Shovel Handle Repair

Don't you hate when this happens? There you are digging in the garden and try to pry out a sapling stump and SNAP! If you can part with an old friend it is time to go buy a new shovel. If not (can you tell how much I have worn down the tip on this shovel?) it is time to replace the handle.

Step one: Remove the Handle

Notice where the rivet is installed through the handle.  Find the pre-formed end.  Look at the other side.  If it has been flattened much bigger than the hole through the shovel you will need to cut it off.  A Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel is the way to go.  Don't forget the safety glasses.  Now take a punch and hammer and knock the rivet through the shovel shaft.  Now you can knock the piece of the broken handle out of the shovel shaft.

Step two: Fit and Drill the Hole in the New Handle
But where to get your new handle?  I just read an article that mentioned the House Handle Company (http://househandle.com/index.html), a family owned business in Missouri that makes many different kinds of handles. I went for the grade AA 48 inch Straight Shovel handle. The two I received are beautiful wood with no defects, a nice straight, dense grain, and a lacquer finish.  The end of the handle could use a bit of sanding but you can either sand it a bit or if you use it enough it will take care of itself.

This step is not hard but important to do correctly or you will break the new handle in no time.  Line up the grain of the wood while the flat end of the shovel is sitting on the ground.  That is, if you had the shovel in front of you like you were going to dig with it and look down the shaft you should see the long grain lines in the wood.

To make the hole you can use either a drill or, for me, a drill press was easier.  Match the size bit to just smaller than the hole in the shovel shaft but big enough for the rivet to fit through it.  If you are better than I am you can drill all the way through, but for me drilling a bit more than half way on either side is a better option.  That way it doesn't matter if you aren't quite accurate as long as you are close enough that you can get the rivet through.

 Step three: New Rivet

 Now push the rivet through and place the shovel with the pre-formed end of the rivet against a block of dense wood like a chunk of 4x4. Next you will need a ball peen hammer to flatten the end of the rivet to keep it from pulling out. Since you have the shovel in your workshop you might as well touch up the blade edge, sand the handle a bit anywhere that may need it. Now you are ready to go back out and finish getting that darn stump out.  The people we bought our house from left an old shovel with a rotten handle behind so I did them both at once and now have a decent backup in case my trusty friend needs help again (or one to loan to a friend or neighbor).