Broken Shovel Alert!

[Dirtmechanic]

That's a great story! I don't suppose anybody kept the pick and shovel?

There was a whole cabin and all his stuff. He brought glass for windows by dogsled or other means roughly 150 miles. Mel said he meant to stay a while. It was a bit of a museum and we left it that way. Up north there was a bit of a first aid kit thinking when it comes to caches and cabins. If you used something, leave something if you could. Somebody might be in trouble and need it. There was gold there and Mel got a company called Yukon Yellow Metal up and onto the (Canadian) stock market to capitalize the equipment. I still think most of the money was made in the stock market but Mom left him for the warmth of Miami and I lost touch.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

My best shovel IS one that my father purchased way back in 1956. He used it for about 10 years when I inherited it. I have used it to dig garden sights, install lawns, sidewalks, several house and barn foundations, as well as any clean up or project that involves the use of a shovel. The metal portion is no longer pointed but slightly rounded inward at the middle tip ( instead of pointed ) and the rest of the front metal edge is probably 10% -20% warn off . However , it is the shovel of my choice for any work that I need to do up to this day and the forseeable future.

We call that a "crescent cut". Helps for cutting roots of burdock when we're going after the massive plants.

Here is my advice.
!) First, for anything that resists, you really need a lever. We gardeners use our shovels for everything, and substitute a shovel for other tools, just like everybody uses screwdrivers for more than driving in screws, and often ruin the screwdriver in the process.

I'm not saying @ducks4you hit the nail on the head, buuuuutttttt......

On a related note to all this talk I busted my soil knife about a month ago. I had another one that my wife bought me for my birthday but I think I accidentally planted it under a white Pine a year ago :/. Anyways, Fiskars sent me a new one when I sent them this picture. Shhhhhh.... don't tell them I was probably using it in a manner it was not designed for. Probably should have been using a prybar, right @flowerbug ?

 

[Dirtmechanic]

We call that a "crescent cut". Helps for cutting roots of burdock when we're going after the massive plants.




I'm not saying @ducks4you hit the nail on the head, buuuuutttttt......

On a related note to all this talk I busted my soil knife about a month ago. I had another one that my wife bought me for my birthday but I think I accidentally planted it under a white Pine a year ago :/. Anyways, Fiskars sent me a new one when I sent them this picture. Shhhhhh.... don't tell them I was probably using it in a manner it was not designed for. Probably should have been using a prybar, right @flowerbug ?

Good to know! That is the exact model Fiskars knife I recently purchased!

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Good to know! That is the exact model Fiskars knife I recently purchased!

It lasted a year, is sharp, digs well, etc.... but if you put it under enough pressure this will happen. I'm not a metallurgist (I had to look that up) so I can't say what went wrong or what could have been more right, but for the price it's a good enough tool. Much like you can buy a Fiskars loppers or a Felco one for $80 more I'm sure there are more solid ones out there.

A soil knife I my absolutely favorite garden/yard/outdoors tool

 

[flowerbug]

...
I'm not saying @ducks4you hit the nail on the head, buuuuutttttt......

On a related note to all this talk I busted my soil knife about a month ago. I had another one that my wife bought me for my birthday but I think I accidentally planted it under a white Pine a year ago :/. Anyways, Fiskars sent me a new one when I sent them this picture. Shhhhhh.... don't tell them I was probably using it in a manner it was not designed for. Probably should have been using a prybar, right @flowerbug ?

because of how i abuse some things i won't claim any warranty replacements for them. the cracked shovel is one of them. it is still holding up ok though now that i am taking it easier on it. for what i am doing right now (cutting chunks of sod to be buried) it is the shovel i prefer. the only thing i would improve on it is putting a longer handle on it without the D on the end. those are ok for short shovel handles but not something i want on a longer one.

however, longer this Rigid shovel lasts i've certainly got my money's worth.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

because of how i abuse some things i won't claim any warranty replacements for them. the cracked shovel is one of them. it is still holding up ok though now that i am taking it easier on it. for what i am doing right now (cutting chunks of sod to be buried) it is the shovel i prefer. the only thing i would improve on it is putting a longer handle on it without the D on the end. those are ok for short shovel handles but not something i want on a longer one.

however, longer this Rigid shovel lasts i've certainly got my money's worth.

I think if this had lasted longer I wouldn't have hit them up, but not even lasting a year is what made me frown.

A D-handle on a long handled shovel is really odd.

 

[flowerbug]

I think if this had lasted longer I wouldn't have hit them up, but not even lasting a year is what made me frown.

A D-handle on a long handled shovel is really odd.

i'm sure i'd bonk myself with it somehow. i'm good at that sort of thing.

 

[Zeedman]

i'm sure i'd bonk myself with it somehow. i'm good at that sort of thing.

Watch out for that rake too...

 

[flowerbug]

Watch out for that rake too...

i use the four pronger (aka cultivator) so much that i am in the habit of always making sure it is prongs down in the ground or propped up against the fence that i have not yet managed to step on it. i also us it a lot as i am stepping down into holes i've dug out as a balance/prop so it comes very much in handy.

 

[flowerbug]

We call that a "crescent cut". Helps for cutting roots of burdock when we're going after the massive plants.




I'm not saying @ducks4you hit the nail on the head, buuuuutttttt......

On a related note to all this talk I busted my soil knife about a month ago. I had another one that my wife bought me for my birthday but I think I accidentally planted it under a white Pine a year ago :/. Anyways, Fiskars sent me a new one when I sent them this picture. Shhhhhh.... don't tell them I was probably using it in a manner it was not designed for. Probably should have been using a prybar, right @flowerbug ?

my trusty companion of many hours of digging has finally gone beyone the small crack to where it is going to end up parting of the ways metallically. so today while i was out running errands i was shopping for a new flat short shovel. one was $35 and i didn't like the design of it, another was $20 and it looked like it might barely last the 5yrs of the warranty period. so i went to another place and checked out what they had. they didn't. not many places had a short square shovel like the one i've had for all these years. i have a few more places to check the next few weeks as i won't likely be using this shovel a lot anyways, i won't really need it until this fall.

the question becomes can i use another shovel that i already have and not get a replacement? possibly, but i really like having this size of shovel for almost all my garden digging since i'm not digging that deeply and most of what i do is trenching i like the flat bottom and edges the shorter square shovel makes. hmm... i guess we'll see what happens next when i get there...