Cable Laying Shovel

[OnOff]

Looking to buy one just to tidy the bottom of a trench. Less than £20 on eBay for a Spear & Jackson / Draper. There's Bulldog ones on there too.

BUT.....I have old "big" shovels and a 9" grinder.

Surely just a case of mark two lines with a Sharpie and chop a big one down with a slitting disc. Heat the edges up with the oxy torch and bend up a bit?

 

[Andy™]

go for it. worst case you need to spend £20 on ebay...

 

[Blue Duck]

I was looking at one for a job; http://www.screwfix.com/p/spear-jackson-all-steel-cable-laying-shovel-4/23950

I ended up borrowing one and it was great! Really heavy duty thick steel good for clay, miles better than the regular garden space I had been using!



If you do get one from screwy's you can always take it back when your done.

 

[kerching]

Go for it!

where is the fun in buying one when you can make your own custom item

i have a 1000v VDE one along with a grafter ( clay tool )

i am am not really up to digging nowadays, but when I did they were fantastic

i asked a ENWL bloke why most of their stuff was all steel shaft and not VDE...he said it was so they took more care when cable laying!...makes sense

 

[Apache]

I rate the Bulldog shovels

 

[OnOff]

Cheap here:

http://www.toolandfix.com/gardening-and-outdoor/garden-hand-tools/spades-shovels-and-forks/trench-shovels.html

 

[Andy™]

not-so-cheap here, but easier

 

[Evans Electric]

Go for it!

where is the fun in buying one when you can make your own custom item

i have a 1000v VDE one along with a grafter ( clay tool )

i am am not really up to digging nowadays, but when I did they were fantastic

i asked a ENWL bloke why most of their stuff was all steel shaft and not VDE...he said it was so they took more care when cable laying!...makes sense

Neither am I TBH   If I quoted a trenched job now I'd price in a labourer. 

 

[kerching]

Neither am I TBH   If I quoted a trenched job now I'd price in a labourer. 

Started to dig over front garden flower bed  a couple of years ago. Seemed like a good idea at the time.1m X 4m

got less than a metre in and gave up...looks like an Alsatians grave ploy!

then wife pointed out that I had recently come out of Hospital after Surgery. I thought I was better than I was, I wasn't

 

[Tony S]

Buy the wife a smaller spade and let her get on with it. It worked for me to the extent I wasn't allowed near the garden

 

[Evans Electric]

I'm just worn out , hence working two days a week.  

 Occupied rewires are out of the question with all that kneeling down .

Although we,ve still done  a few empty rewires .  Upstairs lighting is tackled by two of us , one whose turn it is to go  in the loft,  fully masked up , plenty of light  ....the other shoves the rods up all the light holes ,  pushes a cable end up and round you go .  All wiring chucked on top of the 10 feet thick lagging   switch drops in , smokey wired ...sod off home for the rest of the day. 

 

[OnOff]

Buy the wife a smaller spade and let her get on with it. It worked for me to the extent I wasn't allowed near the garden

Are you saying a big spade would be too much for her?

 

[Tony S]

She caused less mayhem than me with a spade. Plants? What plants? The first year was a war of attrition until I got banned from doing anything other than trimming trees.

Nice one dad, I followed your gardening tips.

 

[binky]

pick axe is my favourite, not many cables are wider than the flat end.