easy!
May 27th, 2009
2:12 am
Haha I’ve been pulling this one for years as my party piece. nb: It helps to remember how to do it, as on one particular occasion I completely forgot and it resulted in epic failure.
May 27th, 2009
2:14 am
To trevor chiming in with
“I read a book recently that said “just because you do something well doesn’t make it important.” Smart guy.”
I read somewhere that you shouldn’t believe everything you read :P
May 27th, 2009
2:29 am
Hey Tim,
I learned something similar to this back in the late 90s from an issue of Transworld Snowboarding. Inside was an interview with Peter Line and they listed a step by step trick.
List of Materials:
2 forks [or in your case a fork and spoon, the effect is similar]
2 toothpicks
1 Salt or Pepper shaker (with a center hole)
Step 1: Join Forks together
Step 2: Insert toothpick #1 between forks
Step 3: Insert toothpick #2 so it stands up vertically into the salt and pepper shaker (This should not fall into the hole, but STAND up)
Step 4: balance the end farthest away from the fork tongs of horizontal toothpick(the toothpick in the forks) on the vertical tip of the toothpick in the salt/pepper shaker.
With this trick i’ve actually even got it to spiral around. Give that whirl :)
May 27th, 2009
2:48 am
come on this is a pretty old trick, more pen spinning tutorials instead!
May 27th, 2009
3:48 am
Great video! Another variation of the same trick uses two toothpicks and a salt shaker instead of the side of the glass. Place the first toothpick into one of the holes on the top of the salt shaker. Then balance the second toothpick (already inside the fork/spoon) on the first toothpick to form an upside-down “L” shape. This variation is a little more difficult to pull off, but also looks a little more interesting.
Cheers!
May 27th, 2009
4:26 am
Wow, that is truly amazing stuff. Well done!
RT
May 27th, 2009
5:16 am
My girlfriend asked me to perform the same trick and I had no idea how to do it. Then she proudly did the trick and showed me and I was dumb struck. Now I know where she first saw the trick.
May 27th, 2009
5:22 am
That a good but really old trick … how about something new and web 2.0ish?
May 27th, 2009
6:02 am
Great trick! I may do that at work to impress co-workers after our long, hard week in the office! Sometimes laughter and amazement is the best medicine to reduce stress :)
May 27th, 2009
6:10 am
Ahaha
Cool
May 27th, 2009
6:23 am
What a great WTF trick. I am going to try this one out soon. Tom foolery is all good and we need more of it. Thanks again
May 27th, 2009
7:14 am
@ rosemary
regarding the voice recording – yes – for some reason the guys voice was too intense. He had a good voice, it just didn’t fit the book at all.
Tim,
Love the videos and the fact that you are ultra successful and know how to have fun!
PS – I STILL can’t do ANY of the pens tricks and I drive people (and myself) crazy trying to do them
May 27th, 2009
8:17 am
That is really cool! I hadn’t seen it before.
May 27th, 2009
8:18 am
Bar tricks are always fun, something to talk about if nothing else!
May 27th, 2009
8:28 am
I am doing this tomorrow night.
May 27th, 2009
9:14 am
Now that’s a great bar trick if I’ve ever seen one.
May 27th, 2009
10:23 am
I think the egg peeling post was more worthy of this blog.
May 27th, 2009
11:07 am
Now I only have 3hrs and 58 minutes lest this week. Funny.
May 27th, 2009
11:17 am
Hey, anything that helps me keep the kids entertained at a restaurant helps. Thanks!
May 27th, 2009
11:37 am
I’ve been trying this, after 10 minutes it worked like a charm! You should do a series of cool bar tricks. I need more free beers.
May 27th, 2009
11:49 am
“There is no spoon”…Neo (aka:Mr Anderson)
May 27th, 2009
12:42 pm
Great video, I was surprised when this popped up on my subscriptions list. It has been a while since you posted a youtube video.
May 27th, 2009
1:11 pm
I’ve been doing that trick for years although I use a diff. variant of that trick.
It utilizes a little more dexterity but is even more accessible to anyone at a restaurant or bar, because it doesn’t require a spoon or a glass. Just 2 forks, 1 salt or pepper shaker (with a hole small enough to hold one toothpick firmly), and 2 toothpicks which you can pick up on the way in. Also, presentation-wise it definitely looks much cooler.
NEED:
ONE salt/pepper shaker.
TWO tooth picks.
TWO forks.
1. Place one toothpick firmly in one of the salt shaker’s holes (middle hole is best)
2. Intertwine both forks (not too tight though)
3. Place toothpick between the mid section of the crossing section of both forks (about 1/6-1/7 of the toothpick should go through the forks)
4. *This is the trickiest part* align both tips of the toothpicks with each other. If done right it should create a (slightly) perfect right angle!
5. Watch others stare in awe!
Here’s a link I found that shows the final results.
http://tinyurl.com/q6f4e3
Enjoy!
May 27th, 2009
4:10 pm
Nice trick Tim,
My older brother taught me one that defies logic once. It involved balancing two old style coke bottles on top of a third. I’ve got a photo here.
http://philiprobert.com/2009/04/22/big-brothers-and-magic/
May 27th, 2009
4:24 pm
total dork
May 27th, 2009
6:20 pm
Haha! Rosemary that’s hilarious and so true –
Me and my brother, who’s had to listen to the book whenever I drove him somewhere a couple of years ago, always had a running joke about this …
That every guy that they got to read the book got so inspired he quit his monotonous voice job -
So the guy you hear there was the only loser that could make it all the way through!
May 27th, 2009
7:02 pm
Here’s another cool balancing act with rocks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHMEWxZjvnI
May 27th, 2009
7:15 pm
Thanks Tim, this was hilarious and made me smile in the middle of a mad week when I’ve been juggling a million balls and dealing with a bad cold. Love a bit of inanity now and again – lots of fun! I’ll show my kids. Happy Days and thanks for the smile! Lynda.
