Fiskars Pro 60" digging shovel is the best I’ve owned. I did eventually break one, but only after a ton of excessive abuse lever-snapping 3" tree roots.
Just looked at the $163 King of Spades though, and if my current shovel breaks that will be my next.
I use a regular shovel with the green handle. I think Ames is the brand. I have 2 and they have lasted me forever. They probably aren’t the best but I don’t pry large rocks and they are cheap.
Ebay
I use a shovel mostly for light dirt work or adding compost or wood chips.
Bought a old standard shovel with a oak handle 15 years ago at a yard sale for 3 bucks. It does all I need.
Normally I have 3 or 4 inches of good top soil then the rocks and red clay start. I use a heavy hoe with long handle to dig holes for fruit trees and to clear sod. Shovel just does not work well on rocks especially larger rocks bedded in clay.
I do have a digging fork… a steel bladed corn scoop I found at an old abandoned post office many years ago. A 7 tine broad fork, a sharp shooter shovel (longer narrow blade).
I also have one of those long heavy steel bar tools… with a flat blade on the end. You can pound your way deep thru lots of rocks with that. I used it last year when setting the end post for my muscadine trellis.
TNHunter
The pro model is what Fiskar upgraded me to after I broke 2 of the long handle steel shovels. So far no issues after 2-3 years.
I suspect that the handle breakage may be due to there being fewer old-growth trees to harvest. Younger trees tend to have larger grain in the wood. A fiberglass handle can be nice if you don’t damage it and expose glass.
Bought a new edging spade from Home Depot. First time I stuck it in the dirt, handle snapped right off. Cheap piece of crap.
A.M.Leonard has a great online shovel product review ( from what I remember) to look at. FYI
Over ten years ago when I first moved into a house, I need a shovel. I went to my local Ag hardware store. The shovel cost over 30 dollars, but came with lifetime warranty. I have already lost the receipt. The shovel stand the test of time. I removed a lot of Juniper plants. The previous owner was crazy about cats and planted a lot of Junipers to shelter the cats. She even purchased more because there was 2 young Junipers with the the tag. It took a month to get rid of them. I did call the tree service about the Junipers. They told me at least 300 dollars or more for their service. So, I did the job myself.
The shovel is a Green Thumb and it came with 2 plastic sleeves on the shaft to help with the grip. The plastic still looks very good. Excellent shovel. It’s always there when I need to use it.
I have a dozen or more of my own shovels (not kidding), including stainless, steel, fiberglass and steel, serrated root shovels, florals, trenchers, d-rings, clam shovels, and spades. When my dad died, I inherited his 4 shovels, too. I also have an assortment of pick axes and the like, as well as a broad fork. I carry my Fiskers d-ring shovel everywhere, though, and leave the rest in the shed. It fits nicely in my cart, it has a really good wide step that doesn’t hurt my feet, and it carries just the right amount of soil.
What I want is a shovel sharpener.
Here’s where I would suggest you look. From 19:04 to 23:30 covers the sharpening process
Add a handle (four inches of 2x2, with an 1/8" or 3/16" hole centered on the end of my favorite, painted orange for higher visibility) to this and you’ve got a great start.
Any good bastard file will work, as shown above. I found this one from Lee Valley to be particularly good. Just make sure you get a file card to keep it fresh.
I seem to have one of those. But what is a file card?
It’s effectively a cat brush, but with much shorter, stiffer wires at a higher density. You use it to unclog the file as you use it. It makes a big difference! It’s called a card in the sense of a tool you might use to card wool or other fibers.
I tried using a regular wire brush before I bought one. There’s no comparison.
Cat brush I know. And wood carding.
Exactly, they are very useful. A word of advice? Don’t let it sit out in the rain by accident. Mine must have had a water soluble adhesive which held the “carding” brush to the wooden backer.
I may have mentioned this earlier but A.M.Leonard has a nice site that has a really good shovel selection and what to look for. They also have some very nice and long lasting shovels in their own brand.
However, they don’t really always have great standards for their own brand and their so called lifetime warranty is a scam- it doesn’t guarantee the tool against anything but manufacturers defects which should be apparent on arrival. Makes me miss good old Sears’ Craftsman tools. You could even bring in a leaf rake after 5 years of use if a tine broke. AMleo products with their name on them have several times fallen short in design and quality for me, including loppers that just don’t cut that well and an expensive wheel barrow with a plastic bed that cracked after one year.
AML is a good company, but they don’t make them like they used to-. customer service is too expensive for corporations or even big companies to invest a lot into- their research must show that payoff does not match expense- you can blame it on ignorant or shortsighted consumers, I guess. I do not blame it on corporate greed because that is the fuel of capitalism. Sears incentive was never based on charity, it was customer loyalty that led to nice profits- until customers turned away for cheaper products with less customer protection- goodbye Sears- hello Walmart… goodbye Walmart, hello Amazon.
Amazon does currently offer a modicum of customer service, but a lot of products they include in a search are made by companies not even authorized by the manufacturer. I bought a battery powered Milwaukee staple gun through Amazon a few months ago that quickly broke and neither Amazon or Milwaukee would honor normal year long guarantee because the source was not an authorized dealer. I bought it because of the price and had no idea that the dealer was not authorized by the manufacturer.
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So many of these companies products lack thew quality they made from years back. I have seen it from what I buy through the last bunch of years. So much “throw away” products are made instead of these thing lasting a long time. I enjyed buying Sears products they did last, or at least they used to last a long time when they were around. Now I do not think they are better than anyone else’s products, unfortunately. If you get a few years out of any of these things you are doing good.
I use a certain weed whipper, been using that brand/type for probably 18+ years. The original one finally wore out. I replaced it with the same brand/model three years ago. Now they do not last me but one season or so. I am doing the same areas and the same amount of grass that I always have done. The ones made recently just do not last.
