Spade

How it works

The U.S. military hand tool manual describes the spade as having a steel blade and a wooden handle, with the blade rounded, pointed or square and the handle ending in a D or T-shaped grip. To use it, hold the handle upright with both hands and push the blade into the ground with the foot, push the handle downward and pull back to break the dirt loose, then slide one hand near the blade to raise the weight of the blade and the dirt.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety defines a spade as a tool for digging straight-edged holes or trenches, slicing and lifting sod, and edging flower beds or lawns, and says spades used for digging holes or cutting turf are usually longer than shovels. The Centre notes that in North America the word shovel is commonly used for both.

Anatomy

Blade: Flat or slightly dished, with a straight, rounded, pointed or square edge according to the military manual. The 1926 Ames catalog lists blades from sheet steel with welded straps, rolled solid shanks, and a steel-edge type that it says provides a sharp cutting edge at all times.
Tread or rolled step: A turned-over top edge of the blade that takes foot pressure; the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety recommends it for digging in hard earth.
Socket or straps: The connection between blade and handle: the catalog describes closed sockets held by a steel wedge, split sockets riveted around the handle, and front and back straps.
Handle and grip: Wood, in the catalog second-growth northern ash, ending in a D-shaped grip, in other forms a T-shaped grip.

Variants

Standard or garden spade: Listed in the 1926 Ames catalog as the Standard Pattern spade.
Drain or ditch spade: Listed in the catalog’s section on drainage tools. The Science Museum Group also holds a draining spade.
Post or concave spade: A concave-bladed spade, listed with drain spades in the 1926 catalog.
Diamond-point spade (Vaterland): A pointed spade sold under the name Vaterland in the 1926 catalog.
Iowa pattern spade: A regional pattern in the 1926 catalog, made in welded plain back and solid socket types.
Grafting and nursery spades: Narrow and wide point patterns for grafting, and a steel-edge nursery spade the catalog says keeps a sharp cutting edge at all times.
Perforated concrete spade: A spade with a perforated blade, sold under this name in the 1926 catalog.
Boys’ spade: A small riveted-back spade with a miniature wooden D-handle for light garden work, according to the catalog.
Wooden spade: The Science Museum Group holds an eighteenth-century wooden spade from Lancashire coal mining and a nineteenth-century European wooden spade with metal reinforcement.

Specifications

Weight · lb or kg: The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety gives 1.5 to 3 kilograms for shovels and spades together; the Forest Service handbook gives 3 to 5 pounds for shovels.
Overall length · in: The Centre says total length should reach approximately to elbow height with the blade on the ground, and that spades for holes and turf are usually longer than shovels.
Blade size · nominal number: The 1926 Ames catalog sold spades by nominal size and omitted blade dimensions.

Safety and care

Safety

Contact local utility providers before digging to locate buried cables, power lines, gas pipelines and water pipes; in some jurisdictions digging without locating services is against the law (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety).
Wear safety footwear, gloves and long pants where needed, and keep a safe distance from others (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety).
Wear eye protection when working where flying particles may cause eye injury (military hand tool manual).

Care

Clean the tool often after use and oil the metal parts before storing, replace a defective handle immediately, and treat wooden handles occasionally with linseed oil to prevent drying out or splintering (military hand tool manual).

Tips

Let the foot and leg do the pushing
The military manual says to hold the handle upright with both hands and push the blade into the ground with the foot. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety adds to push the spade down using the leg muscles.1 2
Break the earth loose before lifting
With the blade in the ground, push the handle downward and pull back to break the dirt loose, then slide a hand near the blade to raise it. The Centre advises ensuring the load is loose from the ground before lifting and keeping it close to the body.1 2
Choose a blade with a rolled step for hard ground
The Centre says a blade with a rolled step on the top allows the user to apply foot pressure to push the blade into hard earth, which substantially reduces strain on the upper body and lower back.1
A metal shoe and shoulders that take the foot mark a spade
Museum Wales reasons from an oak medieval blade with sharply sloping shoulders unsuitable for foot pressure and no metal shoe that the implement was a shovel for loose material, not a spade for cutting.1
Use the spade for straight edges
The Centre lists the spade’s purpose as straight-edged holes and trenches, slicing and lifting sod, and edging flower beds or lawns. The 1926 Ames catalog describes a steel-edge nursery spade as providing a sharp cutting edge at all times.1 2
Work with a pick or bar in hard ground
The Forest Service handbook advises that a shovel used with a pick or bar is most effective, since the pick or bar makes prying with the blade unnecessary, and that wiggling the handle while applying foot pressure helps dig deeper.1

