In a recent discussion, I was unsure of a shovel I had. I looked it up, and it is a poly scoop. A short handled shovel with a t handle, and a poly scoop. It is light, and works great for snow. Also used for grains. Not a bad scrounge find, on the side of the road.
Man, there are a lot of specialized shovels.
Steve
A lot of this came about because of a management and productivity guy named Taylor about a century ago (before bucketloaders and other such mechanizations were common) who determined you could get the most work out of a dedicated shoveler if he was neither underloaded or overloaded. An optimal weight of around 21 pounds was selected. Before that time, guys would bring in their own shovels for whatever work they were doing, and one well suited for, say, digging ditches might be quite unsuitable for shovelling furnace ashes. Since managers love getting the last iota of effort out of their workers this just wouldn't do, so they began getting shovels made to hold just the right amount of whatever it was they needed to have moved, and then issuing them to the workers as the tasks arose. Once these new shovels caught on, they stayed in the lexicon, if you will, even after some of the jobs they were originally made for were long gone--they were just too good a shape not to keep being used.
To bring the discussion full circle, I've noticed that if all I'm shovelling is heavy wet snow instead of light fluffy stuff, I can get much more done by switching to a square-pointed garden shovel with a smaller blade than by sticking with a bigger snow shovel. --Glenn Lyford
The most interesting shovel I have seen was left by the previous owner of a dairy farm Dad bought in 1957. It was hanging up in an old maple tree. The handle was 10-12 feet long, if I remember correctly. The interesting part was the blade. It was a standard looking shovel, except the blade was at right angles to the handle. If the handle was straight up, the blade part was lying flat on the ground.
Dad said it was a shovel for digging deep holes, like for a power poll. It was used for scooping out the dirt, not for the actual digging. I suppose they used a long steel rod to loosen the soil, first.
Paul
| > Man, there are a lot of specialized shovels. | >
| > Steve | | The most interesting shovel I have seen was left by the previous owner | of a dairy farm Dad bought in 1957. It was hanging up in an old maple | tree. The handle was 10-12 feet long, if I remember correctly. The | interesting part was the blade. It was a standard looking shovel, | except the blade was at right angles to the handle. If the handle was | straight up, the blade part was lying flat on the ground. | | Dad said it was a shovel for digging deep holes, like for a power | poll. It was used for scooping out the dirt, not for the actual | digging. I suppose they used a long steel rod to loosen the soil, | first. | | Paul | | Yes, I have seen those, and that is exactly what they were used for. | Removing loose dirt in the bottom of a post hole, most commonly one for a | telephone pole sized pole. IIRC, called a spoon. | | Steve | |
It is indeed called a spoon. It's companion is the same length, but looks like a shovel that has been straightened, call a spade. I have used both far too many times, digging telephone pole hole in easements inaccessible by truck. Standard depth for 35 and 40 foot poles is 5.5 and 6', respectively.
The most interesting shovel I have seen was left by the previous owner of a dairy farm Dad bought in 1957. It was hanging up in an old maple tree. The handle was 10-12 feet long, if I remember correctly. The interesting part was the blade. It was a standard looking shovel, except the blade was at right angles to the handle. If the handle was straight up, the blade part was lying flat on the ground.
Dad said it was a shovel for digging deep holes, like for a power poll. It was used for scooping out the dirt, not for the actual digging. I suppose they used a long steel rod to loosen the soil, first.
Paul
Yes, I have seen those, and that is exactly what they were used for. Removing loose dirt in the bottom of a post hole, most commonly one for a telephone pole sized pole. IIRC, called a spoon.
Steve
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