Talk:Shovel
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spade is for digging a hole
shovel is for moving loose material
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.
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[edit] Serrated Edges??
Since when do axes have serrated edges...?
However: missing sides or edges don't necessarily seem to make a spade.
Regards, Frank W ~@) R 08:37 Mar 6, 2003 (UTC).
Hmm. So what is the definitive difference? Or is there just a spectrum of things that some people call "spades" and others "shovels"? The Anome
Ok, let's try this:
- flat blade => spade
- blade with sides or concavity => shovel
Is that right? The Anome
No! Ask a gardener. A spade is used primarily for spading - breaking up dirt so that there are no clumps, prior to planting. As such they require a point (just like you see in the "spade" in a deck of cards). Shovels are for shoveling - moving material. As such, shovels have a flat edge, so you can slide underneath the material. Chas zzz brown 20:51 Mar 11, 2003 (UTC)
- It's true that a spade is primarily for spading (and usually has a point) and that many shovels have flat edges, but it is not universally true - some shovels have rounded blades. I'm pretty sure that the technical distinction is that a spade is designed to be pushed into the ground with the aid of a foot. The problem is that there are lots of compromise and cross-over versions of the tools that try to serve both needs yet we only have the two words. And (at least in the US) they're all sold as "shovels" regardless of their real purpose. Rossami 21:36, 12 Apr 2004 (UTC)
As far as I know, a spade is a rounded, triangular, often metal blade attached to a handle used for digging or breaking earth. A spade shovel is a shovel handle (usually longer than 30 inches) with a larger rounded triangular blade at it's end. If someone walked up to me and asked me for a spade, I'd probably end up handing them a trowel, which is a smaller version of a spade shovel -- it has a thinner blade and a short (hand-sized) handle. The problem here is similar to the difference between an icepick and a pickaxe. -- Oceanhahn 00:09, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Hmmm, I think that if I asked someone for a spade & they handed me a trowel, I'd be dumbfounded to say the least. I'd expect something like that now pictured in the article. Then to confuse things, there's the spading fork-- Elf | Talk 00:44, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
More: Here we go, per M. Webster: A spade is "a digging implement adaapted for being pushed into the ground with the foot." A shovel is "a hand implement consisting of a broad scoop or a more or less hollowed out blade with a handle used to lift and throw material". (Compared to a pitchfork. :-) ) Elf | Talk 00:49, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Then it must be a regional/dialectic problem I'm expriencing. Please refrain from asking me for spades in the near future. -- Oceanhahn 08:06, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)
[edit] 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
- 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)
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- 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)
[edit] 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
- 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.
– — … ° ≈ ≠ ≤ ≥ ± − × ÷ ← → · § sco1952
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)
[edit] 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
Macka71 10:24, 30 September 2007 (UTC)Paul
Macka71 10:24, 30 September 2007 (UTC)Australia