May 27th, 2009
7:44 pm
Very important to me! Great entertainment @ the dinner table for our 4 year old! Never knew about it before. Must agree, intertwining two forks would make the restaurants/ waiters more happy :) Son loves magic trick we taught him to make the salt and pepper “disappear and re-appear” via cardboard tabletop advertising thingy – what are those called? :) Anyway, thanks!!
May 28th, 2009
5:30 am
I’ve done this with 2 forks and a toothpick. You push the tines together, and put the toothpick where the tines meet, hen set the other end of the toothpick on the table – no glass. The forks sty up just on the end of the toothpick (they shouldn’t touch the table at all).
Other tricks I’ve done making a rose out of a bar napkin (really easy) and I had a teacher once who had a Bar Bet You Can Never Lose that I’ve used a couple of times. it’s true, you can’t lose it. but usually the intelligent men at the bars think that they can do anything, so they take the bet – and I walked away with cash every time (thank you to my old teacher!)
Oh, and I win bets with my middle name, too – no one can guess it. It’s that weird XD.
Drunk people at bars are fun.
May 28th, 2009
10:49 am
Hi Tim,
This is my first comment here (I think) and just curious what’s up with the tuque?
Are you in the Himalayans or something?
Cheers from Toronto, Canada.
May 28th, 2009
11:34 am
that’s pretty cool. :) I’ll try it out next time I go to a restaurant.
Reminds me of the balancing bird toy when I was little. Its beak balances its entire body.
May 28th, 2009
6:09 pm
Thanks man…cute.
May 28th, 2009
8:54 pm
@Tim Ferriss
It sounds like you took the comment the way it was intended, friendly BS.
It’s those audiobooks, you hear someone talking (especially in 4HWW) to “you” and then it’s like your old buddies with someone who’s only exposure to you is being an ass in a comment thread.
Oh technology, you’re a whore I just can’t quit!
;)
May 28th, 2009
9:17 pm
I just found out of all the libraries in the University of California system, only UCSD and CSL have your book! Perhaps you could lobby them? I’m an undergrad at Berkeley and the school library really is my only source of books – not only just to save money but also the hassle associated with going to a bookstore or ordering books online and getting it from the post office, etc. I think a lot of college students are the same way.
May 29th, 2009
8:24 am
Tim,
I thought I’ll share this link about how More American Workers Outsourcing Own Jobs Overseas from the Onion News. I’m not supposed to put links here in the main text but I have added the link under website that is linked to my name. Hope that’s cool.
May 30th, 2009
9:42 am
Utility for taking full-length screenshots on Mac, though it may not work for password protected pages.
http://derailer.org/paparazzi/
May 30th, 2009
1:17 pm
Hi Tim. Very clever. Hey I have a question for you. Somewhere a while back I saw one of your video post. In the background you had what appeared to be a sun room full of plants. You had made a real quick comment about how you used it as a breathing room or something to that effect. Is there anyway that you could create a post around the how and why you do this. I recently started breathing exercises and started to think about the air quality in most indoor settings. Any of your wisdom would be very helpful. Thanks.
May 30th, 2009
3:09 pm
If i were 10 years younger i would be one of those screeching pre-teens after watching that video. As is,
OMG that’s awesome. So glad I’m looking at this on a Saturday, haha.
May 30th, 2009
9:20 pm
Hey Tim,
I need to learn a language (I have chosen Spanish) fast, but I don’t have time to go to another country to finish getting it down.
Do you recommend the Michel Thomas program you mentioned briefly at the end of Random?
BW
May 30th, 2009
10:21 pm
Pretty cool, I thought WTF at the beginning, TIm is really bored but this is actually fun!!
June 1st, 2009
12:23 pm
Posted following to you @tferriss but know you & your team are slammed. Want to assist w/ #1 & #2. It’s what I do as a Prof. TY for the TED inspiration to manage back injury that forces #3.
1. Eductn ovrhaul reqd esp in CA aftr fallout frm elctn rslts 2. Comp apps prof w/database spclty 3. distnc runnr stuck on trdmill.
Cheers-
@ProfBrendi
June 1st, 2009
2:12 pm
Neat trick. I have a couple I like to bust out too and they sometimes get me free drinks. The shot of you upside down really reminded me of a self portrait I did a bit ago….though you might get a kick out of it..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/knottyy/3056461129/in/set-72157605329620410/
p.s. watched almost all your other vids too. good stuff. i rock the pen tricks as well thanks to a japanese exchange student i had when i was 15
June 1st, 2009
11:38 pm
I have also been doing this trick for years. It’s even better if you burn the toothpick all the way to the edge of the glass. Can see the video on my phone.
June 2nd, 2009
4:35 pm
So that is what happened to my grandmother’s tea cosy…
June 9th, 2009
8:54 pm
Love the fun post! I plan on entertaining my wife tonight.
July 28th, 2009
12:48 pm
Hey TIm
My BF send me your article about Blogging without killing yourself. That is pretty cool thanks. I also stumble upon find your spoon and fork thingy very funny and ingenious! Thanks for posting! One day I also like to create my blog.
August 7th, 2009
9:17 am
Hello Timothy, I am Italian I have read your book 4 hours a week I will create a company and apply the rules of your book in Italy.
In your opinion what is possible ‘in Italy?
August 30th, 2009
5:38 pm
I used to light each end of the toothpick and let it burn to the very edge of the glass – it goes out by itself. It’s even more amazing, then!
Leave a Comment or a Question
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That's how we're gonna be -- cool. Critical is fine, but if you're rude, we'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration)