Cryptogon Reader Contributes $20
December 21st, 2006KL sent $20. Thanks KL!
All recent contributions are going toward paying my New Zealand immigration fees! And buying another backup shovel.
I broke the handle on my primary shovel the other day. I wasn’t even working the thing very hard. When it snapped, the handle wasn’t bent much, and it broke cleanly and suddenly away from the blade. I looked at the point of break and noticed bit of dry rot!
Please learn from my mistakes
Oh, what I would give to have the hardened steel and fiberglass shovel I had back in the U.S. If such a shovel can be purchased in New Zealand, I’d buy two of them, almost regardless of price. I might actually look into getting this Nupla shovel imported. It looks like el ultimo.
Having a tool as basic as this break is a serious, “Oh shit!” moment. It’s unthinkable, really. Until it happens. I have a backup shovel, but it’s a similar design, just made out of slightly better materials. It is not sufficient. Please, don’t wait to get your tools.
General Hint on Shovels: If the nose of the shovel is pinned to the handle, just forget it. I’ve broken two shovels, one in the U.S. and one here in New Zealand. Both had blades that were pinned to wooden handles. I’m ready to say “forget it” to wood handled shovels as well. Whatever shovel you buy, choose it like your life is on the line. Then buy two or three of them. The same goes for wheelbarrows.
Related: Nupla Tools
It looks as though your shovel could use a good sharpening. And don’t forget to yearly sand and oil the wooden handle. It’s also a good idea, too, to clean and oil the blade when storing for winter.
Happy shoveling!
On an IF basis, could you repair the Nupla shovel though? Reshape the remaining handle and refit it AND order the Nupla, then you will be ready. Good blog BTW
Re: fixing the Nupla shovel. I don’t know which is more unlikely:
1) Managing to break that thing in the first place
or
2) Being able to fix it in a way that would restore more than a fraction of its original strength.
Although… There’s a guy who lives in the hills around here who pounds old chainsaw bars into knives and other tools. He might have a different opinion.
Kanuka (manuka) makes fine handles, mine have lasted 20+ years. Peel off the stringy bark and shape the ends with spokeshave or those cheese-grater type planes they sell everywhere. If you get a good snug fit a wee superscew will hold it. Good rainy day job. Had a few of those lately? Bound to be some growing nearby.
cheers
martin
Absolutely agree that “2 hours for the tool, 1 for the job” is a rule for a reason. The shovel needs sharpening, and you can use linseed oil on the handle, and HANG IT to keep it dry. I use a 5 gallon bucket with some used motor oil and some sand to clean the shovel blade and prevent rust.
Also, are you using a shovel as a pry bar? you need an adze, perhaps, or a pick, or a pry bar. if you’re putting lots of torque on a handle not meant for it, eventually you’ll learn your lesson.
West
also, a single-pinned handle can be spruced:
Take it out, dump in some epoxy or Gorilla Glue, and re-pin it. then, at a 90 degree angle to the first pin and at least an inch above or below it, drill a hole and add an additional cotter pin.
Busted one handle two days ago myself. Handle was a little bit old, still strong, I just was too forceful on it–West’s tip is spot-on: don’t use a shovel as a pry bar. If your shovel gets jammed too deep in the soil, or if it gets wedged under one or more rocks, you need to back off and dig a bit less at a time. Better still, time to use a pick and loosen up rocks and hard soil.
Sharpening is a great tip; also goes for garden hoes, saw blades, pruning tools, and so on. Never leave a wooden handled shovel in the rain, as the water seeps into the neck of the metal shovel blade, and begins to rot the wooden handle. Store your wooden handled tools in a nice, dry place when not in use.
I just picked up 2 shovel handles, plus a manure fork handle. Even in a rural area of the US, manure forks are surprisingly expensive.
It’s all pretty interesting, realizing how little I know about even basic woodworking. Growing your own food using a bunch of tools someone else made is one thing. But thinking about the tools themselves… Man, that’s not an easy one. I can handle shit and slop and back breaking work. But I assume the tools.
Woops.
No matter how weird I think a collapse situation is going to be, it’s going to be far weirder.
The shovel was pretty sharp, by the way. Uncle Donald made sure of that:
https://cryptogon.com/2006_07_02_blogarchive.html#115226785143211159
I don’t know how the handle rotted. I never left the shovel out in the rain. Might be the fact that the humidity never goes below 70% here???
Due to the shovel’s design, that location is a natural weak point, a “stress concentrator”. The size of the area carrying the force necks down there (shovel head to handle, smaller diameter), and abruptly at that. Concentrator.
To top it off, the pin/screw holding the head to the haft provides an additional weak point, and place for stress fracture cracking to occur. Especially if the pin hole was not drilled cleanly at manufacture, or if the screw used partially split the wood of the handle.
Replace the handle with a harder (any oak), or a more flexible (ash) wood, and oil it well with 3-in-1, linseed, or light grade motor oil (10W-40 works fine). When installing the set screw, pre-drill a pilot hole for it.
I bought a fiberglass handle shovel about a month ago, to dig out the perimeter of our fence to bury cement, so the dog would stop digging out. I found a rock burried, so I tried to lever it out with the shovel.. Oops, snapped the handle about half way down.
It has (had) a rubber end cap, so I pulled it off, and found it to be hollow, and the inside was just big enough to stuff an old broom handle in. It’s very stiff now, and has taken quite a bit more abuse. I wouldn’t try to lever a boulder with it, but it’s taken all the digging I’ve been doing.