I have the exact same shovel and i bought it back in 2012. I have beat the crap out of it and its still going strong. Its a shame you got one with a defect in the wood cuz its a great shovel with lots of uses. I hope you decided to keep it and just replace the handle cuz the actual steel part is very durable.
I can see you clearly has zero knowledge with PLA, first of all this shovel is made by a private company in yiwu China around 2000s and never actually been introduced or tested by military and it has zero connection with military those uniform soldiers in their advertising video were wearing type 87 camouflage which is already been replaced by that time means they are not soldiers. And J20 fighter jet is rip off f35? That’s biggest joke I heard. J20 is a double engine heavy fighter and f35 is a single engine multi task support jet, their roles in combat aren’t even the same. J20 is a canard wing structure which is completely different from f35 or f22. I guess you mean j31, j31 is often criticized as f35 rip off even in China. Do a little research before talking bs. Last Chinese soldiers are clearly not as well equipped as us soldiers, us has 750 billion dollars defense budget while China has 237 billion dollars defense budget and 200million active duty soldiers. It’s clear that us soldiers have better equipment. But body armor is standard issue in PLA, if you look at China UN peace keeping force in Africa they all get heavy body armor and most of are not even in actual war zone.
Just from looking at taobao the factory 6411 is responsible for making the military shovel and their most common model is a knockoff of the USGI E-Tool which may or may not include a pickaxe end. But I did find that same factory makes an upddated version of the famous "Chinese multifunction shovel" with a retracting grip. I intend on purchasing one.
Says 'Pla soldiers don't wear body armour' While showing a picture of a PLA soldier in body armour. Says they don't have sights on their rifles, had previously shown a QBZ rifle with a eotech-type optic on it. I don't think you know much about the PLA. Also who cares if the US army is paying $20,000 and the PLA is paying £1,500? The US army clearly pays more as the same items would cost more than double to buy in the US. It seems like you have an axe to grind with the PLA. Also the wood broke (which yes is a bad thing) But the wooden handle can easily be replaced (even though that shouldn't happen on a product in this price category) so i don't think you can pass the whole thing off as junk, i've been thinking of getting one of these (hence why i'm watching reviews) because i saw the video years ago when it first went viral, and have been picking up a lot of the surplus/bushcraft gear i wanted when i was a teen recently. From what i've read, some people have had problems with the handles but the metal parts are of high quality and the lockup remains solid. Seems like a quality tool which packs in a lot of functions without adding a lot of extra bulk, and without compromising it's function as a shovel, but it could do with using a better wood for the handle, or even a glass reinforced polymer or something like that. I still don't know if i want to pay the £60 (which is what these are in the UK) as i can get a Glock E-Tool for £45, one of the other E-tools i want to pick up (I collect e-tools, other than a knife they are the tool i use the most when out in the woods.) And i know the Glock is going to be reliable, and while it doesn't pack the wire cutter or axe edge (Which i think are the best of the functions) it does pack a much better saw, and i tend to use saws a lot more than chopping implements.) Either way i tend to take a small gransfors bruks hatchet when on foot, and will take my hultafors trekking axe if i know i'm gonna be cutting a lot of wood, so i would have a chopper anyway. Being in the UK, you can get into bother if your taking kit which is too serious on something like a dayhike. Which is when a e-tool with chopping capabilities comes in handy.
QC on items made for public sale like this shovel are not an indication of Chinese military equipment. I owned a Norinco Type 97 for awhile (the semi auto civilian Type 95 in 5.56 NATO) and experienced no gas issues at all. The controls were awkward but the rifle was accurate and reliable. The Israeli TAR 21 does fart in your face and takes some getting used to. Also the price of equipping an American soldier is inflated by bureaucracy and buddy contracts because milspec is literally the lowest acceptable grade by the lowest bidder.
It's true that comparing the price of Chinese made goods to US manufacturered stuff is apples or oranges, due to Purchasing Power Parity. However, the vast differences in force multiplier type equipment like body armor and radios mean it's probably not just a trick of the exchange rate. However, I didn't discuss it much in the video, but the PLA spends almost as much time teaching soldiers CCP doctrine as they do on combat skills. So China's military serves the domestic purpose of creating loyal, obedient citizens as much as creating a combat force.
Type 97 has a bad reputation in Chinese media too but I asked lots of veterans who actually served most of them said it’s a pretty good rifle except for the position of safety is weird. I got really confused.
You forget the fact that at the beginning of this video, you specifically said "China never fully adopted it" Meaning it was never officially adopted. As you have clearly shown. There is a consistency issue with the wood handle for heavy uses such as axe cutting. Correlating the quality of a FAIL TO PASS ADOPTION can only say that China's military does HAVE STANDARDS. It will not say anything what meets their standards as compared to other first world powers.
Mine has a long, thin spike stored in the handle. I have heard it called a mine locator (as in anti-personnel mines. I think it would make a good ice pick.
I can see you clearly has zero knowledge with PLA, first of all this shovel is made by a private company in yiwu China around 2000s and never actually been introduced or tested by military and it has zero connection with military those uniform soldiers in their advertising video were wearing type 87 camouflage which is already been replaced by that time means they are not soldiers. And J20 fighter jet is rip off f35? That’s biggest joke I heard. J20 is a double engine heavy fighter and f35 is a single engine multi task support jet, their roles in combat aren’t even the same. J20 is a canard wing structure which is completely different from f35 or f22. I guess you mean j31, j31 is often criticized as f35 rip off even in China. Do a little research before talking bs. Last Chinese soldiers are clearly not as well equipped as us soldiers, us has 750 billion dollars defense budget while China has 237 billion dollars defense budget and 200million active duty soldiers. It’s clear that us soldiers have better equipment. But body armor is standard issue in PLA, if you look at China UN peace keeping force in Africa they all get heavy body armor and most of are not even in actual war zone.
