The Shovel Discussion Thread!

Our soil was scraped away 15,000 years ago by a 3000' high glacier and replaced with cobble. But a thin layer has built up since.
 
Has anyone mentioned the Ace "Little Pal" shovel? inexpensive, small enough to pack easily and does the same job as the military entrenching tools. has a D handle that is easy to use:confused:
 
Has anyone used one of those titanium 'cathole' shovels for backpacking? I'm thinking about getting 'The Big Dig', 17 gram titanium trowel. I've been using a plastic shovel that weighs a whopping 107g - almost a quarter pound.

http://qiwiz.net/trowels.html
 
I grabbed these last weekend. Deep hole shovels, 8 feet long. They belonged to a man who retired from the Ellensburg Telephone Company after 37 years. He affectionately named them 'The Spoon' and 'The Banjo'.

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Those are small enough to come in handy. Is there a makers mark?

I know where there is a large spoon but it is so damn long I would never use it. Its hard to watch some of these tools leaned up outside wasting away.
 
The banjo was made by Leach Co.

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The spoon is marked 'Bell System' and "Wood's Big Fish Shovel".

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The real name for that kind of shovel is a "telegraph spoon" and Peavey actually still makes 'em. When I worked at UMaine in the Facilities Management safety office doing stormwater system inspections we used one for removing stuff during annual cleanings that the vac truck couldn't remove.
 
Square_peg said:
OshKosh calls them a spoon shovel and still makes them in lengths up to 16'.

http://www.oshkoshtools.com/products/spoons/spoons.htm

Generically they're called deep hole shovels so I use that term.
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Your going places with the pair. That is what you really need. If I could have just one it would be the spoon though.

I have a Big Fish scoop shovel. Its a good shovel but it is not a closed back, steel D handle.
 
What is this tool called? It's adjustable, obviously for cleaning out tile ditches, and stamped Keen Kutter.
 
I had a old post hole shovel that went in straight like a regular shovel then it had a lever on the top of the handle you pulled to change the angle 90 degrees to clean out the bottom of the hole. Most interesting shovel I ever owned. Sure wish I had not sold it in the downsizeing move. I live on a big lava rock now and a jack hammer is the hole digger, then you fill with dirt, then you plant.
 
quinton said:
What is this tool called? It's adjustable, obviously for cleaning out tile ditches, and stamped Keen Kutter.
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The tool for cleaning out the "crumbs" of dirt was evidently called a "crumber", but this also looks similar to the tool called a "bottoming scoop" or "groove cutter", shown here:

books


from
Tile Drainage; Or, Why, Where, When, and how to Drain Land with Tiles: A Practical Book for Practical Farmers
by W. I. Chamberlain, 1891


On the topic of shovels, from page 86:

books



More about "crumbers", from The Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture, by William Worthington, 1914:

books


"Crumbers are used to remove crumbs from the last spading and bring the ditch to grade. They are concave, semi-cylindrical, with rounded cutting blade at either end. The handle may be set at any angle. Can get 3 inch or 6 inch size."
 
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Old Axeman said:
Tile ditch cleaner outer thing-a-ma-jig ?
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That's what I would have called it.
Old Axeman said:
I had a old post hole shovel that went in straight like a regular shovel then it had a lever on the top of the handle you pulled to change the angle 90 degrees to clean out the bottom of the hole. Most interesting shovel I ever owned. Sure wish I had not sold it in the downsizeing move. I live on a big lava rock now and a jack hammer is the hole digger, then you fill with dirt, then you plant.
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I've seen post hole shovels, though I don't own one. On that lava, you may have to buy your postholes instead of trying to dig them.:)
 
Steve Tall said:
The tool for cleaning out the "crumbs" of dirt was evidently called a "crumber", but this also looks similar to the tool called a "bottoming scoop" or "groove cutter", shown here:

books


from
Tile Drainage; Or, Why, Where, When, and how to Drain Land with Tiles: A Practical Book for Practical Farmers
by W. I. Chamberlain, 1891


On the topic of shovels, from page 86:

books



More about "crumbers", from The Encyclopedia of Practical Horticulture, by William Worthington, 1914:

books


"Crumbers are used to remove crumbs from the last spading and bring the ditch to grade. They are concave, semi-cylindrical, with rounded cutting blade at either end. The handle may be set at any angle. Can get 3 inch or 6 inch size."
Click to expand...

Thanks, Steve! Crumbers must be rare, that's the first one I ever saw and I've dug through piles of tools for 40 years.
 
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