A spade is a tool primarily for digging, comprising a blade – typically narrower and less curved than that of a shovel – and a long handle. Early spades were made of riven wood. After the art of metalworking was discovered, spades were made with sharper tips of metal. Before the introduction of metal spades manual labor was less efficient at moving earth, with picks being required to break up the soil in addition to a spade for moving the dirt. With a metal tip, a spade can both break and move the earth in most situations, increasing efficiency.

Spades are made in many shapes and sizes, for a variety of different functions and jobs, and there are many different designs used in spade manufacturing. People typically use the term shovel interchangeably with spade—but, strictly speaking, shovels generally are broad-bottomed tools for moving loose materials, whereas spades tend to have a flat bottom edge for digging.

The most common spade is a garden spade, which typically has a long handle, is wide, and is treaded (has rests for the feet to drive the spade into the ground). An Irish spade is similar to a common garden spade, with the same general design, although it has a much thinner head. A sharpshooter is a narrow spade. A turfing iron has a short, round head, and is used for cutting and paring off turf. A digging fork, or grape, is forked much like a pitchfork, and is useful for loosening ground and gardening. There can also be toy spades for children.

Source: Spade from Wikipedia

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