I don’t think it’s the same company… the Sear’s we knew went bankrupt, but the name still had value so someone bought it. Here’s what CHAT says-
When Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 in October 2018, the company’s remaining viable assets — including the rights to the Sears name / brand operations — were acquired in early 2019 by ESL Investments, the hedge fund controlled by Eddie Lampert.
AM Leonard makes an edging shovel that is excellent, you’ll want the squared off end and the ~5’ straight handle. It’s not light but it’s for sure the best of all the shovels I’ve ever used.
If lightweight is necessary, you probably have good odds with the kobalt fiberglass from Lowes. I had a craftsman years ago that had a cutting edge that was very nice before they were no longer made in the USA. Quality decreased with its replacement.
We tend to spring the blades of such shovels doing heavy leverage lifting, they then become inadequate tools. My unscientific evaluation rated the AM L. version as not as strong as the much more expensive King of Spades, but I am not sure. We use the spades to pry out big rocks a lot- they are technically not shovels, though, unless you use them to throw dirt or other materials. For that these “shovels” are very poor.
I recently bought an all metal shovel made by Fiskars that is an excellent tool. It was on sale for some reason from Amazon at a crazy low price. Now I would have to pay 4X the price for another one. It is not light for a shovel, but not nearly as heavy as an all metal spade. With normal use it should last a lifetime and give you better use as a leverage rock prier than any plastic or wood handled shovel. However, I don’t know if it will ever go on sale for $15 again… that was crazy.
I should repeat that the AML lifetime warrantee is a scam, so if you spring the blade of its spade you will just have to buy a new one. I think there is probably a reason the KofS model costs so much more and yet professionals tend to favor it. For normal homeowner use it might not be worth it.
If you have Amazon prime, this price is very, very good.
When the Fiskars shovel went on sale at Target again this year I briefly considered purchasing one.
I have several. They go on crazy sale periodically. But they are still a good value at $30.
Good to know the warranty is not great.
I will say, for edging and cutting roots (and utility lines), the AM Leonard shovel has been very solid, wayyy faster than a spade. For rocks bigger than it can handle we typically have a vermeer or some other equipment available to manage things. I’ll probably have a tractor to pull with if I run into a similar challenge at the farm.
I have not trialed a wide range of their tools and don’t consider myself very knowledgeable of their general quality, I do know that they sometimes slap their name on pieces of…but that doesn’t mean the line isn’t generally a good one.
I cut roots with picks and heavy axes… when I can get underneath them, a heavy lopper. Sometimes I use a pruning saw with an old blade.
