The army shovel?

This is a question I have wondered about for some time....why do people use the army shovel over conventual shovels such as the Predator tools?
Is it because it's used as a hack or pick tool as well?
Don't see people using them up on the east coast much,is it a west coast or southern thing...
Curious....

There a tool for Hillbillys, us more refined detectorists use a spade and make nice neat holes lol

ghound Wrote:
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> There a tool for Hillbillys, us more refined
> detectorists use a spade and make nice neat holes
> lol


I knew someone could answer my question...lol
Guess us hillbilly's on the east coast haven't figured that out yet.....we're still using spades

Army shovel is so much easier to CHOP the earth ..go through roots penetrate hard earth less tiring alot lighter..Quick target retrieval..

I've turned alot of locals on to a Army shovel..Ive used on for 4 decades I know..since the mid 80s..

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2016 07:33PM by Keith Southern.

Using the shovel like a pick,,,,makes digging easier in so e soil. One hand operation as well.
Around grass roots,,,easier to dig as well.

Short length is handy too.

NT

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2016 07:30PM by Keith Southern.

Keith,

Is there a better quality army shovel...or are they all about the same?


Keith Southern Wrote:
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> Army shovel is so much easier to CHOP the earth
> ..go through roots penetrate hard earth less
> tiring alot lighter..Quick target retrieval..
>
> I've turned alot of locals on to a Army
> shovel..Ive used on for 4 decades I know..since
> the mid 80s..
>
> Keith

The best is a woods or ames from WW2, can get on ebay for around 35.00 give or take. sometimes people miss labeled what they have and you can get them cheaper.Another good one is the Ames from 1966 with the pick. I use to buy ever one i could get fix them up repaint and sell them to people that dont like going on Ebay.
All i have every used, the way the handle is made it just fits your hand when digging one handed,

The genuine US army shovel is dated on the blade. The Chinese copies are crap. Look for those dated during WWII. As a West Coast hunter for over forty years, I think its a southern thing. Very few hunters use them out west. The ground is usually too hard.

Thanks Potomac

This eastern hillbilly may have to look into acquiring one....always up for something new..


Potomac run Wrote:
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> The best is a woods or ames from WW2, can get on
> ebay for around 35.00 give or take. sometimes
> people miss labeled what they have and you can
> get them cheaper.Another good one is the Ames from
> 1966 with the pick. I use to buy ever one i could
> get fix them up repaint and sell them to people
> that dont like going on Ebay.
> All i have every used, the way the handle is made
> it just fits your hand when digging one handed,

you get what you pay for..

Get a Ames or woods M-1943 model with screw locking collar.

stay away from the German copies from the 1960s and so on..they had push button locking mechanism for different angles...

You want the true screw collar ones for WW2...they were made by sword manufacturers and have oak handles...cant break the handles the grain is of the old growth trees available back then very tight grain. and the blades are of a tempered almost spring steel...they will last a good 7 years of hard digging..I hardly ever break one I just eventually wear the blade down to a 4 inch long nub after thousands of digs holes..

use to buy them for 10.00 bucks a piece..I bought a couple hundred dollars worth last time I saw them at 10.00 a piece...

now there pretty high the Military collectors want them for there display cases..there getting close to 75 years old now..I have a 43 dated one somewhere.most of surplus ones will be 44/45....



Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2016 08:12PM by Keith Southern.

Trust me = where Keith lives (and many others here) with the same/similar type of soil and terrain (mountainous)

they are far better off using army/trench type shovels

the 1st time I went hunting down south with Keith in the Georgia mountains = I took my predator shovel and it was a joke to use in that type of soil/on that type of terrain!

They (army/trench type shovels - or even pick type) work very good when you're on the incline of a hill/mountain where the ground is on a slope in front of you like as if you were walking on a roof = much faster/easier to dig than trying to use a long/er handle spade type shovel. Like he said too = they chop thru that type of soil much faster/easier than trying to "dig" in it like as if you're on flat ground/easy diggin soil.

Ahhhhhhhh.....now I understand...dry rocky soil,should of guessed it.
Here on the east coast we have flat areas with dark damp soil and a clay mix...also rocky in places but a shovel is the norm here.
I can see the pro's to having a army shovel when digging in the mountain areas on a incline...hummm.
Good points Michigan....


MichiganRelicHunter Wrote:
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> Trust me = where Keith lives (and many others
> here) with the same/similar type of soil and
> terrain (mountainous)
>
> they are far better off using army/trench type
> shovels
>
> the 1st time I went hunting down south with Keith
> in the Georgia mountains = I took my predator
> shovel and it was a joke to use in that type of
> soil/on that type of terrain!
>
> They (army/trench type shovels - or even pick
> type) work very good when you're on the incline of
> a hill/mountain where the ground is on a slope in
> front of you like as if you were walking on a roof
> = much faster/easier to dig than trying to use a
> long/er handle spade type shovel. Like he said too
> = they chop thru that type of soil much
> faster/easier than trying to "dig" in it like as
> if you're on flat ground/easy diggin soil.

I have one with pick i will sell, it is a little heaver but pick does come in handy

And i just got one on ebay to fix up and clean for 25.00 Dam this topic cost me money, LOL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2016 10:21PM by Potomac run.

