The most striking aspect of the APPELSPADE is no doubt the presence of two vertical handles, which are made out of stainless steel at that. Those two aspects make the APPELSPADE a very recognizable spade. Not only the two vertical handles are made out of stainless steel, the entire spade is of this material ! The measurements are :

Total weight (see TESTS).......................	3.6 kg
Overall length	110 cm
Width below	17.2 cm
Width on top	23.4 cm
Height of blade	26 cm
Thickness of blade	2 mm
Diameter of tubular handles	30 mm
Thickness of tube walls	1.5 mm
Measurements of footrest	20x30 mm, wall thickness 1.5 mm

• The upside of the footrest is 35 cm from below.
• The upside of the halfcircular handle is 49 cm from below.
• The footrest is designed to place the foot in the middle of the spade. The space between the two vertical handles is at that point 13.2 cm, enough for a normal clog.
• The space between the blade and the footrest is designed to let sticky soil slip away upwards to prevent accumulation.
• The space between the two vertical handles is designed for the knee to be placed straight above the foot.
• The halfcircular lower handle is designed to keep the wrist perfectly straight, also during turning of the soil (see USERS MANUAL).

Besides several big differences in use there is another important difference between the APPELSPADE and the common spade :

The APPELSPADE is made into one piece, whereas the common spade has usually two joints that tend to give movement as years go by, due to shrinking of the wood. With that, through weathering, wood looses more and more elasticity through the years, so getting increasingly breakable. Stainless steel doesn't have that problem.