Digging tools come in many different shapes and sizes. Some look more like knives and saws, while others resemble mini spade shovels. The number of different digging tools available to hobbyists today are endless. If you don't know what your looking for you can become confused pretty quickly. So lets cover some of the basics, so you can decide which digging tool will be best for you.

Knife Type Digging Tools

A good place to start would be with one of my all time favorite digging tools, the knife type trowel. The knife type digging tool is exactly what you might expect and have probably seen, if you've done some searching around. The tool looks more like a survival knife than anything else, with a blade that may be slightly concave, which comes to a sharp point. One side of these type digging tools is usually edged, though not quite as sharp as a kitchen knife, while the other side of the blade is serrated.

Knife type digging tools are great for all around metal detecting and digging. They make easy work of cutting plugs in most soil types, soft and loamy to hard packed clay. This type of digging tool is also great for hunting anywhere that your going to encounter small to moderate sized roots. The serrated edge cuts right through most quite easily. If your a round about hobbyist the knife type digger would be a great choice. You will find them to be quite useful and quite effective in just about any area you are going to be metal detecting.

As good as many digging knives are they are not the final answer to your all around metal detecting needs. Digging knives do not work well in sand, or soil types that are dry and granular. Additionally Most digging knives are relatively small they wont work well when heavy digging is required, a good example may be serious relic hunting when cannon balls and other large metal objects are being found. In these situations a good digging knife becomes one of the best side arms a relic hunter can pack.

Deals On Digging Knives

Digging Trowels

Digging trowels are among the most common metal detecting recovery tools you will come across. Like most other types of digging tools for metal detecting, trowels come in all sizes and styles. The common trowel used by a metal detecting hobbyist looks much like a garden shovel, though that is where the similarities end. A trowel made for metal detecting is much sturdier than the common garden shovel. If you never tried taking a garden shovel metal detecting with you DON'T! You will quickly see how different they are. In fact you would be lucky to dig more than two or three plugs before you started reshaping it.

Trowels made for metal detecting are built to last. A trowel built for metal detecting will last until one of three things happens, you file it down to nothing, you loose it or you pass it on to another friend or hobbyist. A good trowel will last almost forever.

Most trowels for metal detecting like mentioned above look very similar to garden shovels, though most run the same width almost the length of the shovel. There are a two different blade style that are quite common to the digging trowel built for metal detecting, though each serves a different purpose both are good for general metal detecting in parks, back yards and any other area that the digging will be easy to moderately easy. These styles consist of the trowels that are made with one or two serrated edges, the serrated edges like the digging knife are used to cut through roots. Then there are the plane jane trowels with two smooth edges, these are good for grassy areas and will also get you through very small roots easily. One detail that is common to most metal detecting trowels is that there edges meet to make some sort of blade, edge or cutting surface. Most of these can easily be sharpened when they get dull. Its not un common to see hobbyists digging with nothing more than a nub left over from what was once a 12" digging tool.

Most digging trowels are a good choice for everyday, in the park metal detecting. They make digging plugs in soft to moderately hard soil fairly easy. Most digging trowels are not specialized digging tools, though they are strong and hold there own in most metal detecting situations. I would suggest if you are going to buy a common digging trowel, buy one that has at least one serrated edge. A serrated edge on a heavy digging trowel will cut through some pretty big roots, which is a huge plus!

Dont buy a common digging trowel for your metal detecting if the general ground conditions you will be hunting are very rocky, or extremely hard soils. There are better digging tools for that like a knife type digging tool. Believe it or not the knife type digging tool will get you through rocky soil, or gravel before most trowels will.

Deals On Digging Trowels For Metal Detecting

So far I have covered the two most common digging tools for metal detecting. One of the above type tools should work well for the majority of you. You now know the difference and the choice is up to you. In part two of this little series on recovery tools I will cover some less common diggers that are more specialized. until then happy metal detecting!