Flat Shovel

If you have no idea what the general term “shovel” means, I think you’re probably going to find yourself getting into all kinds of trouble working in your yard and should probably step away from the hand tools, pick up the phone and call a professional. But we’re assuming you know which end of a shovel goes in the ground, you’re just wondering about the design and uses of this particular type of shovel.

But there are lots of different types of shovels, each with its ideal uses, and on this page we’ll tell you about the flat shovel. This type of shovel is also sometimes called a square point shovel or a square head shovel.

This type of shovel is most commonly used and should be most commonly used to scrape things from hard surfaces. Shoveling a load of dirt from your driveway into a wheelbarrow, for example. Or that ton of decorative landscape stone you had delivered and dumped in the street to dress up your planting beds.

We often use it to shave the last bits of soil from the bottom of an excavation for a retaining wall or brick paver patio.

And some of the shorter, D-handled models are good for poop scooping and the like.

But this type of shovel should not be used for aggressive digging into native soils. I mean, look at it. It’s got a square head with inward-rounded sides. Nothing could be designed worse for ripping out big chunks of earth than a flat-headed shovel.

So stick to the hard surfaces or light material removal when it comes to your flat shovel and it’ll last as long as this one has.