How To Get A Shovel In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Securing the shovel blueprint represents one of the earliest progression milestones in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. While most essential tools become available immediately, the shovel requires completing a specific quest chain that many players overlook during their initial island setup.

Your deserted island adventure begins with limited tool access, forcing you to prioritize which activities to pursue first. The shovel’s absence creates a strategic bottleneck that prevents fossil collection, efficient resource gathering, and advanced landscaping until you complete the museum initiation process.

Begin by crafting either a flimsy fishing rod or net using the DIY recipes Tom Nook provides. Capture five distinct species of bugs or fish—mixing types accelerates completion—then present them at Resident Services. Tom Nook will contact Blathers, the owl curator who arrives the following day to establish the museum. This 24-hour waiting period cannot be skipped, so plan other island development activities during this downtime.

Once Blathers pitches his tent, engage him in conversation to receive both the shovel and vaulting pole DIY recipes. Many players mistakenly believe the shovel only serves fossil excavation, but it actually enables multiple critical gameplay systems including resource mining, money rock farming, and terrain modification.

Creating your initial flimsy shovel requires gathering 5 hardwood pieces, a resource obtained exclusively from striking trees with any axe variant. Employ proper technique: stand directly facing the tree and swing your flimsy axe repeatedly. Each tree yields three wood pieces daily—hardwood, softwood, and regular wood in random distribution.

Critical mistake avoidance: Never eat fruit before hitting trees for wood, as this will destroy the tree entirely. The flimsy axe cannot chop down trees regardless of fruit consumption, but developing this habit early creates problems when upgrading to stronger axes later.

Once you’ve collected sufficient hardwood, access any DIY workbench—your home bench, the one at Resident Services, or craft a portable one for 5 softwood and 1 iron nugget. The flimsy shovel’s durability lasts approximately 40 uses before breaking, making it suitable for initial fossil hunting but inadequate for extensive resource farming.

When your flimsy shovel breaks, you face three replacement options: purchase from Timmy and Tommy for 800 bells, craft another using 5 hardwood, or immediately upgrade to the standard shovel for superior longevity.

The standard shovel represents a significant durability upgrade over its flimsy counterpart, lasting approximately 200 uses—five times longer than the initial version. This enhanced longevity makes it essential for serious fossil hunters and resource farmers.

Crafting requires just two components: your existing flimsy shovel and a single iron nugget. Iron nuggets initially seem scarce but become consistently farmable once you master rock-hitting techniques.

Pro tip: Always craft the standard shovel at a workbench immediately after your flimsy version breaks, maximizing value from both components rather than letting a broken tool occupy inventory space.

Advanced players should consider crafting multiple standard shovels before major resource-gathering sessions, especially when planning mystery island tours. Bringing backup tools prevents interrupted farming when shovels break mid-expedition.

The standard shovel’s crafting recipe becomes permanently available once learned, unlike limited-time DIY recipes. This means you can always create replacements as needed throughout your island development journey.

Mastering shovel operation involves more than simple hole digging. Equip the tool from your inventory or tool wheel (once unlocked) and press A to excavate. Press A again to refill the hole, or utilize the Y button for hole filling without shovel equipping—particularly useful during tool failures or inventory management.

Beyond basic excavation, the shovel serves multiple critical functions that experienced players leverage for optimal island development.

Resource mining represents one of the shovel’s primary applications. Strike the light gray rocks scattered across your island or discovered on mystery tours using precise timing patterns. Position yourself adjacent to a rock, then rapidly press A eight times in succession as items spawn. Creating barrier holes behind your character prevents knockback, ensuring maximum yield from each rock.

Money rock identification: One random rock daily produces bells instead of resources. Hit this rock rapidly to spawn increasing bell amounts, potentially yielding over 16,000 bells from a single rock when optimized.

Fossil hunting efficiency: Scan your island daily for star-shaped cracks indicating buried fossils. Excavate these with your shovel, then assess them at Blathers’ museum. Donate unidentified specimens first, then sell duplicates for consistent income.

Additional advanced applications include tree transplantation (dig up fully grown trees), flower management, and creating decorative hole patterns for island aesthetics.

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