Shovel with wide blade - especially appropriate for lifting snow or coal

A shovel is a tool for lifting and moving loose material such as coal, gravel, snow, soil, or sand and is an extremely common tool which is used extensively in agriculture, construction and gardening. A broader definition of a tool is an entity used to interface between two or more domains that facilitates more effective action of one domain upon the other Gravel is rock that is of a specific Particle size range In Geology, gravel is any loose rock that is larger than two millimeters (2mm "Snowfall" redirects here For other uses see Snow (disambiguation or Snowfall (disambiguation. Soil, often typeset as SOiL, is a four piece rock band from Chicago Illinois United States founded by Shaun Glass Tom Schofield Tim King and Adam Zadel Sand is a naturally occurring Granular material composed of finely divided rock and Mineral particles Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture In the fields of Architecture and Civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the Building or assembling of Infrastructure Gardening is the practice of growing Plants for their attractive flowers or foliage and Vegetables or Fruits for consumption It is usually a hand tool consisting of a broad blade with edges or sides that is fixed to a medium-length handle.

Hand shovel blades are typically made of pressed sheet steel, folded at the back to make a socket for the handle. The handles are usually made of wood, although steel or even lightweight composite materials may also be used, and is riveted in place. A rivet is a mechanical Fastener. Before it is installed it consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end A T-piece is commonly fitted to the end of the handle to aid grip and control where the shovel is designed for moving soil and heavy materials. This design can be easily mass produced. Mass production (also called flow production, repetitive flow production, series production, or serial production) is the production of

The term "shovel" is also applied to larger excavating machines, such as power shovels, which are designed for the same purpose—lifting and moving material, see Loader (equipment). A Power shovel (also called a Stripping or Front Shovel in some markets is a bucket equipped machine usually electrically powered used for digging and loading earth or fragmented A loader is a type of construction equipment (engineering vehicle machinery that is primarily used to "load" material (asphalt demolition debris

Hand shovels have been adapted for many different tasks and environments. They can be optimized for a single task or designed as cross-over or compromise tools to perform multiple tasks, for example:

• A coal shovel typically has a wide, flat blade with steeply turned sides, a flat face and a short D-shaped handle.

• A snowshovel often has a very wide sideless blade that curves upward attached to a long, straight handle. It is designed as much for pushing the snow as for lifting it. The blade can be metal or plastic, but the latter has been used to offer a lighter tool.

• A grain shovel has a wide aluminium or plastic blade that is attached to a short hardwood handle with "D" top. This shovel has been designed to offer a lighter tool that does not damage the grain. Early models were made from timber.

• In the 1800's shovels were called turf cutters and spades. They had cylinder-shaped wooden handles and metal triangle points at the end to dig with. Farmers used the shovels for digging up the ground on the farm and turning ground over to get richer soil. The shovels were handmade so they were all different sizes.

• A spade is designed primarily for breaking up ("spading") clumps of soil. A spade is a tool designed primarily for the purpose of digging or removing earth A spade usually has a point and is designed to be pushed into the soil with a foot. Spade blades usually have a rounded face without sharply upturned sides.

• A Trench (or post hole) shovel (also known as a sharpshooter) is long and narrow, used for digging fairly deep, but narrow trenches, or post-holes.

• A gardening trowel is a small single-hand implement for breaking up clumps in soil. A trowel is one of several similar Hand tools used for digging smoothing or otherwise moving around small amounts of viscous or particulate material Gardening trowels typically have strong, narrow blades with sharp points.

• An entrenching tool is a collapsible and/or compact shovel designed for the military. An Entrenching tool or E-tool, is a collapsible Spade used by Military forces for a variety of military purposes A military is an Organization authorized by its Nation to use force usually including use of Weapons in defending its Country (or by attacking It may have a spade-like point with sharpened or even serrated edges for secondary use as an axe or saw, respectively. The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape split and cut Wood, Harvest timber, as a Weapon Some militaries of the world (most notably units of the Soviet Union) train their servicemen to use entrenching shovels as makeshift close combat weapons. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Close combat has two close meanings which sometimes overlap Close quarters battle and Hand to hand combat. A weapon is a Tool used either in Hunting, or attack or defence in Combat for the purpose of subduing enemy personnel or to destroy enemy weapons This tactic has been widely used in the battlefields of World War I and World War II. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

• A roofing shovel is a specialized prying tool which evolved from the use of spading forks and pitchforks to remove old shingles and underlayment as part of roof repair. A garden fork, spading fork, digging fork or graip is a gardening implement with a handle and several (usually four short sturdy tines It A pitchfork is an agricultural Tool with a long handle and long thin widely separated

• Toy shovels are common playthings on sandy beaches or in sandboxes. This article is about playthings For other uses of the term see Toy (disambiguation. Play is a Rite and a quality of mind in engaging with one's worldview. A sandpit or sandbox is a low wide container or shallow depression filled with Sand in which Children can play

• Barn Shovel used to shovel grain

• Coal shovel used to shovel coal

• Garden Shovel used a spade like blade to dig into hard dirt

The traffic signs warning of a Work zone or Construction site generally show a man using a shovel. Most countries post signage known as traffic signs or road signs, at the side of Roads to

Slang use: Shovel: 1965-1980 Harley Davidson Engine Design called so by the "Shovel" shaped rocker boxes on the engine heads. Harley-Davidson Motor Company ( formerly HDI is an American manufacturer of Motorcycles based in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Today the rocker box is not used as extensively as the Sluice, but still is an effective method of recovering Gold in dryer than usual areas An engine is a mechanical device that produces some form of output from a given input Also called Shovelhead Engines.

Shovel as well as "shutter' down big shovel, [and] "straight shovel duggery" and other disambiguations are used as Common slang terms in Ontario, Canada.

See also

• Spade
• Potatoes

References

• What are the Different Types of Shovel?