I carry the standard folding entrenching tool to dig in camp. Piper San found, somewhere, a half-sized version of it. It digs as well as the full sized on in softer soils, and OK in harder soils, but not as good as the real thing. BUT - it is lighter. What are you guys using, and where do you get them from?
Digging Tools
- Thread starter Kayak Jack
- Start date
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Once upon a time I dug holes with shaped charges. You can dig a shallow well with a 45 pounder.
Bob
Bob
Wannabe, I've camped with Jack. He digs the hole and then puts the shaped charge in it. We had to hide out from the EPA for three days on Lake Verrett. He kept the armadillos away, they aren't digging on that side of the lake yet.
My little folding shovel cost about six bucks at Harbor Freight. Was worth about three bucks. I'm looking for a new shovel myself.
piper
My little folding shovel cost about six bucks at Harbor Freight. Was worth about three bucks. I'm looking for a new shovel myself.
piper
Harbor freight up here has post holes for sale:
4" wide 6" deep $4.75/3 pack.
6" wide X 10" deep $7.00/3 pack
etc.
No, seriously, is there something out there superior to an entrenching tool? It's a proven tool, but heavy. I've tried various trowels and bent or broken every one. An entrenching tool also works for driving in tent pegs and cutting through roots - not easily, but they do it.
But, I'm wondering what else have others found for the job?
4" wide 6" deep $4.75/3 pack.
6" wide X 10" deep $7.00/3 pack
etc.
No, seriously, is there something out there superior to an entrenching tool? It's a proven tool, but heavy. I've tried various trowels and bent or broken every one. An entrenching tool also works for driving in tent pegs and cutting through roots - not easily, but they do it.
But, I'm wondering what else have others found for the job?
I have a small shovel about 5"wide and 7" long rectangular blade with a 16" handle. The blade is the same gauge a a full size shovel and the handle is about 1 1/2 inch diameter. I got it in the sporting goods section at a department store about 40 years ago. The blade is painted Coleman green like their gasoline stoves of that era, but there is no trademark on it. Lighter than an E-tool and much sturdier than the current issue.
The nice thing about the guys I camp with , if you can hold it long enough one of them will go and dig a hole then set the potty up over it. So I guess the best hole digger is someone else. :lol:
For paddling I have a folding entrenching tool that folds up nice and small and fits in one of the small lunch box coolers ( about the 6 pack size) and with the shovel is a roll of T.P. so everything is in one package.
Backpacking or hiking it is one of the heavy duty plastic trowels with the T.P. around the handle. Or a flat package of the lanolin baby wipes.
The baby wipes can be used for a lot of things besides the call of nature , they are great for an improvised bath when that grungy feeling comes over you or as face wipe to make you fell cleaner. They especially feel good if you are starting to get sunburned.
Chuck.
For paddling I have a folding entrenching tool that folds up nice and small and fits in one of the small lunch box coolers ( about the 6 pack size) and with the shovel is a roll of T.P. so everything is in one package.
Backpacking or hiking it is one of the heavy duty plastic trowels with the T.P. around the handle. Or a flat package of the lanolin baby wipes.
The baby wipes can be used for a lot of things besides the call of nature , they are great for an improvised bath when that grungy feeling comes over you or as face wipe to make you fell cleaner. They especially feel good if you are starting to get sunburned.
Chuck.
I dont carry a shovel
If I am on sandbars my paddle does the job ,in hard ground I use the machete
the blade end is about the same width as a trowel and I can use both hands for ease of digging
Ron.
If I am on sandbars my paddle does the job ,in hard ground I use the machete
the blade end is about the same width as a trowel and I can use both hands for ease of digging
Ron.
Digging in sand or loose gravel, as you guys know, is different than digging in mineral soil with rocks and roots in it. I guess my folding entrenching tool isn't all that shabby after all.
Nathan and I went to a gunshow today. I saw an entrenching tool for $45.00. I'd dig a hole with a $5.00 machette before spending that kind of money. But then again, I am kinda cheap.
