I'm guessing it would be important to know whether the forks of your period were individually crafted by silversmiths, or were being stamped out of sheet metal.  If the former, then tine dimensions were probably quite variable.  If the latter, then at least the front-to-back dimension would be standardized to the thickness of the sheet, while the tine width might still be variable.
Does anyone have an idea when mass production came to cutlery? 

I'm guessing that you are asking because you are looking at marks possibly left my a fork - in faunal remains (dinner), not in human remains (hopefully not dinner).
Meli


-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Richard Wright
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 7:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Three-pronged forks of the mid 19th century

I am working on a 'forensic' project in human osteology.

Can somebody advise me on the typical properties of three-pronged table 
forks used in the mid 19th century?

In particular I want to know the dimensions of the cross sections of the

ends of the prongs.

Richard Wright