Alpo Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 Leave us say that you wish to carry a small shovel in your gear. Not necessarily in your pack. But in the trunk of your car maybe. Just in case. Would you rather have a one-piece shovel, or a folding e-tool like they used pre Vietnam, or the trifold e-tool they use now? We have here the one piece. Then the one piece with some full size tools for scale, so you can see how small the one piece is. Or maybe a one piece with a square blade instead of a round one. Then we have the old military e-tool. And the current military e-tool. Now obviously the trifold takes up the least amount of room. But which type would you prefer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Joker Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 Old e tool allows 90' hoe action. Also a better blade to sharpen one edge as an axe. I like the old e tool 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 WWII version in the back of the car. Can't recall who, but someone got a big medal for combat usage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 16 minutes ago, Alpo said: Leave us say that you wish to carry a small shovel in your gear. We have here the one piece. Then we have the old military e-tool. But which type would you prefer? My wife carries the small shovel in her Durango, while I carry the M 1951 E tool in my Jeep. Additionally, I carry the M 1910 Mattock in the Jeep' When stowed, they both easily fit in a 20mm ammo can. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 (edited) 1 hour ago, Texas Joker said: Old e tool allows 90' hoe action. Also a better blade to sharpen one edge as an axe. I like the old e tool Been carrying one since I found it by a cold campfire up in the Wind River Mountains when I was about ten tears old. Dad went down the the war surplus store (they still sold real military surplus in those days) when we got back and bought one for Mom's car and another for himself. "Keep the one you found for when you grow into the one you found" he told me. I did. Handier than any other I've found and a lot less likely to break. Edited October 22 by Forty Rod SASS 3935 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted October 22 Author Share Posted October 22 Friend of mine called me up one night. Asked if my Bronco was four wheel drive. Yes, why? He was stuck. Where? On the beach. Buried a full size Dodge pickup up to the frame in the sand. I put all my straps and all my chains in the back of the truck, and two 2 foot long two by sixes, and added a full size - 5 foot long handle - square bladed shovel. When I get out there he is trying to dig his truck out with a trifold e-tool and the screw jack that came from the factory. Now his trifold shovel and his little bitty screw jack didn't take up much room in his truck. Unlike my 5-foot long shovel and my 4-foot long high lift jack. But my stuff got him out of the hole. By the by. Another piece of helpful advice. You ever tried to jack up your car or your truck when you're not on the driveway? When you were in the dirt, or the sand, or even better in the mud? When the weight gets on the jack, instead of the car going up, the jack goes down. Go down to Home Depot and look in their scrap section. You're looking for a 2-foot square piece of plywood. One inch is preferable, but if they don't have that get a couple of half inch. Glue those two together. Now when you need to jack up your truck, you put that piece of wood on the ground and put your jack on it. And amazingly, the truck goes up, and the jack does not go down. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 10 minutes ago, Alpo said: Go down to Home Depot and look in their scrap section. You're looking for a 2-foot square piece of plywood. One inch is preferable, but if they don't have that get a couple of half inch. Glue those two together. Now when you need to jack up your truck, you put that piece of wood on the ground and put your jack on it. And amazingly, the truck goes up, and the jack does not go down. Not surprisingly, a piece of plywood fits in the same 20mm ammo can as the tools. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 Many here, carry a small aluminum shovel in winter, a bag of grit a blanket and some candles and matches. Nothing like getting stuck, even on the highway, when it's -20 or -30 and running out of gas. City dwellers sometimes fail to recognize the potential risks of winter driving. A chemical salesman, from Montreal, once called on me, in my Ottawa office, in January, wearing a raincoat and toe-rubbers on his shoes, As snowy and cold as it was, I asked him about his choice of winter wear. He responded that he lived in an apartment and parked his car in a heated underground garage. His only exposure to the elements was getting out of his car and going into his clients offices from their parking lots. Coming from Alberta with a good grasp of the dangers of on the road winter driving, I spent some time advising him what he should carry for potential emergencies, knowing he sold his companies chemical product to the pulp and paper industry north of Ottawa. I knew he had to drive by a sporting goods store I often haunted shopped at and suggested he should pick up a few things for winter car travel in the boonies. He called a week later and thanked me. He had run into a major blizzard north of Ottawa and and was stuck on the road, out of gas after the first night. Fortunately, he had stopped and purchased a down filled mummy bag, a Ski-Doo suit and boots along with some protein bars. It took two more days for the plows and blowers to reach where he was stranded between Kapuskasing and Geraldton, Ontario. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 I keep a Gerber E-tool in my Miata. