Best Spade Shaft

[young man 225]

i have orderd this spade and im going to put a metel shaft on it . Does anyone know the best type of metal to use stainless etc? To go hollow tubing or not ? Just looking for advice and personal preference lads? Edited October 14, 2015 by young man

[Onlyworkmatters 1,584]

Why didn't you buy 1 with a steel shaft

[neil cooney 10,416]

By the time you've taken the wooden handle out of that and welded some lugs onto the head of it it would be easier to order a proper shovel.

I wouldn't like to be relying on that for a good dig to a terrier.

[Lew 111]

I'd cancel your order that shovels dog poo. I like them to have a smallish metal shaft. An the head should be like a spoon with decent kick plates. Cutting a v in them is for roots is pointless. Just have all your tools sharp!

[fireman 10,976]

Look after a wooden handle and it'll last,just don't be swinging on the handle with your belly on it.I have wooden and metal handles on my spades and the wooden ones are lighter than the metal ones,use the wood ones when i can but the metal ones when i have to

[Zilverhaze 1,627]

I use fiskars spades they got a nice angle on them for scooping out fully metal shaft and the handle can be taken off by a screw and spade cut down in 10 mins as they come quiet big some of them got rubber on the shaft were you hold it makes a hell of a difference on the hands than holding metal in the cold they also do a little kit with a hand axe a hand saw and a pair of pruners what have come in handy

[Rabbit Hunter 6,613]

Wooden handles don't last long with any amount of digging no matter how careful you are with them.

[fireman 10,976]

Wooden handles don't last long with any amount of digging no matter how careful you are with them.

True but oil them after you've cleaned them and they will last a while,it depends on the way and when you use them really as i use them when it's easy going and the metal ones when i have to put some grunt into it and have only broke one once on the job but have also bent a few metal ones in the past ..

[shovel 160]

$_3-1.jpg i have orderd this spade and im going to put a metel shaft on it . Does anyone know the best type of metal to use stainless etc? To go hollow tubing or not ? Just looking for advice and personal preference lads?

I use 20 mm hollow stainless tubing for my digging shovels.have the tubing welded to a round mouth head.it's light to carry and plenty strong enough.i don't have any v cut in them.I carry a small foldable saw for dealing with roots.very handy to have with you.

[Zilverhaze 1,627]

them small foldable saws cut threw roots you whuld never cut with a spade pretty quick

[fireman 10,976]

them small foldable saws cut threw roots you whuld never cut with a spade pretty quick

Had a dog fox that had hold of my terrier last winter and it was tucked behind a wrist sized root and no chance of cutting through that root with anything but a foldable saw,at one point i was sawing and GENTLY proding the dog with the tip of it they were both in so tight and god knows what i would have done without it as it goes ..

[neil cooney 10,416]

The thing about wooden handles is that lads abuse them.

A wooden handle is warmer in cold weather, is lighter to carry and both metal and wood are a pain in the ass when things get sloppy. (A good terrierman always grabs his wifes favourite tea towel on his way out the door).

Also, if you get a bad welder then a metal handle is as weak as any wooden one.

Wood is meant to be used in a downward force and will last forever if it is used that way. But lads throw them over ditches landing flat and when they come to a rock they try and prize it out instead of digging around it and lifting it out.

Wooden handles is what they had years ago and they knew how to use them and look after them, nor had they luxuries of a quad or jeep to get them another one if a handle snapped.

I'll tell ye another thing, wood is a lot kinder to the wrists when you do find that rock.

[Zilverhaze 1,627]

Nothing worse than a metal shaft spade coverd in wet clay slippy as a block of ice had a 2 peice top half was stainless with a bolt half way down the amount of times I twatted my hand on it only a cuple of digs on the bolt from slipping down was unreal absolute pain when the hands are freezing already paid 50 quid for it of a member of this site and launched it into a ditch lol

[Accip74 7,112]

them small foldable saws cut threw roots you whuld never cut with a spade pretty quick

Opinel do this one, that I've seen in shop near me.........I think I'll pick it up for this season

[shovel 160]

Steel shafts don't suit everyone.specially the lads with soft hands!!!! Lol☺