You NEVER cease to amaze me my friend! God bless you and thank you for your willingness to pass this important info on to us! Your friend from North Mississippi!!! 😘👋📦
Again I learned quite a bit from you. I don't have a military shovel yet, even though I was married to the military for over 15 years. As a dependant wife and younger years, you don't think about having one of those. And here in Kentucky we had three surplus stores BEFORE the pandemic. They are now closed. So that leaves me out of buying one unless I get it online, and there too I avoid Amazon like the plague. I know how to navigate the internet very good, so I think I will do my research on line as to where to buy it at. It's like window shopping...😁🤓
Blackie , Great Video and Outstanding Information and Tips and Tricks with a E- Tool , Uncle Sam let me use one for six years. Thanks For Sharing Your Time and Knowledge. Yes You Are The Master Woodsman and Buschcrafter. Thanks Again. Tim L. Old Boy Scout , and U.S. Army Vet. 1979-1986.
My first shovel that I ever had. Those are made to last. Mine was well over 20 years old to start and I had that over 15 years after but lost it somewhere between MI and IN. As I got older I found a longer shovel was well worth the added weight to save my back. Good video!
Grazing in the grass is a gas. Is a gas. I can dig it. You can dig it. We can dig it. .....thanks for putting that song in my head.😁 Really like the last shovel you showed off. Got the first tri-fold shovel. Like the modifications. Also have cold steel's shovel in my truck. The Glock tool feels flimsy. Haven't used it much. It and the cold steel shovel live in my truck and work truck, respectively. I'm a Utility worker and have lots of occasions to dig.
Thank you for bringing up how using a shovel to cook with you can lose the temper on the shovel. I have seen people do that, and it just made me cringe. I watched one highly respected bushcrafter do it. I even considered doing it once myself. I did, however, come to my senses beforehand. I'm with you on this one. I'm quite sure it would destroy the temper after just a few times.
I did a mod on my Cold Steel shovel by drilling two holes on either step and Canadian Jamb Knotting a doubled up chunk of inter tube on each side. Doing that took away all of the "ping" from the shovel.
Thanks for the video now I'm gonna take my 78 year old collapsible 1944 World War II entrenching shovels bead blasted and repainted ! Would not done have done had i not seen your video! 👍
Digging your video. Used it many of time in my 21 year Career. Just another usage for the shovel in an absolute pinch; frying pan. In case you weren't a Ranger you might want to wash off your shovel in the creek somewhere... We just keep in grit on it.. why wash off the seasoning.
I've had the W German shovel / pick on my work truck for many years . I dug a 6' deep outdoor sewer ejecter pit with mine thru shale and it did surprisingly well .
Good word here, I carry one in my truck for JIC. Had it for 45 + yrs, but I also have a jeep shovel in the back of the truck, which I prefer . But I live in Fla, an its all sand or mud here. Thx for the vid Blackie
Yep entrenching tools at 20 dig a fox hole 5 foot deep at 55? Yeah not so much but still very useful. I mean the usefulness is only limited by your imagination. I really need to replace mine. Lost it awhile back. Off to the mil-surplus store tomorrow! The only real problem watching your channel is I see so much I want and the wife frowns on that! Oh well I have no other vices so.....Thanks for your info sir it is always a pleasure! Eastern AR has soft dirt here in the Ouachita's it is not soft. Might need to look at the german folding shovel. Ah southern air 85% liquid! Great video as always!
I keep mine under the back seat of the truck. I've used it with a snatch strap looped on the ball hitch, like a anchor. To pluck out some massive boulders in my field. I use it all the time at work, cleaning out mud pushing against tie rims or digging dirt to seat a jack, in a tight spot.. I've stuck it in the ground and dropped my drawers and balanced a check, to drop a load out in the field. My ground in Ohio is hard
I kept one of those shovels in my truck for years, so handy to have. A few times I’ve used it to dig out hard packed snow from under my truck after getting hung up, that’s when the hoe feature is great. Not sure how old mine is but it has a straight wood handle & a nut like the tri-fold you first showed & also has a pick hook. The canvas pouch has the belt clips (not Alice clips). Had it since I was a kid & I’m 60 now, it’s never let me down when I needed it.
