Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire When did shovels become "throwaway tools"?

Me, I just call a spade, a spade. ...

Went out and took a pic....

Don,

Yes Ive seen em like that before and they are handy as hell!!!

I found it on a powerline. The local electric co-op replaced some poles a few years ago and musta lost it....

Damn good find!! When I worked for the old road company I found all kinds of stuff. My best find was a 16’ fiberglass extension ladder. Like to never got that thing home!!

I have one exactly like that in the UTV

It's a regional thing. My Tennessee dirt farmer grandfather born in 1910 always called it a sharpshooter as did everybody else around. If you'd asked for a trencher or trenching shovel they'd have looked at you funny with no idea what you meant.

That sharpshooter was always a drain spade to me. The round end matches clay drain tile diameter so you can smooth a bed of sand and lay the tiles with a good run. Drain spade to my late Pa, too, where I learnt it. He was an Iowa boy to put some region on it.

It is too bad you can't find tools made to last. I have a 1943 coal shovel I assume my FIL borrowed from the railroad. Glad I don't have to get to know the working end of it.

OK, thanks.

My point is that they don't want to stock parts, just the whole item. Like shovel handles, they don't want to waste space in the store for low profit parts. They either don't sell them or they jack up the price to an unreasonable level. They don't want to stock all those individual transmission parts so they price them way higher than they're worth.

I used to know the name and brand of those shovels that are solid steel rather than hollow in the shank. Those are the sheit. As far as I know they still make them. You can find solid ones in antique stores sometimes. They're the only kind I'll use. The one I use now has been re-handled a half dozen times. "Old Rusty, the Boss's Shovel" Also look for as straight as you can get so you can dig a deep hole if needed.

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.

That's exactly right, see my post above.

https://www.amleo.com/ames-pony-forged-round-point-irrigation-shovel-with-47in-ash-handle/p/2IS/

I see them lately advertised as a "round point shovel".

I’ve got one like that, but it’s got an extra long handle. I always figured it was for cleaning out post holes or the like. It’s a favorite for relocating dog shît with the scoop and launch technique.

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??

I could talk shovels and adjustable wrenches for days.

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.

Bring that sucker to Alaska and fill a pail with razor clams!

I can definitely think of worse subjects to cover.