Animal Crossing New Horizons: How To Make a Shovel and How To Unlock the Golden Shovel

Animal Crossing New Horizons. The Player is holding a Shovel. They are standing on top of a cliff and there is a bit of lattice fencing behind them.
By Marie PritchardGuides Writer

Animal Crossing New Horizons. The Player is holding a Shovel. They are standing on top of a cliff and there is a bit of lattice fencing behind them.

Your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be filled with minor or major tasks that you can do. Whatever the task may be, you will probably need a tool to help you out. There are many tools for you to obtain and one of these is a Shovel. This tool will allow you to dig up fossils, plants, trees and hit rocks. We're going to show you how to make a Shovel and how to unlock the Golden Shovel.

Read More: Animal Crossing New Horizons: All Villager Birthdays

How To Make A Flimsy Shovel

A Flimsy Shovel is the first Shovel tool that you will be able to make. It's the base for other more advanced Shovel recipes so it's the most important one for you to learn.

This is the recipe for crafting a Flimsy Shovel:

  • 5x Hardwood (The darkest wood that drops when you use a Flimsy Axe on a tree)

You can then craft a Flimsy Shovel at a crafting bench or you can buy this shovel from the cabinet in Nook's Cranny.

How To Make a Shovel

A Shovel is more durable than its Flimsy predecessor and you can get more uses out of it before it breaks.

This is the recipe for crafting a Shovel:

  • 1x Flimsy Shovel
  • 1x Iron Nugget (Iron Nuggets can be gained by hitting rocks with a Shovel or Axe)

You can craft this tool at any crafting bench or you can buy variations of it from the cabinet in Nook's Cranny.

Animal Crossing New Horizons. The Player is using a shovel to plant flowers in a flower patch. They have just planted an orange flower.
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How To Unlock the Golden Shovel

Golden tools are the highest-ranking of tools that you can get in the game. The Golden Shovel Recipe can be obtained after you help Gulliver 30 times. Once you have done this, you can craft the highly durable tool.

This is the recipe for crafting a Golden Shovel:

You can craft this tool at any crafting bench in the game.

Tools are the key to making the most out of Island life in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. There are many other tools for you to get your hands on and we have a guide that shows you how to make a net. Also, if you've got all of the tools you need then we have a guide that shows you how to grow a money tree.

Updated November 23rd, 2021 by Marie Pritchard. Contributions from Chris Trout.

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