Got the Bundeswehr shovel,& the U.S shovel. Modern and Ww2. Great kit. Good tips, thankyou,have used them on difficult construction, jobs in tricky woodland areas.
The saw teeth are meant for getting through roots. It is dull so that it doesnt require maintenance. The crappy blade side was usually used though. We never sharpened those either lol. I use the cold steel spetznaz shovel now. I keep it in my truck. Its served me well for digging a fire hole (and burying it), and digging tires out. Using this as a makeshift hatchet would ultimately cause it to fail. It would eventually bend it to where it wouldnt close. This one failure was why I went with the shovel I chose.
Ran up against that Red Clay in Virginia many times. In the heat and humidity or in the frozen winter. I am glad I am not a Cableguy anymore. Useful info thanks. :)
I have never found one of 'em "thangs" 'at would fit my hand worth a dang! Lots of good to know info about them "fanger pinchin' $@#@##!!s. Good job my friend!
I had an issue wood handle shovel in the Army for 20 years before a supply Sargent got me in a showdown. Hated the trifold for digging. Vehicles had a pick sledgehammer and d ring shovel and an ax so we always had tools. Have fun stay safe.
Good video. Yep I love my U S. Military shovel. My father gave me his . It's one of the pieces of gear that won't let me down . God bless. From Glenn CATT in Massachusetts.
Handy made handier. Just the 'camp stool' option decided which type to have for me. Neither style is worth a hoot for real digging compared to a full-sized shovel (which I've been known to carry when digging was in the plans) but that's not their purpose. Very little of my gear or tools remains as-bought; there's almost always room for improvement to better suit my needs and as you showed these can be made better in many ways.
Good information, Blackie. I use all of the tools you discussed and I think the USGI Ames brand entrenching tool is better made than the after market ones.
Hey Larry, the Ames company is from Ames Iowa, and as legend has it made shovels, picks, and axes for the union army during the "War of Northern Aggression" (I'm from Mississippi by the way), my pawpaw never called an Ames shovel anything but a "damnyankee" shovel, LOL!
Great coverage of shovels .. and the description of our dirt ,, just left of concrete , lol. They are expensive as all get out. But for a long hard core chopper shovel look into the cororna brand landscapers shovel. .. it’s a beast and will cut thru roots as big as your wrist with minimum effort ,, I have to constantly dig in rough areas repairing broken water lines ,, one of the best tools I have ever purchased
I had my first one, a wooden handled folder, from my dad when I was little. Carried that thing everywhere. Great idea on the hook/point. May try that myself -- I definitely sharpen mine, although my side edges are sharper than the front edges right now. I like using it with the head at a right angle, almost like a baling hook, to move logs, especially readjusting em in the fire-- sling the point into the end of a log, and drag it where you want it! And then, set the handle on the ground, and there's your one-legged stool ;)
Sitting here watching the segment on the trifold shovel where you put the bolt and wing nut through, made me wonder if one of those cam locking bolts used on a bicycle seat post would work there. Just a thought, keep up the videos I really enjoy them.
Great mods! I've had mine for over forty years and it is a great piece of gear! And it can be a life saver besides being a very versatile tool! Thanks Blackie! ATB Sam Adler from Vietnam
the part of ohio i'm in is clay city! one reason i prefer the straight handle pick spiked folding ones like your German one! never thought of taking the back part off the trifold and putting a straight handle on it i'll have to look at mine that damn spade handle makes it awkward as hell to swing for me! although i've seen those trifolds used as shore anchors too, it was folded over like for a hoe sunk into the bank and the boat tied off to it we didn't have enough rope to reach a tree big enough! the ones that were used as a skillet and broke it sounds like they were over hardened and got brittle! repeated heating will do that!
I have two surplus shovels with straight wood handles. They are excellent. One is in the car the other is in the truck. I don't plan on ever needing it but Its like a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
I have an entrenching tool that Ive had for many years and remember while in the Army, this tool had my back in many situations. They may seem a little bulky and heavy to some, but it sure beats using sticks or something else.
You weren't wrong about Ohio. 3 to 6 inches down and you hit a hard pan of clay. No matter what tool you have that's a pain in the a$$ to get through. My multi tool of choice is the Camillus Predator. Not a shovel by a long shot but it sure as heck digs into the ground like a pro. The only mod I did on that was some friction tape on the handle and a better edge. It's still part of my kit.
