I have a few shovels and hard tine rakes with broken handles and noticed a replacement handle is more expensive than a shovel.
That's because you are not buying a quality shovel. I just replaced a handle on my irrigating shovel for the third time. At $10 to $12 apiece for the replacements I still have less into it than replacing the shovel once, if I could find an actual replacement.
Ames Pony shovels start over 50 bucks, but unfortunately it is a piece of crap compared to the original Ames Pony Featherweight which I grew up with. The new shovel weighs more, the blade is thicker, the balance is schitt, and they will not hold an edge.
But hey, who wants to pay for real quality tools today? Nobody does, when they are buying the tools for short term laborers. Back when the guy writing the check was the one running the shovel, he paid for the finest he could find.
