How to Make a Garden Trowel out of PVC Pipe
One of the various uses of PVC pipe involves modifying them into tools. One of the easiest and most practical tools to make is a garden trowel or spade. All you need is some heat, a way to form the material and a little bit of ingenuity. Take a look at the steps below and see how you can build your own in just a few minutes.
Preparing the PVC
The first step is to prepare a section of pipe for forming. The best pipe to work with will be around 1-2 inches in diameter and about a foot long, but you can scale up or down as necessary. Cut the piece to size and then cut a vertical line along one of the sides that extends all the way from the top to the bottom. You can also use a very wide piece of pipe and remove about a third of the material from one of the sides as well.
Once you have your section and cut made, the next step is to flare one of the ends into a semi-circle by trimming the material. If you are working with a section of pipe, simply make an arc from one side to the other. If you are working with the entire pipe, cut the end at about a 45 degree angle to the rest of the pipe and then round off the tip. This way, when it is unrolled during the heating process, you will end up with the face of the trowel. You can also cut the material so that it has a pointy tip at the center, and this will help to make digging easier later on.
Forming the Pipe
The next step is to apply heat to the pipe in order to soften it up. This is tricky, and you should be mindful of a couple of things before you begin. First, you always want to work with PVC and flame outside or in a fire-safe and well-ventilated area indoors. In the unlikely event that the pipe catches fire, it will be difficult to extinguish and possibly release toxic gases. If you end up smoldering or burning the pipe and smoke or gas fills the room, hold your breath and go outside until the vapors have dissipated.
Take your torch and carefully apply the flame to the area that will become the handle of the trowel. Aim for using about ½ of the length of pipe for the handle, and consider using a longer piece of pipe if you want a finished product with a long handle. Take some sort of insulation, even if it is a good pot holder, and grab this part of the pipe with your hand. The idea is to squeeze it around the object such as a smaller PVC pipe or broomstick. This will be used to to fashion the handle.
Heat the pipe until it is pliable but not melted. It will take some practice to get a feel for this process, and you may have to re-apply heat as you crimp to keep the material soft enough to work with. The heating process may be easier if you are working with the entire pipe that can be slid over the handle and squeezed.
In any case, you want to create a snug fit around the pipe or stick, and make sure that the handle is uniform and smooth throughout. You want to make this section as perfect as possible for your comfort and safety since you will be gripping it and exerting force as you dig later on.
The next step is to flare out the other end of the pipe so that you have the head for the trowel. Apply heat to the mid-section of the pipe and start working your way around the bottom, sides and tip. Again, you want this to be soft enough to work with but firm enough to retain its shape. If you are working with the whole pipe, you want to butterfly each side of the top half by flattening the ends. You don’t want them to be perfectly flat, otherwise the shovel will not have the basket effect. However, you want it flat enough to become the head.
Take some time and experiment as you are unfolding the pipe until you achieve the right amount of opening. You will notice that the sides near the handle will flare out, and this is okay. Just soften and shape this area with your protected hands in order to press out the base of the trowel. The same principle applies if you are working with a section of cut pipe as well. Heat, flare and tweak until you have fashioned a very rudimentary but effective trowel once the material cools.
There is a lot of room for improvisation with this project, and you can also take the same principles to make larger shovels if you have the material. Just remember to be patient and careful when it comes to heating the pipe.
