A spade is a tool primarily for digging, comprising a blade – typically stunted and less curved than that of a shovel – and a long handle. Early spades were made of riven wood or of animal bones. After the art of metalworking was developed, spades were made with sharper tips of metal. Before the introduction of metal spades manual labor was less efficient at moving earth, with picks being required to break up the soil in addition to a spade for moving the dirt. With a metal tip, a spade can both break and move the earth in most situations, increasing efficiency.
Spades are made in many shapes and sizes, for a variety of different functions and jobs, and there are many different designs used in spade manufacturing. People often mistakenly use the term shovel interchangeably with spade—but, strictly speaking, shovels are broad-bottomed tools for moving loose materials, whereas spades tend to have an edge better designed for digging. The most common spade is a garden spade, which typically has a long handle, is wide, and is treaded. An Irish spade is similar to a common garden spade, with the same general design, although it has a much thinner head. A sharpshooter is a narrow spade. A turfing iron has a short, round head, and is used for cutting and paring off turf. A digging fork, or grape, is forked much like a pitchfork, and is useful for loosening ground and gardening. There can also be toy spades for children.
Loy ploughing was a form of manual ploughing carried out in Ireland using a form of spade called a loy. It took place on very small farms or on very hilly ground, where horses couldn't work or where farmers couldn't afford them. It was used up until the 1960s on poorer land. This suited the moist climate of Ireland as the trenches formed by turning in the sods providing drainage. It also allowed the growing of potatoes on mountain slopes where no other cultivation could take place.
Digging tool
In gardening, a spade is a hand tool used to dig or loosen ground, or to break up lumps in the soil. Together with the fork it forms one of the chief implements wielded by the hand in agriculture and horticulture. It is sometimes considered a type of shovel. Its typical shape is a broad flat blade with a sharp lower edge, straight or curved. The upper edge on either side of the handle affords space for the user's foot, which drives it into the ground. The wooden handle ends in a cross-piece, sometimes T-shaped and sometimes forming a kind of loop for the hand. A small, narrow one-hand shovel for gardening is called a transplanter. Small and/or plastic toy versions of the same tool are used to dig sand castles on a beach or in a sand-box.
Currency
The blade of the spade was used as currency in ancient China. Later, they were miniaturized and then stylized into a flat piece. The Qin Dynasty replaced them with round coins.
Other types
In the oil and chemical process industries, a spade is a round piece of metal with a small tab that is placed in between two pipe flanges to give positive isolation from the centre; usually to prevent cross contamination between fluids or to allow work on the line. The name comes from the shape: a little like a garden spade. The small tab lets one see that the spade is in place.
In kitchenware, certain ice cream scoops are called spades due to the shape. These scoops are used more in making hand-scooped milkshakes or desserts where a lot of ice cream can be scooped at once and the typical "ball" shape of scooped ice cream is not needed. The spade-shaped head also helps scrape off the ice cream stuck to the sides of the cartons.
