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Spear & Jackson stainless steel spade
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Message 1.Â
Posted by Paul N (U6451125) on Sunday, 13th March 2011
Last year my stainless steel garden spade, bought for me as a retirement present ten years previously, snapped in half at the neck where the shaft joined the flat spade area. As it had a lifetime guarantee it was replaced with a new one but this one has a 10yr guarantee.
That was a year ago. Yesterday there was a loud crack and this one too now has a pronounced crack in the steel in a similar position.
Is there a Rolls Royce of garden spades waiting for me to buy out there? -
Message 2
Posted by Kleftiwallah (U13700999) on Sunday, 13th March 2011
Buy a Bulldog ! ! ! Cheers, Tony.
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Message 3
Posted by garyhobson (U11055016) on Monday, 14th March 2011
I have also had several spades buckle or snap.
Though I do tend to use them for unauthorised purposes, such as levering out bamboo roots, or trying to dig up small trees with big root balls. -
Message 4
Posted by jauntycyclist (U14199772) on Monday, 14th March 2011
what were circumstances of the snap?
when i did the job for a living anyone snapping tools had to replace them from their wages.
at some point in jobs 6ft iron bars become useful. -
Message 5
Posted by jauntycyclist (U14199772) on Monday, 14th March 2011
we kept our oiled spades razor sharp. ie they are meant for cutting rather than leverage.
we used to give blunt unoiled spades to new people [gardeners humour] till they worked out why it was harder work for them than us. -
Message 6
Posted by Paul N (U6451125) on Monday, 14th March 2011
What were the circumstances of the breaks? Well the first one I had levered a tad hard on a small rock. The latest one was simple digging, not even deep digging, in our heavy soil.
Both spades are stainless steel, and I am certain that s/s is used because it looks nice as well as slicing into the soil. When I examined the first breakage, the wall thickness at the point of breakage could only have been a millimetre or two.
Style over substance, me thinks
Bulldog? -
Message 7
Posted by jauntycyclist (U14199772) on Monday, 14th March 2011
mmm maybe the new ones aren't to the same spec as the old ones. A lot of the stuff from the far east is rubbish steel and as you say often price over quality.
they were always expensive investments so cheap ones should be suspicious.
a good stainless should last a lifetime. one option is to look for old secondhand ones say pre1990 at car boots which you might get for £2-5 [cause people don't know/care what they got]
however they should never be used for 'leverage' [ i have seen people jumping on handles!!] . get a couple different iron bars for that.
i'd use a fork [or maybe Rotavator] to break up heavy soil then a spade to empty it out if trenching. -
Message 8
Posted by Kleftiwallah (U13700999) on Monday, 14th March 2011
Bulldog brand spades and forks tec, hand forged in Wigan. See page 13 April Issue of Kitchen Garden. That's my hand on page 32 ! ! ! Cheers, Tony.
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Message 9
Posted by punpun (U14553477) on Monday, 14th March 2011
Hi All,
Just a quick one here ref tools,
Be honest how many of you ever service the non mechanicle tools?
Such as spades/forks hoe etc etc?
Ive had my favourit spade and fork for over twenty years now and not only do i only use them for what they are designed to be used for but i oil the shafts with lindseed oil every winter the steel is made sharp "but i have a half plastic tub full of sand and used oil and i clean the tools every time i use them by digging the tools into this sandy mix, it cleans and oils the tools in one go.
The snapping of shafts is i feel because your asking the tool to do to much or you've not oiled the woodwork, (try turning the tool upside down and really applying coat after coat to the wood section that is attached to the steel and leave it upside down for a few days "but continue to give coat after coat of the oil and let it really soak into the shaft)
Its your money & your tools and its up to you to look after them. -
Message 10
Posted by Paul N (U6451125) on Tuesday, 15th March 2011
"It's your money and it's up to you to look after them".
No, I won't take offense, I won't.
1. I do look after my gardening tools.
2. The shafts are plastic or plastic coated so cannot be treated with linseed oil.
3. There was no problem with the shafts anyway as it was the stainless steel 'neck' of the spade where the metal is at it's thinnes, that broke (twice).
4. I have stony, flinty soil so there will always we some leverage when using spades.
5. My first S&J lasted ten years of regular use before snapping. As I said the metal at the point of the breakage was wafer thin. As a retired engineering draughtsman I know instinctively when products are too thin to do their job.
6. The second breakage with my 12 month old S&J broke with simply digging in ordinary soil. I've just been creating some raised beds from brick and timber and hadn't even started on the real digging.
7. As my replacement spade was guaranteed for 10 years, they are replacing it FOC. I'm just wondering how long this will last and whether I should invest in an even better spade. -
Message 11
Posted by Stressed out (U11163734) on Tuesday, 15th March 2011
PauN
I use one of these and have done for years
I have a border spade as well which has had a huge amount of hammer
Have bent forks before but never broke a spade
I also have two orange composite handled ones as well and they have had that much use they are now very pale orange. They make these in grey now.
If it isn't a neverbend then try one of these -
Message 12
Posted by Paul N (U6451125) on Wednesday, 16th March 2011
Thanks RC, I think I will wait to see what the replacement S&J spade is like and perhaps look for an old carbon steel spade with an ash frame as an extra. I see they crop up on eBay. There's also a smal odds & ends shop in Appledore, Kent, which had a few dozen veteran garden tools for sale. After all one can never have too many garden tools.
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Message 13
Posted by Paul N (U6451125) on Saturday, 19th March 2011
And guess what arrived on Thursday? A garden FORK!
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Message 14
Posted by Vixxihibiscus (U13865184) on Saturday, 19th March 2011
Freebie! Plead ignorance
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Message 15
Posted by Satin (U14303179) on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011
As you say you have stony, flinty soil you may find it best to dig with a fork insted of a spade. In my garden it is near impossible to dig with a spade due to all the stones. Can't even get a trowel into the ground without hitting half a dozen stones. So I dig with my border fork.
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Message 16
Posted by tootsietim (U13997544) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
I worked for many years in garden centres and we woulf often have stainless steel spades and forks returned to us broken at the joint between the blade and the shaft.
I suspect that with the cheaper ones it is a design fault in as much as the welded joint is simply not strong enough for the job.
I won't buy stainless steel tools, ( with the exception of a good strong trowel) and always choose carbon steel with a ''solid one-piece forged head.''
Preferably a secondhand one which has been nicely worn in a bit, but new ones can be bought quite easily.
P.s. A wooden handle is so much nicer. -
Message 17
Posted by chileanqueen (U14801067) on Thursday, 24th March 2011
I get all my tools second hand from car boot sales. Really old tools, well made and already used. I think they're better than modern ones. Cheap to buy too.
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