On Sun, 11 Dec 2016 09:50:28 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Sun, 11 Dec 2016 13:31:43 +0000, Stormin' Norman
wrote:



So far, the strongest shovel I have been able to find is made by
Corona Tools, the blade is great, very tough and it can be
re-sharpened easily.

Unfortunately, we have broken the Ash handles on a couple of the
shovels while removing roots from Cape Honeysuckle (the herpes of the
botanical kingdom). Yes, we are using long, tempered steel digging
bars too, but a good shovel should be able to withstand a certain
amount of prying


Why not replace the handles? Some stores carry them but you may have
to do some digging or have them special ordered. We used to have a
handle factory the next town over and they can fit anything for you. I
used to break my splitting maul most every year.

You may even find a fiberglass handle that will outlast 10 wooden
ones.

The company has been replacing the shovels we have broken. I am
simply looking for a better shovel, one that will take greater
punishment. In the past, it seemed we could punish the shovels with
hickory handles far more than we can punish these. It is possible the
older shovels were made with old growth hickory.

As for fiberglass, we have shattered at least one fiberglass handle,
it didn't seem to take as much punishment as the wood handles.

Do you have experience with a specific brand of fiberglass handle
shovel that you feel was superior to other shovels you have used?