Folding Shovels  

These shovels are built like a tank, come with a nice leather sheath, and can be sharpened to make root chopping a breeze.  They will even split smaller logs if required, and are also a good defensive weapon. The shovel blade is a good large size, unlike some other folding shovels that are too small to do any real digging.  The blade locks at 90 and 180 degrees.  the locking collar mechanism is as smooth as a swiss watch, just take care to put a little oil in there every once in a while, especially if exposed to salty conditions.  The one shown here rides behind the seat of my truck at all times.  This particular model does not have a pick on the back side, but there are german, swiss, and other surplus shovels available with a pick on them if that is a feature you are looking for.   

Here are some other good quality folding camping shovels to check out.

The Glock "entrenching tool".   Folds out to about 25 inches, and is a good quality product.  As with most things with the glock name attached, its a little on the expensive side (expect to pay about $40) a unique feature about the glock shovel is that the handle contains a small saw, good for cutting roots / small tree limbs etc, it will do the job, but dont expect it to do too much, its not intended to be a primary saw.  If you expect to be doing a lot of sawing, bring a saw up to the task.  There is room in the handle to stash some smaller survival items along with the saw.  The glock shovel folds up to a very compact 10 inches, and is very light, yet very strong.  It comes with a carrying pouch to mount it to your pack or belt.  If you're a glock fan, this might be your shovel.

Gerber makes a couple of folding shovels, the "E-tool" and the "Gorge ".  They are very different from each other.  the E-tool is a good size, fairly sturdy shovel with a serrated edge on one side of the blade and a D-handle.  The Gorge is a very small shovel, not as well made, and would really only be an option where size and weight are the primary factor in the choice, and no heavy digging is required.

One to avoid... 

The Texsport folding shovel shown below, with "survival saw" (above) in the handle was a shovel that we decided to give a shot, since the handle is made from steel, the locking mechanism was not the usual screw down collar design, and it had a saw onboard...   so we thought, "what the hell".   First of all, and I'll just get this out of the way up front... the saw is useless, forget it exists.  It is thin, flimsy, and well.. it doesnt cut through things, which makes it a bit of a disappointment as "a Saw".   It would probably spread butter on toast like a champ though, so if you need a shovel with integrated butter spreader, here you go.  It never ceases to amaze me how companies go to all the trouble to integrate something into their product to make it stand apart, but dont go that one extra step to make sure it actually works... or even half ass works.  You got the saw in there, put some teeth on it ! 

 The black steel handle extends a few inches for extra leverage, which is sort of funny, because when you apply that extra leverage, the blade folds over like a 99 cent taco.  The only good news is, you can just put your foot on the blade, and pull up on the handle to bend it back to something resembling a shovel again.  The locking mechanism did not fail, but honestly after I made a "U" out of the blade, I didnt see much point in trying to break the locking mech.  It did become apparent after the little digging that I got done, that the mechanism is subject to getting stuck because dirt and rocks get jammed up in it.  I did not try to sharpen the blade, or do any chopping, frankly the thought just seemed a little rediculous.  Bottom Line: The texsport folding shovel is better than no shovel at all, and would probably be ok for a family campground trip or something, but not for any sort of serious use, or as part of any survival kit.  Spend the extra ten bucks and feel better knowing you have a shovel you can count on.   

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