While I don't use it detecting, I think the Glock shovel is the best fold-up I have seen. I destroyed milsrurp US and Brit shovels as a kid fwiw.

The Vicksburg/Port Gibson area has a layer of loess soil,wind blown from the glacial flour that was deposited in the lower Mississippi River valley, 20-50ft. thick that can be cut easily with any type blade.The army shovel with the blade rotated 90 degrees ,razor sharp,allows one to slice away the soil and determine detector sounds at exact depths for various targets.The rotated blade then easily spreads the dirt back into the hole and another swipe puts leaves,etc. over the fresh dirt.
My out west digger is also army issue,solid forged head,2/1-2" wide blade and 7" pick on opposite end---mine are dated 43-44--brand new with real oak handles. I have all the 'got to have" newbie diggers,but use only my GI stuff and it may be "a Southern thing"----which ain't bad either.

I use the best of both worlds. A Predator folding shovel....basically the Army shovel that has been over hauled to Predator standards. George doesn't make them anymore that I am aware of but I have only had two for nearly 20 years. The only reason I replaced the first one was the blade was wore down to a nub.

Used one since 1979. Recently bought a Lesche spade, getting too old to get up and down. Much easier on the knees imho. Finally got rain in NW Georgia and easier digging all together.

Barry

Daniel Tn Wrote:
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> I use the best of both worlds. A Predator folding
> shovel....basically the Army shovel that has been
> over hauled to Predator standards. George doesn't
> make them anymore that I am aware of but I have
> only had two for nearly 20 years. The only reason
> I replaced the first one was the blade was wore
> down to a nub.

I got one last year on Ebay, has the long handle with the nob on it, It is heavy but built like a tank. i think my army shovel cuts roots way better, I keep it sharp , touch it up with a file after a couple hunts.

I bought the "Army Shovel" made by Predator tools after talking to George Lesche in person about how well built they were and the fact that he said he was going to quit making them. It is a lifetime tool that has many other uses besides detecting.

A 1945 entrenching tool with the wood is hard to beat. relic hunters have been using them for 40+ years, and why?Because it just works better. In gullies,thickets,hill sides it pays to be able to holster your shovel and use that free hand elsewhere instead of carrying a long shovel. I've used my freehand or left hand to grab trees,roots,shrub for hanging on the side of steep hills. For a trash pits,hut sites where you hunker down or open areas like fields a full shovel will do. I can usually check weak signals by cocking the entrenching shovel and skinning a couple inches off the top of a signal allowing me a better reading. Thats harder to do with a straight shovel.

I use one also. It was a hand me down from an uncle. The handle for me, was too short so I put a longer T handle on it. It will dig a beautiful plug as well. I do yards, woods and cellar holes with it. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Oh, and I also love on the east coast!

Whimpster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is a question I have wondered about for some
> time....why do people use the army shovel over con
> ventual shovels such as the Predator tools?
> Is it because it's used as a hack or pick tool as
> well?
> Don't see people using them up on the east coast m
> uch,is it a west coast or southern thing...
> Curious....

In Virginia we call them Buckle Beaters. I tore up my first SNY belt plate using one!

If my soil was as hard as some I've seen.... and jumping on the shovel sank it only a half inch....I'd be swinging one of those folders too.
Hilti, Milwaukee and a couple others make a fine battery powered small jackmammer/hammer drill with a shovel bit.....works great.

I have 2 of the 1945's. One is the usual stock width and I put serrations on one edge for root cutting and skinning back. The other one is modded and I trimmed 1" off the edges and narrowed it,serrated it and it works great on yard and plugs. The stock one I use for relic hunting.

ozzie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If my soil was as hard as some I've seen.... and j
> umping on the shovel sank it only a half inch....I
> 'd be swinging one of those folders too.
> Hilti, Milwaukee and a couple others make a fine b
> attery powered small jackmammer/hammer drill with
> a shovel bit.....works great.


LoL

I have/use a Bosch chisel hammer Ozzman (disclaimer) only for stucco repair work!

Be a good tool in some soils though

MRH, Bosch makes nice sturdy power tools, I use quite a few. My oldest and still running is a Bosch Bulldog hammer drill almost 25 years old.

The top soil around here isn't like Keith S's soil. For the most part, not including rocky soil, we can step on the shovel and it will sink in. We don't need to hack at it to move it.

Watching Keith's videos,.. he's good with that thing. BAHM!! HACK!! slice and dice..and there is the prize.

Some ground around here, the e-tool is the only thing you can dig in it with. A Lesche or Predator style digging tool just can't handle the big roots and rocks. For some reason the fields here are not bad with rocks or roots but the woods and ridges are. I keep an e-tool in the back of the truck just in case. And yes, I have hacked stuff into with them. Bobby B just did a video on pinpointing and digging techniques with a detector, and used a picture of one of my Civil War breastplates as his thumbnail for the video. The 2nd plate I ever dug, I took out a chunk out of the top of it with my e-tool. I tend to get a little sloppy when I am swinging it one handed...one wrong move and SPLAT.

you know the steel is good when an angle grinder wont hardly make an impression .some are rubbish steel some are top quality steel