Talk:Shovel/Archive 1

Sirhind
The Sirhind Tool was the standard issue entrenching tool, for British and Empire troops, during both World wars. However, does anybody know what a Drosopoulos Pattern entrenching tool was? Used in The Great War. Rog D. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.92.168.165 (talk • contribs) 17:19, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

military entrenching tool
The shovel on the picture looks just like the Fiskars entrenching tool. If it is the same tool, it should not be called "US military" but "Fiskars", shouldn't it? The one I mean is used at least by finnish army and NATO. http://www.fiskars.com/FI/fi/Ty%C3%B6kalut/Garden+Details?contentId=81221 -Kake — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.236.28.230 (talk • contribs) 11:36, 10 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, its a Fiskars (branded Gerber in America), this one specifically is made for the U.S. Marine Corps. I'll change the description. 82.181.150.151 17:37, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Shovels:

If you look at the early railroad construction pictures you will see most of the workers using round pointed shovels. Later pictures will show nearly all the men using square nose shovels. The reason they use a square nosed shovel is: when you rake the gravel off of the railroad ties (or sleepers) the actual rail sits flush with the tie. A round nose shovel will leave a small trench. So the "tie" will be raised up away from the railroad tie/sleeper.

I once read some where that the scoop shovel was first use in the 1700' 0r late 1600's in Russia. But that was many years ago.

The shovel has been around for a long time. I don't think its appearance has changed much for the last thousand years. Farmers used a shovel with a lip on the back of the shovel. You used your foot to drive the shovel into the ground pushed the soil forward and dropped in your potato seed, removed the shovel and took another step forward and repeated the process till the field was planted. I think the farmers of the 1800's were able to farm about 20 to 30 acres depending on the soil. When tractors were first put on the market a farmer was able to use about 100 acres. I know when I was growing up in the 1960's my father said we could farm about 360 acres. The reason being it took one man to irrigate all day to water that much ground to grow a successful crop. Today one man can irrigate about a thousand acres with the push of a button. It still take several men to plant and harvest many crops such as potatoes, sugar beats, corn, and grain. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sco1952 (talk • contribs) 15:35, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

The definitions at the very top of this discussion say it all - a shovel is not a spade or vice versa. The distinction is made on the basis not of shape but of use. The end result of using a spade is a hole. The end result of using a shovel is a re-location of material. Peter R Hastings 07:50, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

The shape of the handle is what matters
Yes - the definitions at the top of the page are correct.

Spades break soil and shovels move stuff. The reason why they are used differently is to do with the shape of the handle.

I spade has a straight handle while a shovel has a goose neck.

See this article for images: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_equipment_hand_tools/article/0,1785,HGTV_3582_1370673,00.html

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Macka71 (talk • contribs) 10:24, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Possible spurious text
Should the phrase "chicken bones" be removed from the following sentence fragment? I am not going to edit this from the article; I am just pointing it out for someone else to consider. "Hand shovel blades are typically made of chicken bones sheet steel, ..." Mecanoge (talk) 16:33, 19 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I also wondered about that.  Since the only other reference to "chicken bone steel" on the internet seems to be nonsense, I'm removing it from the article.  CBHA (talk) 01:41, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Acronyms
SHOVEL = Silent Hand Operated Earth Lifter

SPADE = Soil Piercing And Digging Equipment 76.110.165.21 (talk) 01:46, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
 * backronym 139.48.25.60 (talk) 20:57, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Shovel vs Spade

 * Would like to point out that amongst gardening professionals, a "shovel" has a pointy edge and a "spade" has a flat edge. Many amateurs are thrown by the playing card suit of spades, which is represented as a modern day shovel blade.  I am disappointed to see Wikipedia disseminating false information.  It is this sort of ignorance that infuriates professionals.  Let's call a spade a spade, shall we?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.160.248.177 (talk) 03:22, 26 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Don't get hung up on shape of "blade", handle or anything else. It is purpose that determines the correct name.  A shovel is a (usually two handed) tool that moves loose material (etymologically related to shove).  A spade is a digging tool... etymology based on Latin spathe etc meaning broadsword, implying a sharp cutting edge.98.249.185.122 (talk) 00:46, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
 * To me in England, "shovel" usually means as in this image and this image with a scoop blade with a straight edge. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 04:01, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

Is this true?

 * I have deleted this text from the ==History== section. It looks very hoaxy to me.
 * "The term "shoveling" is widely used in Northern Canada, primarily in the community of Wollaston, where one rides a shovel down icy roads, as means of travel. Originally, a worker would ride his shovel, tied to a horse, and easily untie the shovel for use at the work site.  Horses have now been replaced by truck, snowmobile, and A.T.V.  It is still common to see local residents of northern communities walking down roads with rope strung around their shoulder, and shovel in their hand.  This is a known means of hitchhiking.  Someone passing by can stop and let them tie up, and the hitchhiker can ride their shovel as far as they need, before quickly and easily rolling the rope around their shoulder and walking off once again.  Most residents do not "shovel" their properties in the winter, so the term "shoveling" is still used in the historic sense of riding a shovel."
 * Anthony Appleyard (talk) 06:21, 7 February 2011 (UTC)
 * User:68.69.203.4 inserted it at 06:00, 21 January 2011 and 17:33, 21 January 2011. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 06:43, 7 February 2011 (UTC)


 * You know, that strikes me as something that's so true to life that, not being a far-north kind of guy, I can't guess to what extent there's a real reality but it's also being guilded with a joke at the same time. I suspect it's a "real thing" but can't tell whether it's being overly glorified and joked about in this description. I bet people in northern Canada probably *do* use shovels as sleds, and it *does* strike me as something that loggers or miners 80 years ago would have done to get to work quicker, or to hitch a ride back to town, and that people *would* still do, even if only as the snowmobile-and-sled equivalent of water skiing behind a motorboat, just for kicks. That's why it strikes me as legit, but maybe not entirely free of tongue-in-cheek-ness. Hey 68.69.203.4, what say you? — ¾-10 01:09, 8 February 2011 (UTC)


 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/68.69.203.4 :: User:68.69.203.4 has made only 3 edits, all to page Shovel. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 04:03, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

What would a shovel with a long, thin blade be called?
What would you call this?

It is useful for shaping holes carefully

Link of my lame paint attempt of drawing shovel

-- — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jagedrock (talk • contribs) 23:59, 2 June 2005 (UTC)


 * Hmm... I know exactly what sort of tool you're talking about, but I have no idea what it's called.
 * Making this comment utterly useless in every regard except for... maybe... moral support? Damn... --Oceanhahn 05:48, 2 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Am I completely off-base in referring to this as a sharpshooter? A google seach of 'sharpshooter shovel' turns up plenty of results but no real references Compgeek86 (talk) 23:13, 3 June 2008 (UTC)


 * You mean one of those one-handed tools you use to shape holes (or make holes) on clay? Tommy has a great username (talk) 17:54, 14 January 2019 (UTC)