[HN Gopher] Ames Shovel and Tool Catalog of Shovels, Spades and ...
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Ames Shovel and Tool Catalog of Shovels, Spades and Scoops (1926)
[pdf]
Author : NaOH
Score : 44 points
Date : 2025-04-10 03:31 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (stonehill-website.s3.amazonaws.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (stonehill-website.s3.amazonaws.com)
| NaOH wrote:
| HN sees AWS as the source for the PDF, but it's more accurate to
| cite the Alfred B. Tofias Archive at Stonehill College from which
| the PDF is linked.
|
| https://www.stonehill.edu/offices-and-services/archives/indu...
| TheChaplain wrote:
| Isn't that a great way to lose money on AWS, by linking
| directly to buckets?
| bobnamob wrote:
| Heh
| defrost wrote:
| There's an extended pro shovel monologue in the gripping Boy's
| Own Adventure series:
|
| _Ripping Yarns_ Episode 2: _The Testing of Eric Olthwaite_
| (1977) Eric Olthwaite is interested in
| precipitation patterns in West Yorkshire, shovels and black
| pudding. He is so boring that his family all leave home to escape
| him. One day he is accidentally caught up in a bank
| robbery and discovers that the robber shares his interests in
| shovels, black pudding and rainfall so they team up to make
| daring raids to steal rainfall records. Eric becomes
| famous and is considered interesting again, so much so that he is
| made the mayor of Denley Moor.
|
| https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rnw
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYpsz2eAKOs
| dtgriscom wrote:
| I love the terminology and the details. Back in the day, if you
| were a professional shoveler, you had to have exactly the right
| shovel.
|
| Interesting that the best wood for handles was "second growth
| Northern ash".
| baxtr wrote:
| I know nothing about shovels. Would have never thought that there
| is a need for such a variety of different items.
| eitland wrote:
| From someone who used to earn most of my money by showel and
| pitchfork from I started working for real as a 15 y.o. until I
| was around 18 in 1998:
|
| Yes, the correct showel makes a whole lot of difference. You
| have to believe me on this.
|
| Straight edge for flat surfaces. Pointy edge for digging.
| Pitchforks with various numbers of tines depending on if you
| are moving fresh grass or hay (typically 3 tines) or manure (5
| or more).
|
| I am somewhat amused at how extremely my life has changed over
| the last 27 years: I am now a consultant and a techlead but I
| can never forget my past and somehow I thing it helps to keep
| me grounded and in touch with reality.
| twarge wrote:
| These shovels are marvels of mechanical disadvantage. When I had
| to manually plough a field, the Kodali-type shovel was a much
| better configuration than a normal shovel because your arms are
| around the shovel instead of at the far end of a stick.
|
| https://www.ppguk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/PPG-UK-NMM-...
|
| https://www.photosnepal.com/photo/a-kodali-blx54z6kz
| rfdave wrote:
| Ploughing a field is a very different activity than moving
| material from one place to another.
| Maxion wrote:
| And even moving material from one place to another differs so
| much depending on what material it is. There are very good
| reasons for so many shovel designs existing.
| somat wrote:
| Wow, I have never seen one of those before, and now I need one.
|
| It would have to be a very specific environment, more specific
| I think than the standard shovel configuration. I think loose
| dirt, and shifting it or lifting into a wheel barrow. but under
| those conditions, it would kick ass.
|
| On the subject of shovel mechanical disadvantage, the reason
| for that is to gain higher velocity so you can fling dirt(or
| coal or whatever you are flinging) further. And perhaps more
| importantly to give you mechanical advantage when prying dirt
| loose when digging a trench.
| DeathArrow wrote:
| This should have been the dream of ever '20s grave digger.
| vmh1928 wrote:
| The catalog is a reminder of a time when the prime motive power
| for moving material was a human. Thus, the large number of
| different shovels(for different materials and situations,) with a
| human interface (i.e., the handle.) Ames was just one of many
| firms making shovels. Often these were local to a region since
| transportation costs added excessive costs (unless the target
| market had no competing shovel makers, say on the frontier.) The
| same situation exists for the ax. Look up "vintage ax brands." At
| one time there were many ax makers, mostly regional, because the
| ax was still a common tool for shaping wood, again, with the
| motive power being a human.
|
| In modern times most of this type of work is done by a machine.
| Possibly human run but a machine so trench digger, auger,
| backhoe, etc.. (or with the ax, a sawsall, circular saw,
| chainsaw, etc..) With the result being there are a few shovels
| for sale in, say, Home Depot, most made in China, and, although
| most construction companies and landscapers have some shovels
| they're mostly for situations where a machine can't reach or
| can't do a fine enough job.
| y33t wrote:
| I'm a bit of a nerd for hand tools and I've the same book for
| axes, and another for hand files lying around somewhere. Around
| this time these tool companies had a huge array of designs for
| their tools. It seems like almost every region of America had
| their own pattern of ax head with a range of sizes to choose
| from, and their own preference for style of handle, of which
| there are probably more than you'd expect, and users had their
| own preference for the style of cutting edge too. You had axes
| for just about any type of wood cutting job you can imagine. The
| land was conquered by these tools and the people using them put a
| lot of care and consideration into them, and it showed.
|
| Nowadays, you still have some regional patterns available, but
| they're almost all swamp axes (a general purpose axe, not good at
| any one thing -- the head is too thick for very effective
| falling, but too thin for very effective splitting). You could
| thin them out, but filing the cheeks down messes up the temper of
| the steel. Handles have about two styles to pick from, and they
| all come clearcoated, which is awful on your hands, unlike
| linseed oil. Sure you can go boutique, like Gransfors of Hult
| Bruk, or Tuatahi, but you're looking at spending hundreds, which
| may actually be more in line with what you would have been
| spending for a quality tool 100 years ago, if you adjust for
| inflation.
| Maxion wrote:
| In Finland hand tools are all awful. Anything available is just
| cheap chinese junk.
|
| Recently found a german manufacturer, SHW, that still make
| forged hand tools like shovels and mattocks in old school
| designs. Bought a grub hoe and a strassenhacke from them and
| they are excellent.
| eitland wrote:
| Isn't Finland where Fiskars are from?
|
| We had a number of Fiskars axes on our farm when I grew up
| and we were never able to break a single one of them (except
| when someone left them on the ground and a tractor ran over
| them or something).
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| I have a few Fiskars tools because the look cool and
| expensive, they are OK I guess but not as "sturdy" as some
| of my favorite tools.
|
| Fiskars uses modern industrial design and modern materials,
| but not every cool new design works out.
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