The Funeral Of The Sampson T-handle

[phrunt]

I'm pleased a few of you have got older built ones of these things that are tough, surely they must have used thinner tubing on mine, it's insanely thin... maybe they were trying to lighten it up as weight is becoming a focus now.  I did think it was a bit weird it's so light.  I'd already cut my losses after the first one bent, I knew then it wasn't the tool for me as I prefer to treat my tools like tools and if I have to be delicate with it, then it's not suitable for me to use it.

The tool itself I liked, worked well, did the job and made nice clean plugs so I can imagine those who have a good one really do have a good one.

Anyway, time to move on and buy something more suitable for digging soil, hopefully the Aussie black widow is built better,  I may contact them directly first saying I'm going to break this thing if it's not tough, should I buy it and see what they say, at least then if it breaks I've got correspondence with them backing their product 😉

[GB_Amateur]

14 hours ago, phrunt said:

While I don't expect that from a shovel, it'd be nice if it could handle digging soil, you know, what a shovel is designed to do....

Simon, if you still have your original Sampson that you had the shop weld up, would you post a picture?  (I think the original post showing that fix doesn't exist anymore.)

Here is a photo of the mod I had my friend do:

The design is mine and maybe it wasn't the proper rework.  I made the triangular gusset (from a piece of steel plate that I had found detecting).  If I recall, the steel rod that is bent 90 degrees and is welded on one end to the (hollow) shaft and the other end to the face of the blade is what bent on Simon's.  (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) Thus I thought the gusset would prevent that.  My friend welded one edge to the hollow shaft as shown above, and the other to the foot ledge.

As far as the (popular) WW Manufacturing Lesche hand digger, back in 2015 I bought one for me and one for my wife to use in the garden.  Not long after that I bought a 3rd one so I would have a LH serrated version and an RH one.  Here's a picture of my two:

I don't think I've ever used the lower one, but the other I've been using exclusively for 6 years.  You can see I filed off the teeth so as not to damage tree roots in park and school grounds.  Next photo shows the problem I had with the original sheeth as well as the (new) $12 Treasure Wise replacement (from Serious Detecting) that I've been using for about the last year.  That a fantastic solution and I've noticed no appreciable wear in that time.  As mentioned previously, the Predator hand digger sheeth is similar to the nylon(?) WW one, except it has rivets on either side of the top opening.  That would have prevented the problem I had, but I still prefer the leather Treasure Wise version.

Bottom line is that for the hand diggers, the WW Manufacturing 'Lesche' model has been a great performer, just not the sheeth.

 

[phrunt]

Here is a photo of the original one bent and the repair the engineering shop did on the replacement, at the time the engineers told me it was a toy digger, I assumed they meant by the size of it but now I'm starting to think they were talking about the build quality of it.

This was just digging soft soil, I think in the background to the right is the plug I was trying to dig, I cut my way around it and then tried to lift it out and it bent.

Then this is the weld work I got the engineering shop to do on the replacement one.  So yes, the extra support stopped the end bending, but it didn't stop the shaft snapping up above where it was strengthened.  The bottom of the shovel was too tough for the weak thin shaft 🙂

My wife asked last night if I was going to do anything with the broken shovel and I said nope.  So she put it in the bin, the bins were collected this morning so it's now gone forever.  Out of sight out of mind, so it's history now.   At least readers of this forum will know that it may not be the best quality digging tool on the market and they may look at alternatives.

I don't have it anymore as it was binned yesterday but this is about where the shaft snapped.

[kac]

Thinking the back support transferred the forces up and it snapped where forces converged. It should have bent before snapping so maybe when it was heat treated they heat treated it up too high. Probably should have just brought the bland only to a cherry red (until it loses magnetism) then quenched it. this would have kept the pole softer and not as brittle.

You could find a carbon pole and insert it and snip the t handle and stick that on top. Measure the inside dia and see if you can get one. Similar to what Steve G sells, maybe Steve can help you out.

Not for nothing but with steel prices here at 200% more they maybe looking for less expensive or thinner wall stock to compensate. I just about gave up bringing my foot digger to market because it would be too expensive to make.

[Joe D.]

Well Simon,

After reading everyone's comments, I too must admit that mine has bent before! I used a sewer grate on the street near my house, to bend it back! I now am just a little more careful with it! I too, will be replacing mine next year, and relegate that one to garden duty only!

   On the "glass half full" side of things! Maybe Santa Claus will swing by your house, and drop one down the chimney!🎅 Or a manufacturer or two may send you one to demo and keep! You never know!! Especially with all the responses this is getting, they could get some good honest reviews from you! And possibly a new market to sell in NZ! 

   In any case, I wish you an indestructible shovel with the next one!! And if all else fails, i will mail you a gift card for KFC, so you can drown your sorrows in some delicious extra crisp fried chicken, and biscuits with honey... mashed potatoes and gravy...😛(now I'm hungry, damn!)🤣🍀👍👍

[phrunt]

Thanks Joe,

It's all good, I've moved on now, I just needed to vent with disappointment.  While I don't like shovels made in the USA I certainly like my KFC, that was from USA 🙂

The day mine bent I didn't want to end my detecting as I'd just found a lot of silvers so I used a concrete footpath and a bit of wood I'd found laying around to straighten it up 🙂  Your sewer grate was a better idea.  I should have walked out to the street and done that.

[Joe D.]

  The simple fact is, that neither one of us, nor anyone else, should have had to do this!! But we will all have the money go elsewhere next time!! BTW, there are still some good shovels made here, but getting them to you is a stretch!🤣👍👍

[strick]

Well I certainly wont be buying any more  based on your experiences...I actually have bought two of them one was lost by a friend that I took detecting...the other I still have but admittedly I dont use it for detecting but do use it around the property for digging and replacing sprinkler heads...works a charm for that...my dirt is soft however.. I also have one of their larger versions and dont see how that one can be broken but you never know...thanks for posting. I like to use a pick for relic hunting and use a smaller lesche for coin hunting...a shovel makes too much of a scene around here due to the amount of people walking about. 

strick