Wierd Shovel-type-thingy By Cold Steel

I got this littel shovel for x-mas. It's a cold steel one with a descent edge on it. My eldest, who gave it to me (sorry to brek it to you, but there is no Santa ) said he saw it on some TV-show and got it for me. Awesome gift by all means.

What do you use it for? Anyone with any experience? No, self defence with a shovel feels very distant.

It feels like digging with it would mess the edge up, and why would you want to chop with a shovel? It's weightwise comparable to a larger hatchet but the balance is off. It works with wood, but it's not an axe.
It's nice looking. I'm gonna scrape the handle and treat it with boiled linseed oil to not get blisters when I use it without gloves.

I cant say I dig much. During my military training they had us digging holes everywhere for no reason with our little foldable shovels and I guess I got tired of it. I try and use natural shelters and don't have to dodge many bullets, thank God.

Maybe this is a better peice of kit to keep in the truck? Let me know

http://www.coldsteel.com/special-forces-shovel2.html

 

Check out Zack Fowlers you tube videos he the one who won alone he swears by it he did lasted 87 days on alone

 

I carry one of those in my truck go bag. It actually does a lot of things pretty well. For me it digs better than the folding shovels and it really does a pretty good job as a machete. In a bind it would be a devastating weapon. I have used it to clear brush from around AC condensing unit and was surprised at how effective it was. It is made from fairly heavy high carbon steel and so far seems to hold an edge a lot better than the cheap knock off trenching tools.

In the event of a long term use I would pull the handle off and make a longer one and it would be a much more effective shovel. Basically I think it would fit on the same handles as my cold steel bad ax and the bushman knives that I have as spears. On one handle I could have several different heads. A trident, a frog gig, two different spear heads and ax, hoe and that shovel.

Like a lot of things it doesn't do any of these things great but it does do a lot of things pretty well and if you are limited in what you can carry this will cover a lot of bases.

 

I have an older version made for East German military but very similar, it's nicer to use then a folding shovel but more bulky.

 

I keep the folding shovel type in my SUV. One can use it blade fully deployed, or blade at 90 degrees for a mattock -- and then there is its pick which is handy.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MYCAO...t=&hvlocphy=9008851&hvtargid=pla-397557094205

 

I use a car shovel to get mud, ice, or snow away from my tires. If some one has spun a wheel down into the muck, then somebody has got to be doing some digging or that puppy ain't comin' out'a there.

I sometimes keep a pruning saw in a vehicle to cut fallen limbs. Keep a wrecking bar that's at least 3 feet in length. I mentioned my long hatchet / short ax in another post. Some rather big come-alongs are available.

I live where trees routinely come down across roads and in the mountains, snow drifts get impassable. Rock slides, forget it, turn around and go home.

 

Was playing a bit with i last night, it's a high quality tool for sure. And as I mentioned, it looks really nice. Never been a fan of tacticool-looking gear, but this has a really nice straight grained wood handle (Hickory?)

 

I like those old style trenching tools a lot better than the new style. I bought a three piece one that is mad with locking pipe for the handle that I like a lot. It rides in my wife's car in that go bag. The old ones were great but for some reason all the newer ones have bad wood and that makes them undependable. I wish I had bought a bunch of them back when you could buy real military surplus at GI Surplus Stores. I miss the old K and C rations too.

 

And thats why i bought one. Lol

 

The old true military surplus ones from WW2, Korea and early Vietnam were made from god steel and I always kept one edge on mine almost razor sharp. The new ones are crud with cheapo metal, soft wood and aluminum in some places. Totally useless. The military entrenching tools even the folders are pretty good but the civilian knock offs are no good. that is why they are 19.95 and a real surplus one costs 45 to 50 dollars. The 19.95 one isn't even worth that much!! It will fail you the first time you try to put it to heavy use.

The Cold Steel shovel doesn't fold but I've beat the hell out of mine and it is still going. I've chopped down trees as big around as my calf with no problem. You can chop apart a pallet in seconds and what it would do to a man is ugly to think about!

Best of all cops frown on me carrying my battle ax but can't say a word about my little shovel!

Evidently the cold steel shovel has done well enough to bring out the copycats.

https://www.amazon.com/FiveJoy-Mili...&qid=1518156351&sr=1-3&keywords=survival+gear

 

I have one of those shovels, they pretty darn cool... very robust... and works pretty well as a small axe..