On 05/02/2012 18:14, Jules Richardson wrote:
On Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:42:04 +0000, Fred wrote:
There seem to be two types of "snow shovel": one that is a big scoop on
a stick and another which looks like a normal shovel but is made of
plastic.

We have three here; a big scoop type that's about 2' wide (plastic scoop,
adjustable metal handle), a plastic flat-blade type that's about 16"
wide, and a metal flat-blade type (also about 16" wide) that has a wooden
handle.

The scoop's quite good on the right type of snow, although deep snow
tends to fall off the back long before I hit the point where I couldn't
physically push any more; I keep thinking I should add some form of 6"
high wall at the back of it so I can move more snow with it.

The flat metal-bladed shovel is probably many decades old; it's rusty and
dented, but it's bloody brilliant for cutting and lifting the kind of
heavy, ice-laden snow that the scoop doesn't like shunting around.

The flat plastic-bladed shovel is an utter crock of cheap ****. Don't buy
one if you can find a metal version. I suspect that the plastic doesn't
like the cold; every one of that type we've had has eventually cracked
around the point where the blade attaches to the handle.

Oh, we also keep metal (wooden-handled) shovels (maybe 8" wide) in the
car and van just for emergency use during winter.

One of our elderly neighbours up the road has a 4x4 quad bike with a
blade on the front, so when it gets really deep he always ends up coming
over and ploughing (it's about 100' from the road to our garage - I've
hand-shoveled it a few times, but it's a sod of a job)

cheers

Jules

Well I live in central scotland and for all the snow we actually get I
made my own out of a rectangle of ply screwed to a piece of 2 x 2.
Does the job around the house. cost me £0