Snow Shovels

Every Canadian house needs a shovel even if it also owns a snow blower. There are places no machine reaches: the three steps to the front door, the gap between the car and the garage wall, the deck, the path to the shed, the meter, and the corner of the walk the auger cannot square off. A shovel is also the only thing worth taking out for the two centimetre dusting that does not justify starting a machine.

The range below covers pushers, scoops, combination blades and powered shovels. A pusher has a wide, curved, low blade and is meant to be walked forward so the snow rolls off the side, which is the least tiring way to clear a long flat walk. A scoop or combination blade has raised sides and is for lifting and throwing, which is what you need for steps, tight corners and the bank beside the drive. Most households want one of each rather than one compromise between them.

Blade material decides where it belongs. Poly blades are light, will not rust and will not mark an interlock or a painted deck, but they wear at the leading edge. Steel, or poly with a steel wear strip, cuts through a crust that poly rides over, at the cost of weight and of scratching a soft surface. A bent shaft reduces how far you bend, which matters more the longer the job runs.

Powered snow shovels sit between a shovel and a machine: roughly twelve inches wide, light enough to carry up steps, and they throw rather than lift. They are the right answer for a townhouse walk or a raised deck where a full single-stage snow blower is too heavy to manoeuvre. Shovelling is genuinely hard on the heart, and the Canada Safety Council publishes sensible guidance on pacing, lifting and when to stop. See the snow blower buying guides for where a shovel stops being enough.