advice for a shovel

[McgeeMcgee]

Hi,

Was wondering if someone could give me some advice about what shovel/mod I could use on a certain type of ground. I am doing a lot of mine site reclamation this year and there has to be shovels that are better suited for this kind of work. The ground itself is pretty compact and when it gets hot it can turn pretty hard. Is there a particular shovel that is better at piercing harder ground? I was going to sharpen the blade on my workwizer but have had bad experiences doing that in the past. (The blade became bent at the bottom). Do you think that sharpening a bush pro would be better(I think their blades are a little thicker than workwizers) Or is having a kicker and stomping all day a better idea. Thanks in advance.

[chrisdunn]

I know exactly what you mean. Hopefully you're on a good day rate. If I ever do mine sites again, i'd have a hippie stick on backup just to give my wrist a break from trying to work the soil.

[Greg M.]

Heavier shovel, bigger kicker, not too short, but handle should sit at your wrist when tip is on ground.

[newforest]

I would only use my ancient torture device called a planting "bar" on mined ground. When you are planting just a pile of rocks essentially, a thick blade with a serious step moves the rock much better than a thin blade. But everything is totally different when you have to get 20 cm of root system into the ground correctly.


I have always been intrigued by this picture:



it somewhat implies that you could bolt some sort of a longer kick plate onto the blade, when you wanted to. is this possible?

I'm used to using my boot to drive a blade, particularly for large bare-roots and rocky ground. A kicker that isn't wider than the blade isn't as useful for really driving the blade in with a boot, especially on an all-day long basis.

[evanodell]

You can use the holes to attach a bit of rubber, makes the kicker a little more comfortable and reduces the wear on your boots.