Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Equipment Shed => Topic started by: fish on February 05, 2007, 19:37
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i suffer from a dodgy back,last year i baught a fork and a spade from lidles,the good thing was that they were longer in the handle than the average ones,sadly the spade got nicked,and the fork broke when i was being over forcefull with a horse radish root!now ive got 2 allotmentsand lots of digging ahead of me,can anyone sugest amake and model that is a bit longer! :D
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get a steel shafted one and have the handle removed and then a bit piping stuck over reweld the handle on and the joints.sorted . my son is 6ft 7 n loves fereting so we had one made for him that way cost £10 n £^ for the asda spade :wink:
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cheers munty! ille see if i can find someone to let me loose with the mig! :lol:
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First I have to say that if anyone suffers from back injury they should seriously consider alternatives to digging. Most digging related problems though are simply caused by poor equipment and improper use. A good spade is unlikely to be sold in places like Lidl. A spade is a tool that has to withstand severe forces in normal operation and low quality steel will bend or break.
The handle of a standard spade is about the right length for all people regardless of height as tall folk have longer bones but still in scaled proportion to normal peeps and even shorties like myself. You have to bend to dig, but it is not the bending that causes the pain. Back pain while digging is mostly caused by attempting to graunch a big block of soil straight out of the ground instead of using the spade to lift it. Most of the lifting should be done by the spade as the handle is tipped back.
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You could get an American style spade, I have one of these and it's fab, nice long handle it stands about 5' tall. Got mine from B&Q and never looked back, as it were. or you try to get you hand on a terex sprung loaded spade their pretty good as well.
Can I add to what Eristic said by adding only lift what you can manage easily rather than digging a great clod at one, go halve the amount you are lifting with the spade. You will dig quicker, easier and probably dig more in the long run.
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i have one them spades richy a nice deep shovelly one with those turned over bits for ur heel to sit on ..got mine from focus a few years back for ferreting its got a lovly feel to the hickory shaft .it seems to lift sand n soil so easy loll , once saw a chain gang in tennesee using them as well . friend in coreection services told me they had to do so much a day and that only if the cons werked to fast they made em go back n pat the soil down with the back of the spades lol
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:lol: Thats the one, perhaps we ought to try it out on our "naughty boys " in stead of a smack on the wrist.
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i use a shovel yer big bunch of girls :D
no offence but if you have a non manual job and you start digging like a maniac at the weekend you will get a bad back around the lumber region.i'm tall and i use a bulldog shovel that is now a spade because its had so much use :wink:
its like going to gym for the 1st time and trying to lift 100kilos you will hurt yourself.
I have tried these long shovels and just cant get used to them :?
a tip for a bad back is lie on the floor put your hands behind your knees and pull your knees up to your chin arching your back
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shaun said " use a shovel yer big bunch of girls
no offence but if you have a non manual job and you start digging like a maniac at the weekend you will get a bad back around the lumber region.IM TALL and i use a bulldog shovel
YOU LIKKLE E LIAR BOBBY :lol:
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i said it was a shovel once :wink:
talking about bulldog tools each one is dated on the steel bit that the handle goes into and mine is 1991 a real antique :D
i am tall honest :cry:
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How tall?
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6'4"
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My spade is a Wilkinson Sword,stainless steel with an ash handle and shaft,it was a Christmas pressie.I love it.Bought from B&Q for £20.
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i keep looking at those and those joseph bentley tools but £20-£30 for a fork is a bit much(i have a habbit of leaving stuff behind on the plot) i got a decent one from wilkos stainless fork with a plastic handle for £8 and its quite long aswel,
one tool that i do like is this top soil rake its aliminium and is about a metre wide great when you have rotavated an area to level off with.
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If you're 6'4'' and Munty calls you short - how big is Munty?
I have been spending in Wilco's - £9.99 for a stainless steel fork with ash handles, same price for the spade. Only £6.99 each for the hoe and the rake. Thought I would try these before spending £20 plus on posh ones.
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he is only 6ft 4 when he is wet ,when he dries out he shrinks to 5ft in his wellies .im a real 6ft n a bit .n my sons are 6ft 5" n 7 "
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Glad thats cleared up then, is he self concious of being dinky? lol Is that why he exagerates?
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munty is 2" bigger than a dwarf god bless him :D
you cant beat a good hoe needs a good sharpening before you use it with a angle grinder,ive got one given me a few years back its realy old
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Are you implying that I am an old hoe, lol.
I'll have you know mine is new and shiny and big
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i bet it is fluff but it will need sharpening to get the full hoeing effect :D
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Okay, how do I sharpen it?
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with a angle grinder 1st then a pummy stone then lightly oil it after every use :roll:
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A pummy stone? The only pummy stone I know gets rid of dry skin from your feet. Is it what you call a knife sharpening stone - the black flat ones you put oil on?
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thats the one same thing different name :D
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Do you plebs mean a pumice stone? It's made from volcanic rock and my grandparents used it to rub callouses from their feet and hands. Boy, were they hard b******s back then. :lol:
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could be that one aswell give them both a go :D
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I think it is the black one (knife sharpener) not the grey (foot scraper)
Thanks anyway Shaun, need to get an angle grinder first - cool
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you could do it with a file instead of a angle grinder
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go to hardware stoee ask for a torpedo abrasive scythe sharpening stone
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I think that if you have a bad back you should consider creating deep beds so you don't have to do the same digging - one of those three pronged twisty tools does well enough for them.
A decent spade should last a normal user many years, worth investing in a good one.
Shaun's advice is bang on, if you sit on your bum all day then don't try and dig a whole plot over on Sunday and Eristic is bang on about letting the spade do the work.
Having said all that, I've overdone it today and feel cream crackered.
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I find that if you have grassed area to dig and a bad back one of those five pronged cultivator thingys (looks like 5 metal spikes at the bottom) - the type you twist in the ground...i found it digs to a depth of a fork and you can just pull the weeds complete with roots out. If the soil is compacted it soon sorts it and much kinda on the back too.
I then find it easier to fork over to required depth.
I've tried the rotovator but found that aggravated my back due to the weight of the machine and having to manoevure it.
I've seen them in B&Q etc but i got mine from the likes of Wilko's cheap and it's been great. Discovered these when i was struggling to use a fork and my neighbour gave me a shot of theirs....was out the next day buying one.