Post up your favorite digging tool !!

Mine would have to be the George Leach folder .. then the 1944 Ames , last the Ames 1966 with pick, this one i just re painted .

No Pic. Most know what the Sampson digger looks like.

Always go with the 44' Ames or 45' Wood's..


Keith

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

I use the Low's Kobar long shovel. Guaranteed for life and very sturdy. Too difficult for me to use the standard e-tool for digging trash pits and huts.

Lesche hut digging shovel for when I use the GPX.
[northgeorgiarelics.com]

Lesche Sampson for other digging. It has a small blade/head and I can do plugs with it better than most can with a trowel or hand digger.
[northgeorgiarelics.com]

urban detecting only here, use a hori-hori tool with sheath in my pocket covered by shirt, discretion eh.

“Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action.”

William Shakespeare

Any place I hunt using the posters diggers would soon be asked to leave...Must hunt in isolated areas.
In any case still use my 3 in 1 knife with wooden handle which is over 20 years old and an inch shorter from sharpening..not made anymore....

Rick Savage Edition back hoe...lol

I just bought a ledge relic shovel,,,I may be modifying to though with some cutting and grinding--- had too wide a jaw I think.
And definitely a filed only shove,,,around rocks and roots-- makes a person helpless.

In my loamy/sandy sometimes black dirt, sometimes a bit of clay but relatively easy digging dirt all around = I use one of George Lesche's predator shovels

taken from his website = this exact one

MichiganRelicHunter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In my loamy/sandy sometimes black dirt, sometimes
> a bit of clay but relatively easy digging dirt all
> around = I use one of George Lesche's predator
> shovels
>
> taken from his website = this exact one
>
>
> [i461.photobucket.com]
> sures/Piranha3_2048x2048_zpsr0c2prw5.jpg


That's what I need exactly around here,,,especially when digging a little deeper.

Personally I don't think you can beat this:

Lesch Sampson with ball end. The ball end will tamp the soil down so the plug will go back in and it doesn't snag on the handle like the T-handle.

------------"Cz's still bad to the bone".------------
Living on a big ass Astroid.
The woman that got my rib,I want it back.

I use an A.M. Leonard soil knife. The blade will not rust and comes with a sturdy leather sheath. The newer knives I don't like so much...too sharp on the serrated edge and I cut myself several times. The original knives were better and did not have the deep serrations or sharpness to them. The new design you can file it a little or just use it a lot and it will dull enough so you don't have to worry.

44 Ames--been using since 72 only about 2/3 left. If I could only do it all over .

I use 3 depending on the density and the rocks in the soil.

A custom 42" wood shaft, 'd' handle, 6"x8" sharpened spade shovel for slicing thru easy clay turf.

The Relic shovel with steel shaft for shallow digs, "t" handle.

And the Raven that has a big step for tougher, rocky soil, t handle. The last 2 are Predator tools, memory serves me.

Like supertraq, instead of the ball handle for tamping, the "T" handle also tamps the plug well and I drag my shovel, so the "T" handle stays between my fingers.

And of course, the hand digger from Ace Hardware,,,,stainless blade, very sharp serrated root cutter (will cut you bad) with inch markings, blue plastic handle and I have never broke one with all the prying.....and,... only 11 bucks.

Potomac run Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mine would have to be the George Leach folder ..
> then the 1944 Ames , last the Ames 1966 with
> pick, this one i just re painted .
>
> [i417.photobucket.com]
> bile%20Uploads/image_zpsqyy3heqz.jpeg
>
> [i417.photobucket.com]
> bile%20Uploads/image_zps3s75bis0.jpeg
>
> [i417.photobucket.com]
> bile%20Uploads/image_zpsimyjr4fg.jpeg
>
> [i417.photobucket.com]
> bile%20Uploads/image_zps83xnjf1p.jpeg


hope ya don't dig in parks with those!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

Been hunting the yards of old homes for most of my detecting career, with some ghost towns, mining towns, ski resorts, and other places tossed in for good measure.

For lawns, if I am using my CZ which pinpoints very precisely, I will use my Hole Hog. If I am using my e-trac and the DD coil, I will use a 4" long, wide blade hunting knife. If going from house to house looking for permission, I used a lesche digger/trowel so I don't look like I'm carrying a big mean and dangerous knife.

My favorite tool that is always with me is an old Coin Popper, a 12" long, lazy-S shafted probe with a slightly spooned tip that has been the perfect coin recovery tool. Wish they still made them. I made a custom nylon grip for mine that fits perfectly in the palm.

I've not spent much time relic hunting like many of you and haven't acquired any long handled specialty shovels mostly because I would get booted off most private yards if I wielded a shovel of any sort.

Gonebeepin'

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Just one more good target before I go.