Description
The plug you leave behind is the interview for your next permission. On a mowed lawn a torn plug edge reads as damage, and damage closes doors. The Excalibur Arthur cuts with two smooth, continuous edges so the circle you lift hinges back down and disappears into the turf.
At a glance: the Arthur is the smooth-edge Excalibur, the clean-entry model of the line. No serrations anywhere on the blade, one-piece high-strength lightweight steel, handcrafted in the U.S.A. under U.S. Patent 12,052,937. Choose D-Handle or T-Handle and 31 in / 78.7 cm or 40 in / 101.6 cm before adding to cart; the blade is 8 in / 20.3 cm long by 4.25 in / 10.8 cm wide on all four builds.
Why the Arthur cuts clean where teeth cannot
Serrations are saws, and saws tear a little as they cut. In root country that trade is worth making, which is why most of the Excalibur line carries teeth. On maintained grass the trade reverses: a smooth edge shears turf fibers in a single pass, the plug wall stays intact, and the grass knits back within days. The Arthur exists for exactly that ground. Yards, kept parks, sports fields, any site where how you leave the surface decides whether you are invited back.
When a permission mixes lawn with treelines, lean on the siblings. The Sir Kay saws roots with both edges. The Lancelot or Galahad gives you one toothed edge with a clean edge opposite, a halfway point between the Arthur's manners and the Sir Kay's aggression. Need volume instead of finesse? The Sir Kay WIDE and Mordred move far more soil per cut.
Handle and length choices
Both grips live on this page. Go D-Handle for a closed grip you can steer with one hand while the other holds the pinpointer. Go T-Handle when packed ground wants two hands pressing across a bar. The 31 in / 78.7 cm build stays nimble for kneeling work; the 40 in / 101.6 cm build gives standing leverage and picks up the wider 6 in / 15.2 cm step underfoot.
Shovels in this class get advertised as aircraft-grade with no alloy named anywhere on the page. Excalibur's own description is plainer and better: high-strength lightweight steel, formed as one piece with nothing bolted on to loosen. Those are the words we publish because they are the ones the maker stands behind.
Specifications
| Model | Excalibur Arthur |
| Serration | None; smooth on both edges for clean turf entry |
| Blade | 8 in / 20.3 cm long, 4.25 in / 10.8 cm wide |
| Overall length | 31 in / 78.7 cm or 40 in / 101.6 cm, your choice |
| Handle | D-Handle or T-Handle, your choice |
| Weight by configuration | D-Handle 31 in / 78.7 cm: 2.7 lb / 1.2 kg • T-Handle 31 in / 78.7 cm: 2.6 lb / 1.2 kg • D-Handle 40 in / 101.6 cm: 3.5 lb / 1.6 kg • T-Handle 40 in / 101.6 cm: 3.3 lb / 1.5 kg |
| Material | One-piece high-strength lightweight steel |
| Warranty | 5 years, unlimited re-powdercoating included |
| Made in | U.S.A., handcrafted; U.S. Patent 12,052,937 |
Who it is for
Detectorists who hunt manicured ground: private yards, old homesteads with kept lawns, permission-sensitive parks. If most of your digging happens where a groundskeeper will judge the result, the Arthur is your default and the serrated models are the backups, not the reverse.
No other dealer we surveyed even lists the Arthur; the smooth-edge option is not on their shelves at all. It is on ours because clean-plug digging is half of real permission hunting.
What's included
One Excalibur Arthur metal detecting shovel in the handle style and length you pick, drop-shipped straight from the maker in the U.S.A.
Backed for five years, finish and all
The Arthur carries Excalibur's 5-year warranty, and the finish is covered in a way we have not seen from any other tool maker: unlimited re-powdercoating for the full five years. When the coating wears through from use, send it in and it comes back re-coated, as many times as it takes. The design is patented too: U.S. Patent 12,052,937, printed here because a number beats a vague claim.
Everyone at History Seekers hunts, and more than a few of our permissions are lawns we want to keep. That is the experience behind recommending a smooth blade at all, and it is yours to draw on by phone or email before you order. The story is more important than the artifact.