Tim Ralston's "Crovel" Tool

[meef]

Yep, the guy shot himself in the thumb. That pretty much negates me getting one of these things.

There's also the possibility that he may have had premarital sex at some time in his life.



Whoa!

That cinches it. I'm definitely not getting one!

 

[RX-178]

As an aside, those Chinese e-tools have hit the US market. To offer another point of comparison between the e-tools.

http://www.greenbeetlegear.com/chinese-military-shovel-wjq-308/

 

[ArfinGreebly]

As an aside, those Chinese e-tools have hit the US market. To offer another point of comparison between the e-tools.

http://www.greenbeetlegear.com/chinese-military-shovel-wjq-308/

Ahhh! That's the Chinese shovel video I mentioned earlier. Direct YouTube link here.

Yeah, that's a pretty serious piece of work. I notice that the saw edge gets used not only on wood but also on metal and plastic, as though it's kind of a combo hacksaw toothed deal.

Stout little bugger. Also note that it, too, is five pounds, so not the lightest thing out there.

Somebody at Wenger & Victorinox should take a whack at military shovel design.

I like Glock's special purpose saw blade, made of steel specifically hardened with that application in mind. I like the Crovel's pry bar tail (on the Tactical model). I like the multiple angle settings on the Chinese shovel. (Their "can opener" is kinda lame, but hey, in a pinch . . .) The sharpened knife/hatchet edge on the Chinese piece seems to have been really well sharpened, and I have to wonder if they dressed one especially for that segment of the video.

Their price point is better.

Still . . . I'd love to see the Swiss tackle the problem.

And John & Sam, once John gets back from vacation.

 

[hso]

You'd have to select a steel that would permit a differential treatment (main body of the blade has to be tough) without getting so hard that the edges chip easily, or so hard that special equipment is required to maintain an edge in the field.

It can't be done in a practical way. The hardened edge wouldn't last long being used as the side of a shovel digging and hacking at the ground since the hard edge for the saw would be chipped and broken quickly. OTOH, a saw in the handle isn't an awful idea since it wouldn't be subjected to the abuse of the shovel blade.

Somebody at Wenger & Victorinox should take a whack at military shovel design.

They won't.

How long after locking blades were popular did it take them to produce their first locking blade? How many other models with locking blades have they produced since the first?

 

[RX-178]

I'm planning on getting one or both of these tools (Crovel and Chinese WJQ-308). If/when I do I'll put a side-by-side review on my show.

Might not be anytime particularly soon though.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Practical Imperatives

It's a sad thing to entangle the imagination with practical concerns.

Somebody at Wenger & Victorinox should take a whack at military shovel design.

They won't.

Yeah, the Swiss will probably never do it.

I've never really paid much attention to multi-use shovels. In the last few days I've had a chance to glance at SOG, Gerber, Glock, Marbles, Cold Steel, some others I've forgotten, and that Chinese thing.

The more I look at these combo gizmos, the more I am inclined to look for a stout shovel that's good at being a shovel and maybe a hoe, and find a reasonably lightweight companion tool that does hatchet and/or saw duty.

I'd be okay with the saw-in-the-handle type thing (Glock), but I've watched some demos of guys chopping with the shovel, and I've concluded that shovel chopping is a fallback position from your fallback position. Even a crap machete outperforms them. A modest hatchet definitely outperforms them. After seeing one video where a guy wearing a large Bowie knife demonstrated chopping down a sapling with the shovel, I just wanted to reach through the screen and smack him. Dude! Just use the big knife!

I really want the combo tool idea to work, but the more I see, the less confidence I have in it. I get the concept of "expedient" tools, but I'd really prefer to achieve a quality level better than "half assedness."

I like the fundamental shovel + crowbar idea, even though I understand that those two tools are from disparate domains, and the fusion isn't going to be clean.

My inner geek yearns for the "do it all" tool, and the inner engineer protests that we should "use the right tool for the job."

I don't want to carry 20 lbs of tools. Hell, I don't really want to carry 10 lbs. Every pound of tools is a pound less of other payload.

Under all but the most extraordinary circumstances, I will have a good knife, and probably more than one. So I don't worry about that. I need to find a hatchet that's lighter than the Estwing (maybe the Canadian Trail Blazer or Fiskars X7 for that) or a decent bolo or khukri to stand in for it. (And of course, a decent khukri is gonna weigh a pound and a half or two all by itself.)

Anyway . . . I'm rambling.

It's late, I'm tired. I'll come back in the morning and see if I made any sense.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I got one of these German shovels its tough as nails

I keep one of these in my truck. It's built very well. I'll take it any day over the gimmick in the OP.