Shovel

The Shovel is a basic excavation tool used to dig up and move terrain blocks in Dinkum. After purchasing Excavation Licence Level 1 from Fletch, it becomes available for purchase from John’s Goods. It is also one of the key tools for terraforming, since it can remove and carry dirt, sand, and mud from one place to another while preserving the tile type for later placement.

When used on the ground, the shovel can dig up a tile of dirt, sand, or mud, as well as buried treasure found through Metal Detecting and the “X” marker from Metal Detecting Licence Level 1. It can also bury plantables. Because it stores the type of material it picks up, the same shovel can be used to place that material elsewhere. It can dig and place from any level, even if the player is standing higher or lower than the target tile.

The shovel also interacts with player-made ground features. It can pick up placed paths, but the path must be empty to remove it. Soil of any kind placed onto tilled soil will disappear, and an empty shovel can remove tilled soil entirely. When soil is placed on grass, it turns into dirt instead of keeping its original state.

For large-scale landscaping, the shovel is often used together with a Wheelbarrow or multiple tools in the toolbar to reduce back-and-forth travel. Ten shovels’ worth of dirt, sand, or mud can be loaded into the Wheelbarrow and moved to another location. Another useful method is to dig down past the build limit: once dirt is stacked above the limit, any extra added to that stack is deleted, which can be used to clear unwanted terrain. The same idea can be used in reverse to create effectively unlimited dirt by digging a deep hole and then moving the soil where it is needed.

The Shovel has several material variants, including Shovel of Dirt, Shovel of Mud, Shovel of Red Sand, Shovel of Sand, and Shovel of Pebbles. Its durability can be repaired at the Repair Table, making it practical for repeated use during farming, pathwork, excavation, and full terrain reshaping.