Everybody is right - sort of. There are at least two versions of similar spades:
1. Tile spades (or drain spades, or trenchers). these are what you'll find in the local hardware store.
2. Tree planting spades (or sharpshooters). very similar in appearance, but typically reinforced for heavy prying, wider foot pads, sharpened tips when used in firefighting. The long, narrow blades copied from tile spades are good for planting long root seedlings. Available thru forestry equipment suppliers.
Anyone sorry this came up yet??
Maybe, but the ones sold at the hardware store which you're calling "tile spades" were what were called "sharpshooters" by everyone I knew which were all middle Tennessee and Mississippi dirt farmers. Back when I learned the word tree planting pretty much didn't exist so no one would have ever seen a tree planting spade. When pine forestry got big in my area manual planting was done with a dibble bar. Nowadays the mexican planting crews mostly use hoedad's because they can plant faster with them than a dibble bar. Still to this day no one in my area would know what a tree planting spade is, but our version of a "sharpshooter" is still what you're calling a tile spade.
