What is Shovel?
A shovel is a hand tool used for lifting, moving, and digging bulk materials like – gravel, dirt, sand, soil, and coal. The shovel has a broad, wide blade that is attached to a handle that is of average length. These shovels have steel and hard plastic blades and handle made of wood, plastic, and even glass-reinforced. Depending on your working task, you can buy several types of shovels online as well as offline.
Shovels come in a wide variety of designs, and picking the best one for the job can be hard if you are not well aware of their parts and type. There are many different types of shovels, a few of which are excellent powerhouses that can be utilized for a variety of tasks. Shovels are essential garden tools. It’s a good idea to first study the structure of a shovel in order to completely comprehend the many sorts of shovels.
Types of Shovel
These various types of shovels are,
1) Edging Shovel,
2) Digging Shovel,
3) Handheld automatic Shovel and Auger,
4) Snow Shovel,
5) Trench Shovel,
6) Tree planting Shovel,
7) Post-Hole Shovel,
8) Power Shovel,
9) Folding Shovel and,
10) Scoop Shovel.
All these types are described below:
1. Edging Shovel
A common gardening tool, edging shovels cut an edge into the soil strata and help you choose where to distribute your planting materials. A particularly distinctive feature of edging shovels is its blade, which has the appearance of a half-moon. Additionally, you can utilize driveways, sidewalks, fences, garden borders, and other surfaces where you desire sharp edges.
To a depth of 4 to 6 inches, you can make a line-shaped cut into the sod. If you want to cut with good leverage, stand on the sod rather than in the bed. To do this, an edging shovel is used, which creates a neat, precise cut. Another tool that works well is a flat shovel, garden spade, or digging shovel. Creating a straight, even line at the sod’s edge is the aim no matter which tool is employed.
2. Digging Shovel
Digging Shovels are used to remove soil for construction, gardening, and other uses. These digging shovels are quite useful since the earth and other obstructions that are present mostly on the surface of the ground or working area are easily cut by their sharp-edged blade.
Digging shovels with high grip collar handles and sharp blades make it simple to move soil, dig, or remove an undesired plant. Digging Shovels can also be classified into three different groups based on their various options of blades and their shapes. These groups are, a) Square digging Shovels, b) Pointed digging Shovels, and c) Round pointed digging Shovels.
a) Square-digging Shovels
As the name implies, square digging shovels have a flat, straight blade end that makes them easier to use for digging trenches and edging them. If necessary, you can also move undesired plants and shrubs with this square-digging shovel. The blade of this square digging shovel is entirely rigid and straight, making it an excellent option for digging soil, irrigation trenches, and moving different materials like soil, gravel, sand, coal, etc.
b) Pointed digging Shovels
The pointed digging shovel is utilized in confined locations and in soil with numerous rocks and roots. As opposed to square digging shovels, these pointed shovels have a curved-shaped blade with a pointed tip at the end of the blade that makes it easier to dig tough and dense soil even rocky soils.
c) Round-digging Shovels
A dome-shaped edge there at end of a round digging shovel is typically used for gardening tasks.
This kind of blade is better suited for moving shrubs, flowers, and small plants. In comparison to a pointed shovel, the round digging shovel is better suited for sweeping loose dirt, and also moving other materials like soil, sand, gravel, etc.
3. Handheld automatic Shovel and Auger
A handheld shovel with an auger bit is part of an electrical handheld shovel system. A mobile source of energy and a motor designed to revolve the auger bit are both included in the shovel. The auger bit rotation above the shovel is controlled by a controller and an input/output (I/O) device. There is a grip and a shovel part to the tool. A gearbox connected to the motor is on the shovel.
The shovel part has a blade that Is closely placed below the auger bit and is designed to catch auger bit debris. The blade specifies a discharge aperture that is intended to release at least some of the debris, and the auger bit does have a groove that is usually covered by the blade. These shovels can be utilized for a range of gardening jobs, such as removing plants, digging ditches for new plants, and pulling up weeds. These tools can be made in a variety of ways, but they all generally feature a narrow, curved or pointed blade that is about four inches broad.
4. Snow Shovel
Snow shovels are used by people who live in colder climates and may have heavy snowfall throughout the winter. During that time, you can employ a snow shovel to scoop up snow; it has a big, curved blade that makes it easy to transfer a lot of snow quickly and efficiently from one spot to another.
In order to survive there, you can clear the snow from your Parking spot, backyard, driveway, sidewalk, and many other places. This snow shovel may also be used for gardening tasks including clearing away trash and undesired plants as well as moving loose soil, sand, and gavel.
