Some Tips About Can You Dig It Sand Tools!

Can You Dig it Sand Tools are a complete set of sand sculpting tools. They are all that are used to create everything you see on this website and more! Remember that all surfaces of the tool heads are used. In this way, there are limitless combinations to get desired effects. Hold the tools gently and for basic use, keep the tool head at an angle to the work surface as shown in the diagram below. Remember to go gentle, remove a little sand at a time and start with a proper pile wet and patted tight.

We have a few basic suggestions for each tool, but remember that as you get familiar with using Can You Dig It Sand Tools you will see that though we can make suggestions, there are no rules for how each tool is used. Experiment! You will find each tool is very versatile

The Sand Wedge Hoe: This is the workhorse of the kit. Its primary use is for the removal of large amounts of sand at a time when clearing the areas where we are about to work. It is also great for creating larger flat surfaces and perfect for larger staircases on the outside of a castle when you are at the ‘sandscaping' part toward the end of a castle.

The Sand Wedge Hoe shapes outer stairs on a castle; Press and Pull!

The Large Detail Shaper is the largest of the shaper series. This tool is great for many details. It works well for the turrets, and tower walls and like its smaller versions, can shape most of the essential details of a castle. It is great for cutting winding stairs and larger details. Like all the shapers, it reaches into hard to get at places and works just as well as a shovel or scoop that can lift sand out of walkways and crevices.

Our Large Detail Shaper cuts the outside winding stairs on a tower

The Medium Detail Shaper:
This is for details that are too small for the Large Detail Shaper and too large for the Small Detail Shaper! The tip of the mama shaper is very strong and the underside of the tool head can cut a very clean line on the inside of doorways and passages.

The Mama Shaper can also reach in and clear sand. Here it is used to clean out a window opening. When you have scooped all the loose sand you can and there is still a bit left: tap the remaining residue back into the pile with whatever tool you are using or use the Manually Powered Pnuematic Sand Blaster and blast it! This is also a nice example of how the bottom edge of the tool head can be used to make a clean line on an inside cut.

The Small Detail Finishing Shaper is the tool you will use most often. The offset angle of the tool head is perfect for getting in and out of small places. It does the simple details but is ready for you as you develop skills and your castles get more involved.

This photo demonstrates how to hold the Baby Shaper for the iconic block texture found in all sand castles

The Bull Nosed Scraper: While the shaper tools are best suited for linear or straight-line details, the bull nosed scraper creates the soft forms or, concave and rounded shapes. I like it for turrets and undercutting many details. It becomes indispensable when you begin to create sea creatures and animal figures.

The “C” Shell Scoop is a perfect digging tool. It will dig a one inch wide hole as long as its handle will go without damaging the surrounding area. It is perfect for door and passageways and removing sand from all openings. It will make a nice arch top door in just a few simple passes and never clogs during use.

Some General Sand Sculpting Tips!

Making cool sand castles is much easier than you might expect. You need tools, and you need knowledge. You will have an ample supply of both when you buy “The Works” from our products page, but we repeat some here, because there are a few you never want to forget when you're starting out! These are tips that are not secrets, but are not so generally known among amateurs. Pro’s use ‘em every day.  They require not so much practice, as implementation. 

The most important tips are often the most obvious…

Wet The Sand!!!
Not just wet , but really wet. The sand MUST be wet through and through if you want it to hold its shape.  You can’t have too much water.  It will run out and find it’s own natural saturation point. The idea here is: different sand, different saturation point, but all sand must be saturated!

Pack The Sand!!!
The tighter you pack the sand, the better it will hold together.  Pound it, smack it, pat it down tight, hit it, strike it, batter it down, thump it, pummel it till it’s tight, clobber it, sock it,  beat it with anything you have, give it a wallop… get the idea? 

Take It From The Top And Work Inside Out!!
Always work from the top down!!  Unless you enjoy doing things twice.  Once you complete an area, you don’t want to go back up and re-work it thus having to re-clean the completed sections below and risk ruining lower details: same thing with details closer to the center of your creation. Don’t make an outer wall and then try to move to the middle for a walkway: it messes up your wall when you try to get sand out of the middle.

GO Slooooooooooow!!
Patience is more important than talent, especially when you’re learning.  Remove small amounts of sand at a time.  This is not clay! You may not think so, but it is very difficult and in most cases impossible to replace sand on the initial pile once it is gone. If you are trying to pack sand after you are into the sculpture, what do think happens to your completed work?  And remember: It is a rare occasion if ever that a detail can be created with just one pass of a tools.  Make several passes to remove more and more sand until you reach just the point you want.

Pile High-Pile Wide!!!
Start with a pile a bit larger than you think you will need. We don’t “build” a sand sculpture. We create a sand sculpture by removing all the parts of the pile that are not part of the creation! We must then make sure that there is ample sand for the creation to exist before we carve it in the first place!  As we said above, it is difficult to add sand to our pile once we are fairly well into the piece.

Have Fun!!!
Don't get frustrated.
If you fight these laws of sand sculpting, the laws will win: You will begin to experience those other laws of Mr. Murphy’s as they pertain to sand sculpting:  and as we know from all things, they will catch up to you soon enough anyway. 

Get a straw! 
These are technically referred to as manually operated pneumatic sand blasters, it is used for a specialized form of sand blasting! We use it to blow loose sand away from sculpture details. When you direct the flow of air, it removes only the loose sand, leaving the new detail made in the packed sand right where you want it.  Saves the eyes too! Every package of Can You Dig It Sand Tools comes with a straw in case you forgot to pick one up on your way to the beach. This should be replaced now and then for obvious reasons.   Click here for a suggestion of where you may get a free straw replacement! A small purchase may be required!

In closing...

Well that's it in a nutshell. We want to help any way we can, but if you want to know everything, you'll have to buy the video. You can order it right here if you're ready to make the score! I'm really just trying to fill up some of this space since the tips section to our left here is using so much more of the embedded table because it has images that take up more room in the column. Sort of evening the text out on both sides. You could describe this part of the site as the rambling portion. Babble that has no bearing on the site or sand castles or anything of the like.

Oh! I know what I can put here! This is funny! This s a picture of one cool cat! He doesn't need "The Right Tools!"

Well obviously we are not all this talented! Fortunately, if you're not, you can get The Right Tools, right now!. Of course there are other ways to have fun at the beach. But don't loose your head over what to do. You may find yourself in a situation like the guy in the photo below.

Building sand castles is far healthier!

Well well, it seems as though the gap is filled!
See you on another page.