I came up with this idea while digging a 100 foot long, 2 foot deep
drainage trench and it works SO well that I wanted to put it on my webpage.
On the web I find a SNOW shovel for sale that has an added handle, but could 
not find any reference to using a second handle with a regular dirt-digging 
type shovel.

Without exageration, this trick makes it at least twice as easy to dig, 
the new "handle" making it far easier to haul the dirt out of the hole
and dump it. Also, it pretty much does away with the need to bend way over 
while shoveling. The added "handle" can be pulled a bit sidewards, while pushing 
the main handle in this same direction, to scoop up the dirt quite easily.

I threaded a 4" long handle of 1" dowling (drilled a hole lengthwise 
through it first) onto a loop of steel-core clothesline (the same stuff I
use for the "E" string of my 4-string upright wash-tub bass) then wound
the end of the loop around the shovel's handle. I kept it from sliding 
with a wood-screw. A tiny cable-clamp type U-bolt to attached the ends of 
the loop together.

I found it amazing to see how much easier this extra handle makes shoveling!

Dennis Havlena - W8MI 
Mackinac Straits, northern Michigan
4/17/07

Click here to access my webpage