Digging Hand Tools That Use Pipe Handles

Round-Point Shovel

• Primarily an American tool, the cheapest round-point shovel will have a wooden handle, but try to find a pipe handle with slip resistance and a carbon steel blade. Not only will it last a lifetime, but you can sharpen the blade if necessary, and the extra weight of the pipe handle helps you dig deep holes in hard earth. It is particularly handy when trying to break into clay-based soil or turning fertilizer into the soil.

Garden Spade

• A steel pipe handle garden spade is the best tool for transplanting small trees and shrubs. The shovel has a flat nose and a slight indentation where the handle meets the blade. It also has a bevel on the back side, which makes it a perfect tool for digging around the plant without damaging the root ball. It is designed to cut straight down, unlike the the round-point shovel.

Drain Spade

• A drain spade is a more delicate instrument than its larger cousins, and it needs the weight of a pipe handle to be truly effective. An indispensable tool for landscapers or for the outdoor gardener who is into creating ponds, waterfalls and other decorative elements, the drain spade is much more powerful with a pipe handle than a wooden or fiberglass handle, as less effort is needed to make a precise soil cut. This extra strength makes the pipe-handled drain spade a great tool for working around sprinklers and garden lights without damaging the fixtures.

Post Hole Digger

• A post hole digger is a two-handled, two-bladed device designed to dig a straight, deep hole suitable for filling in with material sufficiently dense and hard to hold up a fence post. The action required to use the post hole digger requires the weight of steel pipe handles to make the work effective, since a twist is required at the end of the digging, an action that might break a pair of wooden handles.