[2] The typical pitchfork consists of a wooden shaft bearing two to five slightly curved metal tines fixed to one end of a handle.
[citation needed] The Gangster Disciples, a street gang in the Midwestern United States, use a three-pointed pitchfork as one of their symbols.
[citation needed] The pitchfork is often used in lieu of the visually similar weapon, the trident, in popular portrayals and satire of Christian demonology.
Many humorous cartoons, both animated and otherwise, feature a caricature of a demon ostensibly wielding a "pitchfork" (often actually a trident) sitting on one shoulder of a protagonist, opposite an angel on the other.
[citation needed] The Hellenistic deity Hades wields a bident, a two-pronged weapon similar in form to a pitchfork but actually related to the trident in design and purpose.