By Christine Frietchen on November 28, 2011 in
Spade and shovel design hasn't changed in centuries, and once you own these tools, they generally last for years and years. But at last week's Craftsman lawn-and-garden preview in New York, these new tools struck me as a real improvement. The new tools, which will be available in spring 2012, have a bent-metal "pusher" built into each side of the shovel, giving you a place to put your foot (Craftsman is calling this feature the "Power Step").
Sure, in the end it's still a shovel, but the little platforms make it much easier to get leverage and push the shovel into the ground. It's not reinventing the wheel, but I thought this was a bit of a "Post-It' moment -- where you think "why didn't I think of that?" The tools will range in price from about $15 to $50, depending on the item.