Spade vs Shovel: What's the difference?

[Steve @ Celtic Farm]

Question of the day: What's the difference between a spade and a shovel?

It will be interesting to see the responses, no cheating, just post what comes to mind. I was doing some research this morning for some frequently asked questions on garden tools, and I was surprised what I found and how it varies by locale.

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Shovel to me is a generic term. I would consider a spade a shovel. It is just a specific type of shovel. Great for splitting the soil to lay wire.

MOD

 

[Mike121]

I'm with @MiniOrchardDude. Shovel is a generic term, but if I ask my son to get me a shovel, I'm talking about a regular ol' shovel. What is commonly referred to as a spade, I'd call a sharp shooter. It's just a shovel that's typically shorter with a t-handle on top and a more narrow and elongated digging area.

Then there are snow shovels (short handle, wide and deep working area) and flat shovels (just a plain ol' shovel except with a flat face instead of a rounded/pointed).

 

[Oliver Buckle]

To me a spade is made by casting. A blade about eight inches wide and ten to twelve inches long with a lip along the top to put your foot on. It is designed for digging.
A shovel has a wider blade, turned up at the edges and is made from pressed sheet steel. It is designed for moving aggregates and loose earth, and the power comes from getting your knee into the handle rather than using your foot.
The spade has a round connection for the handle to go into, and should be stood upside down outside to stop water getting into it and rotting the wooden handle
The shovel has the handle connection pressed three quarters round, and the handle goes through and comes out at the back of the blade, outside it should be thrown down on its back, then the water will run off and not rot the handle, as it would if stood up like a spade by running down the back of the blade and getting into the exposed end grain.

They do say 'An Englishman calls a spade a spade, but an Australian calls it a bloody shovel.'

 

[Tetters]

Spot on Oliver. Oh look I'm English too I would use a shovel to load sand or grit because of the curved sides - if I used a digging spade it would all fall off the flat surface. These days I use neither - why would I when Ziggy does it for me

 

[Mr_Yan]

To me a shovel is the long handle tool I use to dig in the ground or move snow with be it rounded, pointed, or squared off at the end, a spade is card in a standard deck of playing cards. That's general talk and use though.

I think the more technical definition got lost in standard use though. Isn't a spade technically the squared off long handle shovel which is better used as a scoop than for digging. Where a shovel is the pointed long handle tool for actual digging. Or am I misremembering?

 

[Tetters]

The verb ''to shovel'' means in essence, to move something from one place to another. It can be used by implying that a greedy person might use a spoon to ''shovel'' food into their mouth. Thus it is a tool in the garden to scoop something up with. Shovels can be all sorts of shapes and sizes - a small scoop would be classed as one. These tools have curved sides to keep the product they are shovelling on the shovel, and would include spoons and trowels, as well as pointed shovelling tools.
A spade is a tool to use for digging, and is generally a sharpened blade with straight sides to cut through the soil. It would not be easy to dig the garden with a shovel.
Shovel is an old English word and is derived from Germanic.

I have been made aware (by Zigs) that in the USA there is a digging tool with a long handle that is generally called a shovel, but is actually a spade - as it is for digging the ground, just like a straight bladed edging tool for lawns this should actually be labelled ''spade''.....
and here endeth your English lesson for today.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I have been made aware (by Zigs) that in the USA there is a digging tool with a long handle that is generally called a shovel, but is actually a spade - as it is for digging the ground, just like a straight bladed edging tool for lawns this should actually be labelled ''spade''.....
and here endeth your English lesson for today.

Going back several hundred years there was a spade in use here with a heart shaped blade and a handle in the region of eight feet that was used for digging out ditches and such.
However, I would say that English and American English do differ, that does not make one or the other invalid, just different

 

[Tetters]

Going back several hundred years there was a spade in use here with a heart shaped blade and a handle in the region of eight feet that was used for digging out ditches and such.
However, I would say that English and American English do differ, that does not make one or the other invalid, just different

Yeah, but Oliver - those Americans think that we stole their place names, they don't seem to know about their territory being discovered much more recently. They also think they invented the English language

 

[Oliver Buckle]

they don't seem to know about their territory being discovered much more recently.

That's our conceit, someone discovered it thousands of years ago, and then the Vikings probably re-discovered it several hundred years before the English and French did.

 

[Mr_Yan]

That's our conceit, someone discovered it thousands of years ago, and then the Vikings probably re-discovered it several hundred years before the English and French did.

Well someone had to draw the map for Columbus to follow. Vikings drew it 400 years earlier.

 

[Meadowlark]

This is called a "Spear Head Spade Gardening Shovel"...the best of both Worlds. Great garden tool.

 

[Mike121]

This is called a "Spear Head Spade Gardening Shovel"...the best of both Worlds. Great garden tool.

Never seen one of those before but can definitely see where it'd come in handy!

 

[Mike Allen]

A spade has straight sides and is used for digging. Some also have sole guards one either side of the handle/shaft so that the soles of your footware doesn't get damaged when applying added foot force to the digging action.
American and some other countries do use the extra long handle/shaft for both their spades and shovels.

In both handled styles. The shovel has slightly raised sides to help keep stuff from sliding off.

BRITISH soldiers were issued with an Entrenching tool and some a duel purpose spade-cum-shovel. This was shield shape and had sole protectors.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

BRITISH soldiers were issued with an Entrenching tool and some a duel purpose spade-cum-shovel. This was shield shape and had sole protectors.

The blade was very like Meadowlark's 'Spear head spade gardening shovel', but attached to a much shorter handle by a system that allowed you to turn it at right angles, so it could be used as a pick to loosen earth and then a shovel to remove it. The British army were soon copied by other European armies who produced very similar tools.