Closed back shovel and method of assembly

A closed back shovel, comprising:

• an open back shovel head including a blade portion, a back-side cavity in the blade portion, and a handle receiving socket extending rearwardly from the blade portion;
• a tool handle having a forward end adapted for insertion into the handle receiving socket of the shovel head;
• a frog situated within and configured to fill the back-side cavity of the blade portion;
• and
• means for interconnecting the frog and the forward end of the tool handle, within the handle receiving socket, to secure to the tool handle to the shovel head, the interconnecting means including a tang element having a first end secured to the frog, and a second end secured to the tool handle, wherein the attachment of the tang element to both the frog and the tool handle prevents each from becoming disassociated with the shovel head.

A closed back shovel, comprising:

• an open back shovel head including a blade portion, a back-side cavity in the blade portion, and a handle receiving socket extending rearwardly from the blade portion;
• a composite tool handle having a forward end adapted for insertion into the handle receiving socket of the shovel head, for forward end including a thermoplastic section having an elongate tang receiving channel;
• a frog situated within and configured to fill the back-side cavity of the blade portion, wherein at least a portion of the frog comprises a thermoplastic material having an elongate tang receiving channel, and extends from the back-side cavity into the handle receiving socket of the shovel head;
• and
• means for interconnecting the frog and the forward end of the tool handle within the handle receiving socket to secure the tool handle to the shovel head, the interconnecting means including a tang element having cross-sectional dimensions greater than the cross-sectional dimensions of the elongate tang receiving channels, wherein the tang element is driven into both tang receiving channels to interconnect the frog and the shovel head.