Hi Blackie, great tips, thanks! I bought one of those folding U.S. military shovels a few years ago. I also have a U.S. folding shovel with the straight wooden handle that I take camping with me a lot. Wish I could find one with a spike like your German shovel. I think those are very hard to find now. The dirt here in Michigan is quite hard, in my experience camping in the northern part of the state. 👍
Super useful in the winter up north in jersey to break up ice and shovel snow. I had a trifold shovel and the point that broke was the washer that kept the collet and shovel head in place so i added 2 thick washers from home depot and bought smal pack to replace the washers once they are too damaged to use anymore
back in my day we called the folding shovel an I pood because if you turn the handle 90 '0 gig the blade in the ground now the handle becomes a toilet seat
I loved my E-tool. I had 1 time where I ran off the road into a snow filled ditch. I got the front dug out by the time a friend helped pull me out. It has helped me with the stress of life by being there to dig fighting positions. I need to get a new E-tool. I lost mine in the last move.
I think adding a pick to the modern GI one sounds pretty good. It'd be better to angle it, if you can, to follow in that greater-than-90° arc the angled shovel head follows. The American triangle handle is made so you sit or kneel (one or both knees) and you grab the angled parts, one hand each side, when the shovel head is set at the [actually greater than] 90° angle. That way you're low, maybe hid while digging.
I've been looking for a shovel to carry. US folding shovel is sooo heavy I've been looking for an alternative. The Euro style is not as compact. I may just pick up both up and take that which suits the job. Thanks for the tips on the mods. Good advice.
i understand on the weight but also that is the power of the shovel if its too light it will not work well as a pick i like the german with the pick on it and it is double the weight of the other green one but when i swing with force it will bite deeper and make the job go faster
Sounds more like glacial till than silt. The silt I am familiar with here in Alaska is about the consistency of finely ground flour. When wet it makes treacherous muck ( and half way decent throwing clay) but can compact and harden into a concrete like substance.
Cold Steel went on sale, bought one of their shovels for $18. I’d never considered bringing one before but damn…once you do you think of a thousand uses! I have my Ames brand tri-fold from the 80’s when I was in the Army, I recently bought one of the new issue models with synthetic handle and steel head by Fiskars/Gerber and it’s really nice. BUT…after watching Corporals Corner, he had an Ames model from the 60’s, much like the German model you showed. I searched and searched…months…finally found one, cost me $95. Ames, 1965. It’s amazing, took it on a recent trip and yeah it weighs a ton but we had a project in mind. When the world ends this is the one you want! And I’m sorry, but anyone who cooks on their shovel I’m just going to make vicious fun of! If you don’t care about it I certainly don’t but anyone who thinks that isn’t totally screwing it up is not that skilled! Some cool ideas, great video.
🐺 Well I'll be . Shows how dumb I am I never knew that they made folding shovel for right or left hand person I have couple of them made by different company's I reckon when I get home tonight I'm going to check to see if there for left or right hand . I reckon that old saying you learn something new every day is true lol 🇺🇲🦅
lol nope they just sing it was around 5 pm sundown here is 8 pm that the song of the south in the summer only after 11pm will they quiet down a little bit
My name is Gary Parrish. I'm very sure you never met me. I've been watching in silence for a long time. I. Very happy to know it's the facts that matters.
The American triangle handle is made so you sit or kneel (one or both knees) and you grab the angled parts, one hand each side, when the shovel head is set at the [actually greater than] 90° angle. That way you're low, maybe hid while digging.
I never thought about shovel mods... now I realize I have to put one in my car for Canadian winter problems (once had to dig my car off a snow bank with a snow brush... not fun!)
Hey Blackie… I’ve wondered about the e-tools with the 45° locking position. Is there a way to mod the tool for this purpose? It seems to me that it would be beneficial to have the 0°/45°/90°/180° locking system with the pick bit folding e-tool. I’ve not been able to locate any of these, but I keep looking. Any thoughts? I love the mods that you presented here! Also, my e-tool rubber pouch has bit the dust! What would you suggest as a long term solution to replace it?