5. Trench Shovel
As the name implies, trench shovels are being used to dig a trench in the gardening area of the backyard. Make sure the trench alignment is always straight and deep before digging a trench anywhere.
The blades of the trench shovels are long and slender; the terminal portion is concave in design.
Additionally, these trench shovels with an angled design enable the transfer of large quantities of soil.
The trenching shovel commonly referred to as a drainage shovel has two main uses. It can first dig shallow trenches and then clean out and tidy up deeper ditches that a stronger instrument has already dug. The blade of a trench shovel is long, narrow, and has a sharp edge.
It is also angled. Because there is practically any room on the footplate for the shovel to be driven into the soil with your weight, you will have to utilize arm force instead. This is because the blade of the shovel is so narrow. This implies that digging anything deeper than the ground level would be extremely challenging and time-consuming. Landscape gardeners are the primary users of trench shovels.
6. Tree Planting Shovel
Typically, while planting trees in a backyard or garden, trees planted shovels are used. Because it is designed specifically for planting, it can dig deeper than any other type of shovel. There are many kinds of tree-planting shovels on the market, but you may select one based on the size of the plant you are planting and the depth of the hole that is needed.
With these shovels, a task that would take considerably more time with other shovels kinds may be completed much more quickly. They are made specifically for planting trees. A shovel used for planting trees has a short, narrow blade that tapers to a point or curve. Because of the narrow blade, it can dig holes of different sizes by circling the shovel in the earth.
The length of the shaft can vary depending on the task at hand; longer shafts function better on flat landscapes, while shorter shafts perform better on slopes or inclined terrain. These shovels can be used to prepare a hole for planting a tree or to dig up a tree for transplantation.
7. Post-Hole Shovel
Posthole shovels also known as posthole diggers or posthole pincers are shovels with two heads on a single shaft that may be inserted into the ground together. When the blades are pulled out of the ground, a posthole is created.
It is made up of two shovels that are connected and typically feature long, narrow, inwardly bending blades with curled points. The shovel can easily cut through any roots or other obstructions due to the design of its blades. The blades take on a cylindrical shape when they are closed together.
A post-hole shovel is generally used to create deep holes for the installation of fence posts. They remove a cylinder of earth from the ground in a single quick action using a dig, pinch and raise the motion. A post-hole shovel is a good investment if you need to dig several post-holes. Compared to attempting to dig the pits with a digging shovel, it produces the holes considerably more quickly and with much neater results for a finished product that is tidy and expert.
8. Power Shovel
When a hand shovel is not appropriate for digging, the power varieties of shovels are used to firm dirt, snow, and rough materials. They are excellent hand tools for heavy work. A power shovel is a special kind of scoop shovel and snow blower.
The term “power shovel” refers to two distinct tools. The first is essentially a gas- or electricity-powered snow shovel. These contain rotating blades that pick up and scatter snow, making it simple to clean a snow-covered path or driveway. These are far more effective than a typical snow shovel, but as you might anticipate, they cost a lot more money. They are a more compact and lightweight substitute for the standard snow blower.
A jackhammer-style tool with a shovel adapter is the second kind of power shovel. In extremely compacted soil, these are used to dig holes and pits or to excavate the ground. They are especially helpful since they can operate in spaces where larger gear cannot because of their small size.
9. Folding Shovel
The fundamental distinction between a folding shovel and a conventional shovel is that the former can be folded more quickly and readily, while the latter is more usable and compact. The collapsible shaft and the flexible shaft are two other types of folding shovels that you can pick from depending on your requirements.
These little shovels may simply be carried about because they bend in half. They are practical for taking on camping excursions and other outdoor activities when space is at a premium, and it makes sense to carry one of these in your car’s trunk in case of emergencies. Cheap folding shovels typically have an extremely short lifespan and will shatter or break with little effort. Spend on the all-steel design for durability; these are also better suited for heavy-duty use.
10. Scoop Shovel
A scoop shovel is another type of shovel in that it has a significantly larger blade and a shaft and handle that are somewhat shorter. The tip of the blade is typically flat, though it can occasionally be rounded. Scoop shovels have stiff side edges and a scooped form that helps hold in any stuff you are moving. They can be used to transport bulk materials including dirt, gravel, wood chips, and rubbish.
Scoop Shovel can be made of various materials like steel, aluminum, polystyrene, etc. Aluminum scoop shovels last less time than other metal scoop shovels. Before purchasing a scoop shovel, think about the material you will be moving and the quantity of it, that you will need to move. Even while they won’t last as long, the aluminum scoop shovels are lighter, which might make transporting a lot of stuff considerably less taxing.
Read Also: 50 Types of Construction Tools.