I have used two clamshell type post hole diggers one with wooden handles and one with replacement pipe handles. The wooden handles deliver less shock to your hands and weigh less but those qualities really only come into play if you are doing some extensive digging. The pipe handles give you a little more punch when you are digging and don’t break as easy. Nice tip.
As long as you don’t store wooden handled ones outside like I do. I oil them at least once a year with boiled linseed oil, but modern American tool handles are not what they once were.
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Most of my shovels and hoes are very old and quite stout - new tools tend to be crap
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My wife is 5’5" and 110 lb and she breaks shovels all the time. “Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world.”
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Seriously? Wow. How many? 
So actually we are not talking about the fulcrum but the lever. (I wonder if someone calculated the length of the lever needed to use with Archimedes’ fulcrum? LOL)
Anyway we are working w/ 6’ max. So applying 110# at 6’ can move some serious dirt, and take out a weakened handle, I guess.
I’ve had my tools a long time and never broke a handle. But I actually follow the @alan school of tool care so the handles on my tools are kinda like new.
And I agree with @ltilton that the new tools are unfit for serious garden use, so it is best to take care of the old stuff.
. Here is a picture of the finished fix . Duct tape near the top of pipe to keep from nicking my skin .
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This is my shovel handle fix . 1 1/4 top rail for chain link fence . Plus angle iron from a bed frame . Welded to the back for strength . This replaces the cracked fiberglass handle . I should be able to pry when digging trees .
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Maybe you are trying to use a shovel where a crowbar or prybar would be more appropriate.
King of Spades is my go-to for a really good spade-pry-bar. But I live in an expensive area where the price of tools isn’t really the issue until you get into tractors and trucks.
Thank You for mentioning the King of Spades . I did not know about these . They seem to be built tough enough for digging trees . Even with cutting a circle around the tree with a shovel some prying and lifting is needed to get it out . A rootball with the plant is nice but not alway achieved . I often dig a post hole near the tree to help dislodge a long root . Just a necessary part of getting grafted stock out of the row to a permanent spot . Amazing the roots they grow in 1 or 2 seasons .
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If you want pears sooner rather than later try Harrow Sweet. Thanks to a generous forum member who sent me these scions I grafted them onto several places. I was looking over these yesterday and almost all the scions have fruit buds. I have grafted several pears over the last eight years and these have put on the most fruit buds in the shortest period of time. I basically did the same thing with Gold Rush apples and got similar results. These two get good ratings and seem to be mostly disease resistant. Looks like these could stall out from early production but I would rather have that problem than waiting 4-8 years for fruit. As a newbie to these two fruits I’m probably giving more credit to these than my experience with them deserve.
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Get the long handled model with the longest blade if you want to have the most prying power and also to dig as deeply as possible when extracting roots. It is not completely unbreakable- I have sprung blades and had to replace shovels over the years- not recently, however- I’m no weight lifter, but don’t have noodle arms either. After a while you learn what the limits are and this tool has proven to be stronger than less expensive knock-offs I’ve tried (2 other models that cost significantly less were sprung much more easily). .
If you buy a lot of tools, you can get an account with AMLEO for significant discounts- but stay away from their company brands- their life-time guarantee is utter bull and their own tools I’ve tried have not been up to professional standards. One of the cheaper shovels I bought was their brand, and they wouldn’t replace it because I’d had it for more than a year even though it had a life-time guarantee.
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That’s disappointing, Alan, I just got their recent catalog and was actually thinking of ordering … something
They’re fine, and one of my key suppliers- just don’t order the products that they call their own. They are usually cheaper knock-offs of similar products and their quality is not assured by their phony guarantee, but they do have a one year guarantee on most if not all of their merchandise, which is what you get when you order from other companies.
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One exception, and I’m sure there are others, is the Italian double bladed hand pruner they sell as their own brand. It is an excellent, if somewhat specialized tool that I use for splice grafting. To me, it is absolutely essential for that.
I was looking at that one
But what I’d really like to find is a good-quality ratchet hand pruner.
Can’t help you there, if a hand pruner doesn’t easily make a cut when you push the wood you are cutting with your free hand it’s lopper or saw time.
Problem isn’t the pruner, it’s my weak arthriticky hands
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I feel your pain. Five hand surgeries and 20 years of cortisone shots every 3 months. It’s getting very hard to function.
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I am finding a pre-stretch of Parafilm M maks it easier to wrap and makes it stretchier. [quote=“ltilton, post:383, topic:4375”]
my weak arthriticky hands
[/quote]
I am feeling my arthritis and aches much more now that I don’t get bee stings any more. Antedotial evidence I know, but I sure didn’t have near as many issues before the bees went away.
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