A Spades's a Spade!

[Teabone]

Hi All,
Has anyone any idea where in Hua Hin, or local surroundings, I could buy a spade? I mean a digging implement for creating a hole or trench, where the main power source is provided by a downward motion of the foot.
I have seen a few shovels around (used for moving and mixing) and a great variety of 'swinging through the air' pick type Thai tools (many of which are very effective - I now own and use a couple).
However, the traditional 'step on it and lift' spade, I cannot find.
If anyone has seen one on their travels, I would be delighted to know the whereabouts of it !

Thanks - Teabone.

[PeteC]

You can include all of Thailand, not just HH. I've never seen a spade or the other type of western shovel, same foot power but rounded nose.

What seems to be the norm here is a very small nosed shovel that is powered by arm/shoulder strength for vicious thrusts into the ground, which results in bone shock all the way up to your head and beyond when the dirt is hard and dry. It's almost like a trenching tool but used for everything, unless the guy shows up with the front end loader to dig holes for the grown coconut trees you've bought.

One ray of hope over here in Pattaya is that an American hardware store has opened up, True Value, with imported goods. Fiberclass non-electrocution type ladders, Weber Kettle BBQ's etc. All priced 5 times more than in the States. Next time in I'll look for spades and the like. Let you know.. If they have them, we can load some on the party boat from HH if it ever gets here? Pete

[DawnHRD]

Excuse my ignorance, but what's the difference between a spade & a shovel? Size, shape, length of handle? I only ask because in the Dog Center we have a couple of things I would call spades, but maybe they're not - if they are, they were definitely bought here.

[PeteC]

Excuse my ignorance, but what's the difference between a spade & a shovel? Size, shape, length of handle? I only ask because in the Dog Center we have a couple of things I would call spades, but maybe they're not - if they are, they were definitely bought here.

In the colonies, I believe a spade is a short staff shovel with a straight digging edge, with a grip handle on the top of the staff. A shovel, shovel in turn has a longer handle, no grip on top and the digging edge is rounded. However, this could be directly the opposite of what these things are elsewhere? Pete

[billseymour]

We used to live in Phetchaburi, where almost all the local hardware stores carried spades, in different sizes and styles (flat blade and pointed blade).

I'm not sure about Hua Hin, but you can definitely buy them in Tha Yang. Drive north, and turn left at the Tha Yang trafffic lights. There are several hardware stores along that road that carry spades (although they are not always on display).

[JD]

I have never seen a spade for sale in Thailand. Like you I can’t get on with the swing things they use here. I got a local metal fabricator to make two for me. Gave him the spec, took him four days and cost me Bht. 1,500.

I have to say though that they were pretty much useless in the garden to start with, the ground is not light, my gardener looked intrigued, then laughed his tits off when it only went 3 or 4 inches into the ground with me stood two feet either side rocking backwards and forwards on it. When I moved aside he took one swing, moved four times as much earth, smiled at me and continued to dig out all my raised beds for me.

Now, however my spade is a revered thing, the organic matter I added to the best soil I could find makes a spade worth it’s weight, the gardener now uses it on all the beds, but never to dig a hole in virgin Thai earth.

[STEVE G]

I couldn’t swear to it, but I think they had the sort of spade you are after in Home Pro, upstairs in the new mall. I know I’ve seen one somewhere in Thailand but it may have been in a similar mall in Khorat, apologies if I’m wrong. What I do remember is that it was a lot more expensive than the Thai things you get in the market. They generally use those things with a blade at 90 degrees to the handle that you swing at the soil, I imagine because the ground is hard, and the user not so heavy.

[Norseman]

I imagine because the ground is hard, and the user not so heavy.

Yup. That's right Steve.
Almost impossible to use a spade out here.
A 200 kilos guy would help indeed, but most people are not that heavy.
The soil is just too hard.
Use the same thing the Thais use.
Better for your back and foot as well.