Bob
Bob
Right now, I have only one entrenching tool. But if you'd like to buy them at, say $30, I'll bring a truck load to the Rendezvous for you.
I've had only limited success with trowels. They dig slowly, have little leverage against stones, are weak to no good against roots, and then bend or break. I've tried the plastic ones (light weight - OK if digging in forest duff or sand where hands would have done the job anyway), and metal ones. No matter how well braced a trowel I bought, it bent. I was half hoping someone could site a light-weight trowel tough enough to do the job. Not yet.
Ron likes his machete for general camp work. It works well for him. I don't particularly care for - but use because it does acceptable work - my folding entrenching tool. It digs holes in almost any kind of dirt, pounds in tent stakes, and turns those heavy - sod like - pancakes that some camp cooks serve up. And, if I inadvertently let slip a comment about those pancakes, it works fairly well as a self-defense weapon against the cook.
Still, if someone has a lighter, as effective tool they know of, I'd like to hear about it.
Ron likes his machete for general camp work. It works well for him. I don't particularly care for - but use because it does acceptable work - my folding entrenching tool. It digs holes in almost any kind of dirt, pounds in tent stakes, and turns those heavy - sod like - pancakes that some camp cooks serve up. And, if I inadvertently let slip a comment about those pancakes, it works fairly well as a self-defense weapon against the cook.
Still, if someone has a lighter, as effective tool they know of, I'd like to hear about it.
I used both the paddle and machete this weekend , the paddle to level a spot for our chair next to the campfire and the machete to lever a spot for our tent cots in a clay shelf we set them up on.Now my machete isnt one of those five dollar ones , I think the Ontario machete I used is 20.00 bucks.
It cut firewood cleaned brush for a campsite, dug a cat hole, hammered in stakes,Darrel used his to cut a lantern pole sharpened the end and cut a few branches of short ,made a good place for the coffee pot ,flashlight ,lantern , and other stuff to be hung up off the ground.
That Machete is one thing I dont leave home without.
It fits my camping style.
Ron
It cut firewood cleaned brush for a campsite, dug a cat hole, hammered in stakes,Darrel used his to cut a lantern pole sharpened the end and cut a few branches of short ,made a good place for the coffee pot ,flashlight ,lantern , and other stuff to be hung up off the ground.
That Machete is one thing I dont leave home without.
It fits my camping style.
Ron
What about a Woodsman's Pal? Lighter, more versatile and more compact than an entrenching tool. Shorter and heavier than a normal machete. Brush hook could be used like a pick.
http://www.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/woodman/
George
http://www.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/woodman/
George
I hadn't seen an ad for one of these in a few years, and had forgotten about them. They don't look like much of a digging tool, primarily a hacking tool. Maybe I'm missing something?
While camping, I don't seem to find myself hacking at brush or branches. I carry a small hatchet (A Gerber hatchet with a very short handle - more like a splitting wedge with a handle - not meant for chopping or whacking.) that I use to drive tent pegs or split kindling. I break off branches, kick out pine knots, or stomp a branch to break it shorter. If it's too big to break, I just shove an end into the fire and advance it as the end burns short. If the branch is real big, I may use it as a chair and sit on it.
I do carry a folding pruning saw if I feel like sawing. I seldom feel like sawing.
I do carry a folding pruning saw if I feel like sawing. I seldom feel like sawing.
G'day Jack, sorry mate I couldn't help meself.
I use a small shovel, more, a shovel designed for four wheel drive vehicles, also a small mattock like implement that I made using part of a leaf spring from a car with about 2 feet of 1/2inch water pipe for a handle. it has a 3" wide blade on one side and a spike on the other. Will post a piccie when I get the chance. The two, combined with a 3 ton hand winch are about all I need for camping or four wheel driving in the bush.
I use a small shovel, more, a shovel designed for four wheel drive vehicles, also a small mattock like implement that I made using part of a leaf spring from a car with about 2 feet of 1/2inch water pipe for a handle. it has a 3" wide blade on one side and a spike on the other. Will post a piccie when I get the chance. The two, combined with a 3 ton hand winch are about all I need for camping or four wheel driving in the bush.