History

Earliest documented

Middle Bronze Age, about 3,500 to 3,400 years before 2024

Moors at Arne, near Poole Harbour, Dorset, England

Wessex Archaeology, as reported by Archaeology magazine, uncovered a nearly complete oak spade in a waterlogged area near Poole Harbor. Ed Treasure of Wessex Archaeology said radiocarbon dating of the wood itself confirmed it to be about 3,500 to 3,400 years old, in the Middle Bronze Age.1

The oldest tool in this archive’s sources that a museum or excavator calls a spade is wooden. The Arne spade, reported in 2024, is a nearly complete oak implement dated by radiocarbon to about 3,500 to 3,400 years ago. Ed Treasure of Wessex Archaeology and his colleagues think the person who lost it made seasonal visits to the site, since little evidence of a permanent settlement has been found in the area. The oak shovel from Brynlow, Cheshire, dated 1888–1677 cal BC, is of comparable age.

The word spade has named a particular job as well as a form. Museum Wales, describing a medieval oak implement from Montgomery, separates the two on features of the blade: a metal shoe at the blade end and shoulders that suit foot pressure indicate a spade for cutting, while the absence of both indicates a shovel for moving loose material. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety draws the same line by task, with the spade for straight-edged holes, trenches, sod and edging.

The spade has also served as a ceremonial object. The Science Museum Group holds a spade made for the cutting of the first sod of the Norwich extension of the Ipswich & Bury St Edmunds Railway in 1847 and a commemorative spade used to turn the first sod of the River Lee Conservancy’s new cutting in 1878, which place the tool at the opening of canal and railway works in the nineteenth century.

Factory production divided the spade into patterns. The 1926 Ames catalog lists standard, drain, post or concave, diamond-point, Iowa pattern, grafting, nursery, concrete and boys’ spades, built in the same welded, solid-shank and riveted constructions as its shovels. The Ames chronology records that the company combined with other shovel makers in 1901, and the catalog says that the company manufactures only shovels, spades, scoops and allied tools.

The two names have not separated in common use. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety says that in North America the word shovel tends to be used for both, and the U.S. military hand tool manual lists the spade as its own digging tool alongside the long-handled and D-handled shovels, for heavy digging or in confined areas.

Timeline

Middle Bronze Age
Oak spade at Arne, Dorset, dated by radiocarbon to about 3,500 to 3,400 years old and reported in 2024.1
1888–1677 cal BC
Oak shovel from the Brynlow pit workings, Alderley Edge, radiocarbon dated, found with stone hammers in prehistoric pits.1
10th–14th centuries
A type of wooden shovel with a pegged shaft slot and no metal shoe, discussed by Morris (1980) and represented in the Museum Wales collection by an oak example from Montgomery, Powys; the museum contrasts it with a spade made for cutting.1
1700–1800
A wooden spade from the Lancashire Coal Mining Collection is dated to this century by the Science Museum Group.1
1801–1900
A European wooden spade with metal reinforcement is dated to this century by the Science Museum Group.1
1847
A ceremonial spade is made for the cutting of the first sod of the Norwich extension of the Ipswich & Bury St Edmunds Railway, 25 February 1847.1
1878
A commemorative spade is used to turn the first sod of the River Lee Conservancy’s new cutting through Horse Shoe Point.1
1901
The Ames Shovel and Tool Company is formed by merger of Ames with several shovel makers.1
1926
Ames Combined Catalog No. 152 lists standard, drain, post, diamond-point, Iowa pattern, grafting, nursery, concrete and boys’ spades.1
2024
Archaeology magazine reports the Arne spade, excavated by Wessex Archaeology near Poole Harbor.1

Gaps in the record (6)

Evidence for the earliest iron spade shoe has not been located.
Wessex Archaeology’s own report on the Arne spade could not be read from this machine (the site returned a security block), so the account here is the magazine’s.
No patent or manufacturing history specific to spades, apart from the Ames catalog, has been located.
The Science Museum Group’s draining spade has no date in its online record.
No standard for hand spades has been confirmed.
No independent test data on spade blades or handles have been located, so buying is null.