Spades

[radstockjeff]

Not sure if this is the right place for this one.
My dad often used to refer to a sharpened wooden implement which was used to clean clay and earth etc from spades. I found a reference in a book about Irish Navvies which used the term Minute Man, as it took just a minute to clean the spade and also gave the navvy a minute's breather.
However that was not the term which my dad used.
Has anyone come across such an implement and what was it called? maybe there were different names in different part parts of the country.

radstockjeff

[malcolm99]

Could it be a SPUD?

[Colin Rowledge]

Could it be a SPUD?

My dad used to refer to potatoes as SPUDS, and as well, had a buddy in the Army from Ireland who was named Murphy and had the nickmane SPUD.

After the war, he had an allotment and I used to carry his scraper for his tools and this he called a SPATULA. Later, in Canada, SPATULA refers to a kitchen utensil used for dishing up from a frying pan.

Not sure if any of the above is relevant - but---------------

[DorothySandra]

A "spud" is a gardening tool for weeding - or for digging up root vegetables. Whether the tool or the potatoes had the name first I don't know. It's sharp and straight and usually has a long handle.

[malcolm99]

That's the one - as cited twice on this page:
http://www.
google.co.uk/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=%22CLEANING+SPADES%22&btnG=