Folding Shovel

[crazyphilo]

I recently finished reading a short story which had a mention of somebody trying to rescue a car stuck in a ditch with the car doors being too close to the ditch walls and could not be opened. The rescuer uses a shovel to break into the car by breaking the windshield (after making sure that the car passengers were safe from the breaking glass) using a shovel. That got me thinking about the folding shovel from olive planet :

http://www.oliveplanet.in/Products/Oliv ... 00699.aspx

Has anybody bought, used or considered buying & keeping this in their car ? Is it more of a gimmick thing ? Will be glad to get your views / reviews .

[dev]

You can use the car escape tool, which is much smaller and has a blade to cut through the sear belt and a spring loaded tool to break the glass.
Don't necessarily need a shovel.

[crazyphilo]

Thanks, its a good idea. will do that.

[xl_target]

Crazyphylo,
I have one of those. Its pretty damn flimsy, at least mine is. Most of the cheap Chinese repro. shovels made in that configuration are pretty useless.
It would work for digging in loose soil or sand but if you have to break sod or work with packed soil, you're probably going to get a finger pinched when it inadvertently folds up. The weak point is the plastic collar and the fact that it folds, usually when you don't want it to.

There are plenty of other shovels out there like the Cold Steel Spetsnaz shovel which actually work.

[inplainsight]

I saw this on Doomsday Preppers a few months ago...

[Mark]

I'm a sucker for small shovels, they are handy things to have! I have 2 WW2 issue GI ones, a Vietnam era dated one, and a chinese folding one that are this pattern:


The chinese one has held up pretty well.

I also have a couple E. European shovels in this pattern:



I've used both of these patterns extensively, and I think the one piece one is a bit handier. If I were to buy something to keep in a vehicle I think I would also go with XL's suggestion and get the Cold Steel version. I'd definitely suggest sharpening an edge on one side of the blade to use for chopping things like roots and vines and small branches.

I -JUST TODAY- bought a genuine USGI E-Tool, dated 1984. I've always wanted one and found one at a garage sale for $3, and it has the case too, WooHoo! Fortunately it has been used so I won't feel bad about using it myself. After I've had it for a while I'll post my thoughts on it compared to the others.

[essdee1972]

Congrats Mark!! Three bucks for a e-tool!!!

[crazyphilo]

xl_target - thanks for the excellent advise. I just placed my order for CS Special Forces shovel as well as the car escape tool recommended by dev !

Links below for those curious or interested :

CS Special Forces shovel - http://www.oliveplanet.in/Products/Oliv ... 17167.aspx

Car escape Tool - http://www.oliveplanet.in/Products/Oliv ... 28135.aspx

[Mark]

Congrats, I suspect you will be quite happy with it.

I've spent a little while playing around with the E-tool now, and it is definitely a bit more wobbly that the WW2 GI pattern. I think it will do as an emergency tool stuck in a car trunk (boot) but I would not want to take it camping where much digging needed to be done.

[essdee1972]

I got a Coleman folding shovel and pick from my kid on my birthday. Taiwanese. It has a handle which scews on/off, and the folding shovel and pick part (it's actually a spade - the blade is at right angles to the handle) unfold and are tightened by a flange on a screw thread.. Not very sturdy, maybe not meant for extended work, but hey, the kid at least realises what his Dad wants!!
(Now I need to finance his education so that he can go to Harvard and get me cool knives time to time!!)