I only have moderate New Jersey clay, but I suggest
1) raised beds/lasagna gardening
2) don’t dig in the summer
3) as long as the tool doesn’t exceed the gardener’s strength, it will do okay. It’s my strapping son who destroys the shovels and loppers, not me.
I said that backwards. If the tool-user exceeds the tool’s strength, he can destroy the tool.
But it would be good if we could buy strapping young man tools, and not little middle-aged lady gardener tools. Then I could put the strapping young men to more work.