Round pointed shovel?

[festive]

I have a fking mountain of crushed concrete to load in wheelbarrows to spread over the drive.
Starting on it last night ive found it very awkward to shovel with a normal square shovel and almost easier to plunge and pick up diagonally ie using a corner to enter and lift a load.

Which made me think should i purchase a round pointed shovel instead, any recommendations on the best tool here to shovel this ****!

Thanks.

 

[noseall]

 

[ntb]

If you are trying to put a shovel into the middle of the pile I'm not surprised. If it's on a hard surface slide the shovel along the ground and into the pile. If not, rake it onto a hard surface like a board and then shovel. Or get the digger as suggested above.

 

[ree]

A "pointed shovel" is called a spade FWIW.

But hardcore should be smashed down into manageable chunks. Large slabs sometimes take time to settle and/or leave voids - bad for the long term finished surface.

 

[Norcon]

Maybe in the states where English is reversed.
Here in the province its called a "long tail". And a spade is a spade.
Not that many capable of using them though.

 

[ree]

In the USA, long tail spades are used for digging - the long shaft is to reach into the hole or trench. Typically, only shovels have D-handles and, usually, a shorter shaft.

Way back i was was introduced on site to: "Thats a spade, its used for digging, and thats a shovel, its used for shovelling. They are tools, use them properly".
The guys would have laughed at anyone using a spade to shovel rubbish or mix S&C, or attempting to dig a trench with a shovel.

 

[Richardthe3rd]

Well, it's called a spade here in Scotland also. Just like the playing card suit.

 

[Flyboytim]

You'd have thought that an American company that deals with Shovels and Spades would know what was what, wouldn't you?

http://www.jacksonprofessional.com/products/family.aspx?LineId=75

Spades are for digging, shovels for transfer of stuff. Depending on size of load particles, pointed or round shovels are preferable for small particles, flat shovels for irregular lumps.

"D" handles for heavy unstable or irregular loads, like wet concrete or coal or rubble.

Straight handles for reach or depth or throwing the load. (Boot Hill in Dry Gulch has many fine examples.)

Spades for wet soil usually have "D" handles. Garden spades have flat blades for turning "spits" of soil.

 

[festive]

Thanks all for you comments, well i ended up getting a mini digger back in, as i guess 12tons would of taken me a while longer.

And had a better idea after... raking a load of it onto a large board of ply/osb and shovelling from there, much easier.