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassnetguy50 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 2ft, round nose, hardwood, D handle shovel. Snow is the reason for a shovel in the trunk of a car here. Round nose to break the crust, hardwood won't instantly freeze to your hand like metal, D handle provides more control, short is more maneuverable near the car. @Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 do you keep crackers or similar in addition to the protein bars? Something you can much on without thawing it in your pocket first? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 49 minutes ago, Pat Riot said: I keep a Gerber E-tool in my Miata. When I was in Boot Camp, they issued me one of those. I hated it from the start. It's lighter and more compact than it's predecessor, it doesn't have the pick, and it's twice as much work to get the same job done because you can't get as good a grip on the handle. I'll stick to the 1951 version. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 (edited) On 10/22/2024 at 1:49 PM, sassnetguy50 said: 2ft, round nose, hardwood, D handle shovel. Snow is the reason for a shovel in the trunk of a car here. Round nose to break the crust, hardwood won't instantly freeze to your hand like metal, D handle provides more control, short is more maneuverable near the car. @Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 do you keep crackers or similar in addition to the protein bars? Something you can much on without thawing it in your pocket first? These days, I/we* just have some Granola bars in the glove box, a three wick candle with a lid, some some wooden, strike anywhere matches. Never a butane cigarette or BBQ type lighter. Experience with them in cold weather is very poor. Warm, they work. Cold no ignition. If I was highway travelling outside the metro area, I would have a thermal blanket, a mess kit, tea etc. Best of all, I would be watching the weather network and staying home if things looked "Iffy" * Clarification: Not a pronoun choice, but the "we" refers to my son, AKA Big Red. Edited October 24 by Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 4 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said: Yep...this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 I have been thinking of carrying one of this type of small shovel for "stuck-in-the-mud" situations ...... .......... snow don't happen here 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 Glock has a great one https://www.amazon.com/Glock-Entrenching-Tool-Saw-Pouch/dp/B000KOOUOS 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 I have one from cold steel in my truck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 2 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said: When I was in Boot Camp, they issued me one of those. I hated it from the start. It's lighter and more compact than it's predecessor, it doesn't have the pick, and it's twice as much work to get the same job done because you can't get as good a grip on the handle. I'll stick to the 1951 version. I only have it because it’s very compact. I used it once for getting snow out from under a high centered car (not mine). It was good enough for that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 3 hours ago, Pat Riot said: I keep a Gerber E-tool in my Miata. You can probably get the whole Miata out in a single scoop with that. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 Just now, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said: You can probably get the whole Miata out in a single scoop with that. Nope…Two scoops 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted October 22 Author Share Posted October 22 Chocolate or vanilla? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stump Water Posted October 22 Share Posted October 22 9 hours ago, Alpo said: We have here the one piece. That one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeaconKC Posted October 23 Share Posted October 23 1951 model here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watab kid Posted October 23 Share Posted October 23 that fourth version is what is in my truck , i have another in the camping equipment as well , if needed it works , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Bascomb, SASS # 47,494 Posted October 23 Share Posted October 23 I've sold all the variations shown above, and more. My preference is the 1951 model, and thankfully kept a few for my vehicles before they became nearly unobtainable. IF they can be found now, the genuine USGI 1951 is WHOLESALING in the $30 range. Then there is the freight. In our area the joke is "FWD just insures you'll get stuck further away from pavement". I sell a lot of shovels of all types, usually AFTER someone experiences the need for one. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted October 23 Share Posted October 23 I used to drive from Kansas City to the Colorado Rockies and back every year to ski. I addition to stuff to stay warm, I always traveled with a full size snow shovel like this. Western Kansas can be as treacherous as the mountains! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted October 23 Share Posted October 23 Carried a #9 scoop shovel in the bed of the truck during Missouri winters when I was in high school.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted October 23 Share Posted October 23 On 10/22/2024 at 9:58 AM, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said: I prefer this style for camping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted October 23 Share Posted October 23 1 hour ago, Sedalia Dave said: I prefer this style for camping. One reason I liked this one was that the Medium sized ALICE Pack had a space behind the middle pouch to stow it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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