Shovel

Shovel handles are usually made of wood (especially specific varieties such as ash or maple) or glass-reinforced plastic (fiberglass).

Hand shovel blades made of sheet steel usually have a folded seam or hem at the back to make a socket for the handle.

A T-piece is commonly fitted to the end of the handle to aid grip and control where the shovel is designed for moving soil and heavy materials.

[citation needed] In the Neolithic age and earlier, a large animal's scapula (shoulder blade) was often used as a crude shovel or spade.

Groups of workers called 'labor gangs' were assigned to whatever digging or bulk materials handling was needed in any given week, and dozens or hundreds of workers with hand shovels would do the kind of rapid excavating or materials handling that today is usually accomplished with powered excavators and loaders operated by a few skilled operators.

Given the central importance and cost of manual labour in industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the "science of shoveling" was something of great interest to developers of scientific management such as Frederick Winslow Taylor.

Taylor said the increased worker productivity, and corresponding savings in wages paid, would offset the capital cost of maintaining two shovels.