I think I will grab one. One nice thing is that plastic can be easily modified for specific occasions...

Thanks!!

I carry an East German Army surplus folding shovel/pick in my camper, a US Army folding aluminum shovel on my backpack, and a miniature folding (chinese made) shovel in my dayhiking pack.

I carry folding ss hand trowels in my and DW's GHB's and in DW's BoB.

I was really impressed with the winner of Alone season 3's choice and use of his multi-purpose shovel. I think it had a saw blade on one edge of the blade and the opposite side of the blade was sharpened to be used as a machete. He was very practiced with that tool as well.

There are different occasions for digging.

For backpacking/dayhiking I'll dig a cathole with my fixed blade knife.

I carry a Glock folding shovel in my Jeep at a bare minimum.

I carry a plastic snow shovel in the same jeep for winter.

For digging out sprinkler heads I use a metal trowel and a fixed blade knife.

When I was digging out roots left behind when a cottonwood was removed from the yard I used a full sized long handled shovel.

Would like to play with a backhoe sometime but haven't had the chance.

When I was a little kid I liked to dig a big hole and see how deep I could go. When it was about 3 feet deep my Mom would pay me to fill it in. And some time later I'd start digging again. Boys and puppies....

Another vote for the cold steel special forces shovel. In fact I have on in my car and I have gifted them to my wife, my brother, my sister in law, my mother, and my step father to keep in their cars.

Basically, if I plan to dig something, I bring a real shovel. The cold steel is for that time you don't plan on getting high centered on a snow bank...

Can get Russian Titanium versions of the Cold Steel SF shovel if looking for a lighter option.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=467849

Ran across the above link discussing Russian vs. Cold Steel versions; one post mentioned some Rusky shovels have titanium blades. One intriguing post mentioned using a long shovel handle in place of the original shorty; when not digging, the long shovel handle would make a good walking stick - intriguing notion.....

I'm amused by all the "combat effective" claims of these various tools. Marketing for the tough guys among us, I guess.

Generally things that are designed exclusively to be weapons work tons better than things that can be used as some sort of weapon in a pinch. Generally you do better with a weapon you know how to fight with (i.e., skill acquired from prior training) than with something you get from the internet -- even if the Spetsnaz can take down a whole battalion with it. You don't have the Spetsnaz training for that tool. So I wonder how these people are able to make the pronouncement that the shovel makes for a good "melee weapon."

Many soldiers in World War 1 preferred a sharpened shovel as a trench fighting weapon.
The biggest advantage I can see is that it is NOT a weapon. I'd like something to clear thorns when camping and a machete is going to get me arrested in England.

Reminds me; anyone know of any truly thornproof gloves?
qjs

From wild land fire fighting experience, a sharpened shovel is quite useful and versatile at weed whacking. Since the shovel blade is probably not some exotic super steel, you may have to sharpen it often, but a shovel can do a nice job of clearing small brush....

No good thought on thorn proof gloves- not sure there are any, short of medieval armor.