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I went to Princess Auto tonight with my friend and found the other Army Shovels they had for sale. I figured out why I didn't see them the last time and I thought it was because they were only $5!!!...

The Carrying Case


The Set


The Pick side


Side by Side with my German Trench Shovel...


That almost made me laugh when I saw how small it was. I immediately noticed there was a gap on the connector / hinge section. I got 2, 1/4" washers and put them on the opposite sides of the hinge and now it is dead center. This seems very sturdy with the washers and should make for one hell of a tool for a canoe trip or trip requiring less = more mentality.

Folded this is just under 6" in length. Unfolded its just over 16". The Blade is 5.1" x 3.9". Should be more then enough to shovel out a decent firepit or find some bait for a fishing trip and so on! It has a good weight to it and the metal on the pick and the shovel seem pretty thick and sturdy. For $5 + a few cents for washers, this is more then fair in my eyes!



Also this is how my 'Saw' edge looks so far. I did a lot more filing on the oppposite side of the teeth so its very sharp now.

The tiny one is clearly not military issue

Making the saw blade sharp is not enough, because you will cut the wood with each teeth.
A saw doesn't really cut, it scrapes. They have sharp straight angled teeth that actually remove the wood layer by layer, making room for the saw to keep going down.

Sharp teeth make a little cut, but the friction of the blade (because it doesn't fit in the cut) will slow the blade down a lot.
This kind of saw is more for force "ripping" through roots. But when you use the shovel for digging, this is actually very usefull. But for "sawing" through wood I'm afraid it's not that effective.

I am going to get a nice 3 peice saw from MEC by my house. The one I put on my shovel is more for what you were saying. I know that its not good for real sawing through material but for little stuff like the roots.

That mini shovel made my day though lol. Maybe the military should issue those for the 'light infrantry'.

Yes Bypah, pretty much anything with a sharpened blade, although Coleman machetes are still perfectly legal----not sure exactly what their logic is because as we all know most major assaults, car jackings, and murders in the state of MA. are comitted with machetes and sharpened tri-fold shovels (riiiiiiight.......and "The Bedford Incident" was a true story)

'nuff said.

[quote="Bypah"]"SPADES AND MEN"
"Every infantryman in the Soviet Army carries with him a small spade. When he is given the order to halt he immediately lies flat and starts to dig a hole in the ground beside him. In three minutes he will have dug a little trench 15 centimetres deep, in which he can lie stretched out flat, so that bullets can whistle harmlessly over his head. The earth he has dug out forms a breastwork in front and at the side to act as an additional cover. If a tank drives over such a trench the soldier has a 50% chance that it will do him no harm. At any moment the soldier may be ordered to advance again and, shouting at the top of his voice, will rush ahead. If he is not ordered to advance, he digs in deeper and deeper. At first his trench can be used for firing in the lying position. Later it becomes a trench from which to fire in the kneeling position, and later still, when it is 110 centimetres deep,it can be used for firing in the standing position. The earth that has been dug out protects the soldier from bullets and fragments. He makes an embrasure in this breastwork into which he positions the barrel of his gun."

"In the absence of any further commands he continues to work on his trench. He camouflages it. He starts to dig a trench to connect with his comrades to the left of him. He always digs from right to left, and in a few hours the unit has a trench linking all the riflemen's trenches together. The unit's trenches are linked with the trenches of other units. Dug-outs are built and communication trenches are added at the rear. The trenches are made deeper, covered over, camouflaged and reinforced. Then, suddenly, the order to advance comes again. The soldier emerges, shouting and swearing as loudly as he can."

"The infantryman uses the same spade for digging graves for his fallen comrades. If he doesn't have an axe to hand he uses the spade to chop his bread when it is frozen hard as granite. He uses it as a paddle as he floats across wide rivers on a telegraph pole under enemy fire. And when he gets the order to halt, he again builds his impregnable fortress around himself."

"He knows how to dig the earth efficiently. He builds his fortress exactly as it should be. The spade is not just an instrument for digging: it can also be used for measuring. It is 50 centimetres long. Two spade lengths are a metre. The blade is 15 centimetres wide and 18 centimetres long. With these measurements in mind the soldier can measure anything he wishes."

"The infantry spade does not have a folding handle, and this is a very important feature. It has to be a single monolithic object. All three of its edges are as sharp as a knife. It is painted with a green matt paint so as not to reflect the strong sunlight."

Excellent quote Bypah!

Notice;
All these pictures were taken during the N.W Europe campaigns 1944-5. British and Canadian troops stopped using the issue folding tool shortly after Normandy, and reverted to real spades. The weight penalty was calculated to be more than offset by a strong, reliable digger with good leverage, especially in the high intensity artillery and mortar fragment-ridden enviroment they were fighting and living in.

Dig Or Die!

Nice pics bb...
You're right.Foldables are nost a good option although the german klasspatten from both DDR and the Bundeswehr are good alternatives. The soviet/russian saperka-lopatka is an excellent choice. The Cold steel copy is awesome too.

Even the PLA has their "own" copy of a nice military shovel.

http://youtu.be/b60OZhrTB6o

Hi,
I wouldn't trust that chinese tool : it's way too complex, the mud would certainly stop the mechanism and there's a huge risk to leave some chunks of skin and flesh into those sharp protuberances...
The US and French tools are often overprized on eBay.fr, the Swiss version looks very strong but even much expensive, also the Russian, Polish,Hungarian versions.
Maybe I'm wrong but I dont trust the lock system on the BW Klappspaten, if it takes some play I fear you just can't thighten the nut to correct the problem.
The DDR/NVA Klappspaten looks Ok and is very cheap (you can have 2 of them shipped from Germany for the price of one French or US one send inside France!).
Any feedback concerning the NVA Klappspaten, maybe from our Sherman Vrends?

Stef, I have one of the DDR/NVA spades and is awesome. I posted a pic of it earlier in this thread.
Is simple to use and sturdy plus I got it cheap on ebay US. You're right about the chinese spade, is too complex and can easily jam or break plus it looks likea good "meat scrapper" for your hands....
The russian saperkas are difficult to get although there is the Coldsteel version and is excellent and cheap.

Occam's razor is definitely true especially in the case of multitools.

Not only is there a greater chance of injuring yourself and it breaking, but while it holds together those multiple tools are limited compared to their stand alone counter parts.

I looked at the price of that Chinese shovel because I was interested after seeing the video and ran the other way. They want 90-100 bucks for that hunk of junk?

I'll take the simplistic Cold Steel shovel any day over the Chinese one. And of course in those commercials they have for it, they never show how many times it broke or snapped in half which we can pretty much assume happened.

Also I remember seeing a review comparing the actual spetsnaz shovel to the cold steel shovel and the reviewer remarked that the cold steel was indeed made better than the Russian one and used better materials. AND isn't as expensive because it doesn't have the Russian namesake that apparently calls for a higher price.