[nemo]

hello
i am looking for a ridging spade sometimes called a Loy .it has a long narrow curved spade does anyone know where i could buy one new or second hand
regards nemo

[Belfast]

something like this

http://homepage.eircom.net/~tintern/newpage25.htm
you could ask at this email adress
saintleonardsns@eircom.net the picture above is form their web site

"What was the most common implement on the Irish Farm?

It depends on the farm, but the spade was the single most common implement and existed on the smallest farm. In Ireland there was great local variety in spades, which were particularly adapted to potato cultivation and the making of cultivation ridges. Two-sided spades spread from the north and east and were mainly produced in spade mills. One sided ‘loys’ were more common in the west and south-west and were mainly produced by blacksmiths. Only the two-sided variety are now made. Special spades called ‘slanes’ were also produced for cutting peat for fuel. "
http://www.museum.ie/en/exhibition/faq/faqs-workinglandandwater.aspx#faq1

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-pattersonsspademill
The last working water-driven spade mill in daily use in the British Isles

This looks like the place that can make one for you.

http://www.virtualvisit-northernireland.com/gallery.aspx?dataid=52390&title=Museums%20and%20Galleries
"You can buy one of only 200 spades made by hand every year, at this the last working water-driven spade mill in daily use in the British Isles.

Discover the history and culture behind the humble spade. Listen to the hammers, smell the grit, feel the heat and witness the thrill on a guided tour of traditional spade-making, vividly capturing life during the Industrial Revolution.

Visitors can watch as red hot billets of steel are removed from the forge and fashioned into spades using the mills massive trip hammer."

The photographer wishes to thank Colin for 'cloning' himself during the forging of the spade!

[nemo]

thanks very much for the links.i think there will be a new spade in my garden in the near future thanks very much
nemo

[Sean Ph'lib]

Down here in mid-Kerry, we had two different kinds of spades: there was a narrow-bladed spade used for digging, setting potatos etc. and another broad-bladed spade called a bog-spade. The bog-spade was kept razor-sharp and never used for digging; its sole use was for cleaning the top sod (or scraw, as we called it) off the bank of turf, prior to cutting with a slean. It would have been useless for digging in any case, as the wide blade would not have entered into the stony ground.

[sweetpea]

Well the Loy hasnt always been used so it seems.

Apparently around the world they use these and seem to have always done? www.chillingtonhoes.com

But there is a story there of these being found in an excavation and some of the old fella's around there may have used them or remembered them in Leitrim i think.

I will try and post this pic.

They are called a chillington hoe or azada or badza and you can buy them still, i have a couple and think they are great.

One thing though these chillington hoes are sharp i wonder if that's part of the secret? but working with them is certainly quicker and easier on the old back.

[Liparis]

That's what I've always used and still do. In the north of Scotland we called them clatts. They are used to ridge the spuds but also used for Clatting neeps. Turnip seeds were sown on small ridges across the field, they didn't have a seed sower which would space the neeps adequately, so after a few weeks everyone went out clatting. you used the clatt to push away the neeps you didn't want to thin the others and on the back stroke you did the next. The head was the perfect size for leaving the turnips evenly spaced at the correct distance apart. it was actually a very good job to do and the craic was great.
One tool I do miss and would love to have again is a tattie fork. It's prongs were flattened at the end and you very rarely pierced a spud when lifting them.
Bill.

[sweetpea]

Bill do you mean the large spud shovel thing which is made like a very large fork but on each spine there is a little metal ball so you cant spike the spuds??

You could lift a bucket of spuds up each time with one of them.-------I havent seen one of them for years.

[Liparis]

I know the one you mean, we used that for shoveling up stones when raked into a pile and spuds after lifting them with the tattie fork, our tattie forks were similar to a garden fork but the tines at the end were flattened and rounded. The very narrow profile meant it normally missed the spuds as you dug down and the flat tines prevented any spuds getting missed and being left behind, you could then use the one you mention to scoop up all the spuds off the surface into a bucket. Both took a lot of work out of lifting spuds and it was so rare to spike one.
Bill.

[sweetpea]

I cant remember that one but then again the farm i grew up on used a tractor with a potato harvester to dig the spuds which were left on the top of the ground and we just picked them.

Back on subject wonder why we cant find these good old tools anymore? Great news that these hoes are back on the market perhaps your potato fork and others will now come back on sale

[Liparis]

[nemo]

i am sorry sweet pea but none of the tools in the photograph are a ridging spade they are more like hows to me.sean has the mid Kerry spade a narrow curved blade with the cutting edge being the widest part or the spade.my grandfather called the spade i used when i was younger a Kerry spade.if the mid Kerry spade has a curved blade would you know where i could buy one,there are many types of these spades .different types in different areas of Ireland made to suite the local soils.but thanks for helping me in finding the spade be it a ridging spade,a loy or coping spade all different names for similar spades
regards nemo

[sweetpea]

I suppose they all went the same way as all these traditional tools when we stopped growing our own food 30-40 years ago and there was no market for them.

Because a lot of the rest of the world have and still use the hoe type tools then that company seems to have survived, but if your kerry spade was only used on a small scale in a localised area then it looks like it could be gone forever.

Maybe you could find someone who could make you one, someone who is good at metalwork and needs a little extra could start turning them out on a small scale, could be a nice cottage industry for someone?

[Sean Ph'lib]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "curved". The blade narrowed in to a point - at least the ones I saw (and used) did. But they were all old spades, and they would have worn in to a point from constant digging in stony ground. I never saw a new one. I think they were all made by local smiths (now all gone). I must look around and see if I can locate a few.

[nemo]

the curve in the spade can be seen with the side view of the spade.it kind of similar to a slean without the side piece

[joe90]

Hi There, I know a man who makes loys and will ask him if i can pass his contact details on to you