Where have all the good shovels gone?

[Tim]

Wolfs in Tottenham Court Road, London for Austrian made plasterers leaves. I used to buy WHS towels in bulk for people over here you get a bulk discount at a farming/construction suppliers just outside Oswestry in Shropshire (no VAT on 5 or more-you can have choice of different blade sizes, i.e 6'' for Sand sites in your order)

Little Tim

[eggbasket]

quote:Originally posted by Tim

I used to buy WHS towels in bulk for people over here
Little Tim

d00d, aren't they a bit scratchy? And do they get you properly dry? Or were they commissioned by Douglas Adams as publicity?

Cheers
Eggbasket

Eggy by name, eggy by nature

[Sith]

Well Eggbasket, I bet you know where yours is, you hoopy frood!

[destroyer]

hmm wish i knew where my trowel was, bleedin PO's keep wandering off with it. what i need is an lockable tool box that will repel 100% of all known archaeologists.

[Beardstroker]

quote:Originally posted by destroyer

hmm wish i knew where my trowel was, bleedin PO's keep wandering off with it. what i need is an lockable tool box that will repel 100% of all known archaeologists.

Threaten to break their fingers if they do it again. Usually works with the one's I work with.

[Silent Bob]

Shovels don't seem to be too much trouble to get. What you need is those all metal ones that are painted a kind of brick red. Builders use them. All metal spades of a similar kind also exist. Our office is forever buying tools that we hate. We still have several 8 year old almost unused 'Bulldog' shovels which seem to be crafted out of some kind of steel-lead composite. When buying mattocks, make sure you ask for 'grubbing mattocks' or you will end up with something resembling a pick-axe (or medieval armour piercing weapon). As for the sliding mattock head, simply place tools in a bucket of water or the nearest water filled feature for a couple of hours (you know, the one you were half an hour away from finishing the other night but is now full of six feet of water. Go on, just bale it out with that old hard hat). Avoid cheap drawwing/tool boxes or the top will fall off after 10 minutes on site. Has anyone had trouble with new WHS trowels or did we just buy a new type. If they are now the standard then they have gone very, very thin. Someone snapped a new one in half on our site whilst simply trowelling away.

[Beardstroker]

Soaking is by far the best way to get mattock handles to fit properly, however I did know a professional builder who frowned upon it as he reckoned it was the quickest way to rot the wood. He preferred to fix them with a series of small wedges, trimmed flush with the head. Took ages though

I guess WHS trowls are (probably) still the best though. I've just bought my first new one for yonks, which hasn't been christened yet. (I've been lucky to pick up old second hand one's on market stalls up to now) Did notice the necks seem a lot longer now then they used to be

[disheartened]

increased knuckle clearance ...

[Sith]

quote:Originally posted by disheartened

increased knuckle clearance ...

I don't quite follow this idea (it's been mentioned here before somewhere). Surely as you won't be holding your new trowel flat, like a brickie (unless you are one), there is no increased knuckle clearance. And anyway I don't remember grazing my knuckles on a regular basis so maybe you're all doing it wrong...blah, dribble..we were tougher in my day of course etc..

Sith

[mercenary]

My last four WHS trowels have all been rubbish. First job to make them usable is pull the blade out of the handle (or trowel for five minutes. Same result) and Araldite the bugger. Then it's usable.

I'm noticing a slow spread of converts to Marshalltown trowels. I'll take credit for some of that myself. Much superior steel that lasts about twice as long as a WHS, sharper, and lovely for trowelling sand. Can't quite match the WHS for blunt power though.