Which Shovel?
When choosing any type of digging tool it is important to select the tool that best reflects the task that you are undertaking. This will make the job easier and will reduce stress to both the user and the tool.
Bulldog Tools offer a wide variety of digging tools designed for whichever type of work is required. These tools are solid forged for strength, ensuring that they are up to heavy digging and lifting without bending, distorting or breaking.
The most popular types of shovel are square or taper mouth and have wide blades, perfect for shovelling, digging out and backfilling trenches, mixing concrete, working tarmac and carrying loose materials like sand, cement, gravel and chippings.
Round mouth shovels have a pointed blade which offers easy penetration either when shovelling gravel, sand, earth and other loose materials or when digging into solid, unbroken ground. The general service version of this shovel is very popular in Scotland.
The Trench shovel offers a narrower and shorter alternative to the standard square mouth models, which is particularly useful when digging a narrow trench for pipes and cables or when a lighter weight shovel is preferred.
Cable layer shovels are specifically designed for pipe and cable laying with a slim, dished blade which is ideal for digging, removing material and bottoming out narrow trenches.
Grafting tools have a slightly dished bade which is heavy and made for digging heavy clay soils and for ground breaking work. Often used by landscapers for all types of heavy work, it is also often referred to as a grafting spade.
The Newcastle Drainer is the perfect tool for making holes in the ground, deep narrow trenches, cable, pipe and drainage channels or for digging post holes. The tough, long, narrow blade has built in treads for leverage and its shape also makes it a very good tree planting tool.
Trench forks are also forged from one piece and feature individually rolled, thicker prongs for heavy-duty work breaking up the uncultivated ground, hardcore and digging trenches as well as pipe and cable channels. The fork prongs are also excellent for removing lumps of soil and stones and the chisel prongs make for easier ground penetration.
All bulldog tool heads are forged from a single piece of their own blend of high quality manganese steel which is enriched with just the right proportion of additional elements to create a steel of great strength and resilience. Forged heads are much stronger than welded shovels where the head and the socket are joined. The weld point represents a weak spot that does not withstand pressure or impact for long.
Bulldog’s unique heat treatment and finishing after the forging process means that their shovels have added strength and flexibility in the blade due to being reheated and then plunged into a cold nitrate salt bath which ‘re-tunes’ the structure of the steel.
The tool head is then coated in an epoxy powder paint which protects against the elements and minimises soil adhesion making the shovel more hardwearing, giving it an increased life span and easing digging.
Features which particularly strengthen a Bulldog forged shovel are the long socket which is forged as an integral part of the blade and allows the shaft to be sunk deep into the head to strengthen this potential weak spot as well as the triangle at the top of the blade called the ‘frog’ which further ensures that the shovel can be used for heavy loads and digging without bending or breaking.
Bulldog shovels are designed to undertake the toughest jobs that a builder, contractor, landscaper, gardener or other construction or maintenance worker can encounter, the tools are built to last and will not let you down on the job site. These tools have been trusted by users around the world for 240 years and this article should help you select the right Bulldog digging tool for your next job.
So whether you choose a Round Mouth, Square Mouth, Trench, or Cable Layers Shovel, a Grafting Tool, Newcastle Drainer or Trench Fork, you know that a Bulldog digging tool won’t let you down – no matter how tough the job is.
The tools that built Britain, since 1780.
Disclaimer: The information provided through Greenham Pulse is for general guidance only and is not legal advice. Greenham Pulse is not a substitute for Health and Safety consultancy. You should seek independent advice about any legal matter.
