Shovels

[dg]

I recently hand dug a foundation trench - first time for many years and the last if I can help it :-(

Anyway I tried one of those American type shovels - a semi pointed pan and a 5' straight stale with no 'T' handle. As far as digging can be fun, it really was a joy to use and almost effortless in comparison with the traditional short square UK type shovel.

Less bending of the back, it went through the ground easier, and when you hit a stone it does not send the vibration through your wrist which is on top of the handle.

Has anyone else used these and found them to be better? I wondered why they are not more commonly used in the UK.

The only downside was in squaring the bottom of the trench, but there are versions with a square pan.

dg

[hzatph]

They are good and used in Ireland too. I have seen them for sale in focus so they are aroudn in the UK.

[HLAH]

"dg" wrote >

I once watched a 6 foot 8 builder expertly square up the bottom of a footings with a traditional English shovel designed for a 5 foot Victorian (the standard size it seems). Like a Warner Brothers Toon animation it was. Funnily enough he was always moaning about his back......

H

[normanwisdom]

The "traditional short square UK type shovel" isn't for heavy digging it's for muck shifting or for loose stuff like gravel etc. For digging you need the tapered builders type shovel which is much easier than a square shovel or a spade. In conjunction of course with a pick. Don't know how this compares in use with an Irish shovel but I'd have a go if I had one as I've a lot of faith in old traditional tools. Bought a garden 'azada' - the adze shaped mattock thingy which field workers use in Spain and Portugal (and lots of other places I guess). It's really very useful and a pleasure to use. Different from a mattock as the blade curves in like an adze and permits a long scraping stroke rather than a short chop. These are also used for heavy digging doubling up as pick and shovel.

cheers Jacob

[Guy King]

The message from "normanwisdom" contains these words:

I used my brother's one of them to shave the clay in the bottom of some foundations. Much the best tool for the job.

[Christian McArdle]

I can't say I've ever associated the shape with a country. I wouldn't dream of using anything other than what you describe as an "American" shovel for digging deep holes.

Christian.

[Paul]

bought mine from homebase, saves a lot of back ache.

Paul

[adder1969]

I use a mattock for breaking up the soil then a spade or shovel to move it. Much easier in my opinion.

[Roger]

The message from [e-mail] contains these words:

I have had to do quite a lot of manual excavation over the years in clay that has a good proportion of stone imbedded in it. I have never used an azada but I suspect that it would be too light to make much of a impression on such subsoil.

Even my mattock was too much like hard work at times so the technique I adopted to excavate when replacing the floor in my barn (30' x 18' and originally sloping) was to take a garden fork and drive it into the ground using a sledge hammer on the footbar and lever the clods out of the ground.