I dig shovels. Both as an archaeologist and as a wildlands firefighter, I have come to appreciate this common tool. Any vehicle I drive will always have one and I have a full assortment of different sizes around the house.

A sharp edge really makes a difference,even digging just plain dirt. Keep a small file handy.

just as a quick second thought this AM..i saw a bit on TV about Russian forest--read Taga- fire fighters.they went into remote places by aircraft and to save weight just took the spade part of the shovel and cut a handle on the spot.they were mostly digging fire lines in peat type soil as far as i could see.

When I Googled military shovels, I came up with this site that has quite a variety of military folding shovels:

http://www.fatiguesarmynavy.com/store/subcat/225/Military_Surplus_Shovels

+1 on the Cold Steel shovels. I have one in each of our vehicles.

I have my old army E tool in my jeep at all times. During the winter I throw in a collapsible avalanche shovel from Bolle. Compact, and moves snow quite nicely. The E tool is, well, built like a tank.

I say I've got one in the back of my truck- it is, IMHO, the best thing in Cold Steel's product line, and has been for a couple years.

However, I do carry real shovels when I can. For years I carried a cut down shovel in my trunk, and I had a grain scoop-type snow shovel that I cut down and remounted the D-handle on for camping. Right now in the truck I also have a square-tipped, straight sided spade- it works better for getting under the truck for digging out in winter.

Never had personal experiance with the cold steel shovel but have a friend who loves his.
For in the truck( behind the seat or in a tool box) the Max Ax is good. Check it out if you are not familiar with it.

http://www.maxax.com

While I quite enjoy my Cold Steel shovels, they do have their limits.

I would hasten to add that my car has a long-handled spade in the trunk all spring/summer/fall (for fighting grass fires and 'liberating' small pine trees under power lines), and a real snow shovel all winter.

FWIW, since the forum's search function didn't turn up the old CS shovel reviews, I went straight to Google. Google never sleeps, Google never forgets. (Yikes.) Here are the links:
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=130568
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=130591
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=132166

I have ordered a CS Shovel a couple of times from Lebaron's Outdoor Store in Canada but they are always out-of-stock. It looks like a quality, multi-purpose item, I will buy one some day.

I keep a long handled round mouth shovel in my vehicles and also a full size snow shovel in the winter months. I once tried to punch through a drift in a remote location and ended up with all 4 wheels of the truck off the ground on top of the drift. I called for help (Sat. phone) but it would take 3 hours for it to arrive. So I used the long handled shovel and a large plastic snow scoop to remove the snow under/around the truck. By the time help arrived the tires were back on the road and we just used the tow to ensure that I did not slide off the road onto the adjacent lake.

Winter adventures are about to begin again!

Mike

/aside/

Yep, here we go. The sky's colours have gone pastel, and my DW complains that she drives to work in the dark and comes home in the dark. (She's a skilled and conscientious teacher, puts in insane hours, 11 hour day today, deals with fruitcake parents, bureaucratic BS, weekend obligations too.) Anyway, time to mothball the lawn mower, service the snowblower, and check that the winter tires-on-rims are holding air.

/back to the thread/