[Teabone]

Thanks all for your contributions, I shall certainly be taking a trip up to the Yang.
I havnt seen anything like a spade in HomePro, but I did see a 'heart' shaped spade a couple of months ago in the hardware store opposite the main Temple on Petkasem - now out of stock and not to be replaced (old story, if it sells- dont get anymore in!!).
Dawn, my idea of a spade is that you dig into the ground with it - it has a sharper cutting edge, it can be heart or square shaped, and is sturdy enough to be able to lever the soil out . Whether this is practical outside the rainy season is, I agree, questionable - but I would say that used correctly, it is probably easier on your back than any 'swing it through the air' tool - everyone to their own. This is as opposed to a shovel, which again my understanding, is used for lifting and mixing already loosened soil, sand, gravel etc. I am sure these definitions vary from region to region, let alone different countries.
It was gratifying to read of the 'organic' success, gives me a bit of hope!
Thanks again.

[STEVE G]

Hi Teabone, I must have been mistaken about Home Pro, but I definitely saw a spade somewhere, it was Spear and Jackson the same as you get in the UK with a square blade and a crosspiece handle. I’m back in Thailand next week and I will let you know if I can find it again.

[Guess]

Excuse my ignorance, but what's the difference between a spade & a shovel? Size, shape, length of handle? I only ask because in the Dog Center we have a couple of things I would call spades, but maybe they're not - if they are, they were definitely bought here.

There is no quick answer to that.

Seems no one has actually answered you except Pete but from memory I think they vary in the US from Europe. I guess average topsoil type in the region where the tools are supplied will dictate many things.

In the UK the the spade and shovel have two different purposes and shapes and although a spade could be used as a very poor shovel vice versa could not apply.

A spade is designed for digging. It has a sharp tip downside edge and a good one used with enough force by a strong man could sever another mans head off. It is generally used for light digging such as gardening, up to the larger taks of digging the foundations fo a house. Any job bigger than that and you would use a mechanical digger whicih comes with a number of attachments including one that resembles the hand tool but usuallly a round or octagonal point to penetrate clay, tarmac or even thinly laid concrete.

A shovel is used for moving already broken up or dug substances, powders grains and far too many other things to mention. It is used for moving those substances from one place to another such as coal into a fire, sand from a builders yard into a truck, horse shit into a manure bag or in your case dog shit from the dog centre into Dr Dave's front garden.

It is made of much lighter metal than a spade and will generally have curled up edges (not really necessary for shovelling shit as it sticks but absolutley essential for shovelling sand).It will normally have a greater surface area depending upon the intended substance than a spade.

On the subject of shovelling shit I have always had wondered why "goes like shit off a shovel" meant very fast when I, who have had much experience shovelling shit on a pig farm, found that it stuck and never went anywhere quickly except the odd bit that would fly off onto my face.

And then I found this gem of an explanation:

shit off a shovel

Very Fast.

In the days when trains had a driver and a fireman to load coal and it was necessary to answer a call of nature you would shit on the coal shovel and then throw it in the fire as quick as possible because of smell and hygiene. As the shovel had coal dust on it, the shit did not stick. Interestingly the same shovel could be cleaned with steam and could be used to cook bacon and eggs.

A motorcyclist in a collision. He shot off his bike like shit off a shovel.

That car is fast it goes like shit off a shovel.

An orange VW caravanette, with Subaru impreza 2L engine, went like shit off a well greased shovel.


I think Dawn, that was a bit more of an explanation than you expected.

[JimmyGreaves]

Spot on. Excellent explanation Guess.

[Terry]

Good stuff

Good grief

Is there no end to the amount of knowledge to be found on this website

[DawnHRD]

Thank you for the explanation, Guess. I'll have to go & inspect the implements in the dog center to see what they are. We do use them for light digging, though. We use brooms & those half oil-cans on sticks for the shit.

Do you really think Dr Dave would like canine excrement for his garden? Have been looking for somewhere new to put it. Maybe I should pm him & ask? Or just dump it anyway??

[Big Boy]

Dawn,

Whatever implement you use to offload in to Dr Dave's garden, don't forget to coat it in coal dust first to make sure nothing is left behind .