With an overwhelming history that extends for over 235 years, Ames shovels are not just a part of the American history, but one of its shapers and proponents. It was even written that Ames supplied the tools that literally built America. The origins of the Ames Shovel Company trace back to 1774 when Captain John Ames started making shovels at West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. In 1803, his son Oliver James Sr. who was nicknamed “King of Spades” moved the company to North Easton, and then transferred the business to his two sons, Oakes and Oliver Jr.
When gold was discovered in California and in Australia, the global demand for Ames shovels which were already popular for their quality climbed up. Although the original shop was gutted down by fire in 1851, it was rebuilt in 1852 and the demand for civil war, these shovels became standard issue for the entire US Army troops which made the Ames brothers very rich and influential. The company supported the government in its war efforts for centuries and supplied the Union Army with shovels for the entire duration of the Civil War.
Ames shovels became part and witness to other famous and historic infrastructures such as Admiral Byrd’s Antartic exploration, the construction of Hoover Dam, the erection of Mount Rushmore, the putting in place of the Statue of Liberty and the construction of highways connecting different states to each other. In 1870’s, Ames was producing 5,000 shovels a day, an overwhelming 60% of the total metal shovel production in the world during that time, clearly making the company the industry leader.
Today Ames is a subsidiary of Griffon Corporation, a diversified holding and management company. Griffon oversees the operations of Ames and all its subsidiaries by allocating resources and by providing company directions for each of them. Along with other famous and dependable brands in the market today, Ames’ wide variety of new shovels continues to dominate the market.
Ames products continue to provide its customers the quality and reliability it has been known for centuries. Its newest additions to its line-up include different kind of hand tools such as hand trowels, hand weeders and hand cultivators.
Ames True Temper Snow Shovels
Ames bought True Temper in 1999 from Huffy Corporation and continued making high quality and strong tools including snow shovels called the Ames True Temper Snow Shovels. These products include:
- Poly Snow Shovels- reliable winter tools with steel handle, with ribbed wide poly for handling convenience, it has a blade size of 14 x 18 in and 50 ½ in length-
- Steel Snow Shovels- affordable winter tool with blade size of 13 ½ x 18 in and 46 in in length, its deep handle socket makes it more powerful and durable
- Aluminium Snow Shovels- lightweight, 17.5 inches wide, with steel wear strip and steel core shaft
- Specialty Snow Shovels – sleigh shovels and roof rakes among others
- Scrapers
For the complete line-up of models and sizes, including Ames stainless steel shovels, you can click on http://www.amestruetemper.com/ and http://www.nextag.com/ames-shovel/products-html.
Ames Shovel Spade
Ames shovel spade is ideal for narrow trenches, fencepost holes, digging ditches, and for planting shrubs and trees. This versatile tool is highly recommended for lawn and gardening activities. It has D-grip handle, high carbon tempered steel blade and lacquered seal-coated ash handle, not to mention it is covered with a 5 year warranty period. It can be found in leading hardware online stores such as Wal-Mart and Amazon.com.
Ames Snow Pusher
Ames snow pusher is designed for shoving off light to medium build ups of snow. It is a handy model which can easily be transported or hand-carried where there is a need for moderate snow clearing operations. Since it has a 24-inch wide durable blade, it can clear walkways and driv ways in just a short time. It comes with a strong wood handle and steel wear strip. The price range for Ames Snow pusher is from $36 to $110.
Ames Snow Blazer
Ames snow blazer is a heavy-duty shovel that can clear thick snow accumulations easily. It works well in different surfaces like tar, cement and other rough pavements. Its sturdy shovel blades can do tough diggings to fully clear and remove slush and snow. It has a very comfortable grip handle and it will not slip even if you are wearing thick gloves. The deep bowl can move a lot of snow in just a single scoop thus making the clearing job faster. This tool is especially useful during heavy winter season.
Toro Power Shovel
Toro is known worldwide as a leading provider of inventive turf/grass and landscape preservation and maintenance equipment. It has been working in partnership with the world’s biggest and finest events such as the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, Wimbledon Championships and Walt Disney World Resort. One of the most innovative and best products of Toro is its electric power shovel. It is lightweight and handy but delivers powerful performance. Even housewives can operate it with ease and with satisfactory job results. It can clear up 12 inches of snow and moves up 300 lbs of snow per minute, and can blow snow up to 20 feet away. It is ideal for clearing sidewalks decks and driveways. It is resistant to rust and built to last. This powerful tool can dig down 6 inches of snow easily.
Ames shovels and the other innovative lawn tools and equipment are available at affordable prices. For centuries, these tools have been providing the customers the quality and reliability they are known for. There might be some glitches along the way but as the saying goes, you can never put a good product down. The company experienced management crises and issues but it always finds ways to bounce back and regain its share in the market. The customers continue to patronize this dependable tool which literally helped build America. That proves that the market has been accustomed to it its quality and reliability. And from the looks of it these tools it is going to stay for many more years on the market.
