Hello! Maybe an old one.... But since my old German Army folding shovel is all rusty and it´s sheath smells tatty cause it went wet a lot etc. I decided to get a new one. I am thinking about getting one of these Cold Steel Shovels. How is your experience with these? The only one thing that I don't like about it, is that you can´t use the shovel as a pickaxe.... But maybe your experiences way that out. Thanks! John
Definitely sturdy and can't go wrong for the price. Nice thing is if the wood handle breaks then it is essy to replace. I will always keep mine.
I use the heck out of mine. I chop small trees with it, dig , split kindling, throw it into rotten stumps and big trees (dead). Bang for the buck. I do highly recommend using blue or red loctite on the recessed bolt.
It is somewhat difficult but I have used mine to do Flint [Rock] and Steel [Shovel] Fire. I keep one side sharp for cutting and one side for beating with rocks to make fire. I carry mine a lot when out foraging as it has many uses. Great Tool and easy to carve a handle if needed........... I think you need one........................
Just to add, I did some limited testing among my family of small shovels. For me the C.S. Shovel came out on top......... L to R: C.S.-U.S.-Glock-Russian.
Thank you very much for your answers so far! BTW is there a story behind this shovel? I mean, sure, the Name says "Speznas" and Special Forces- but which gear item doesn't have this in its name.... But is there story about it´s use in the Soviet / Russian Army?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPL-50 Cooking,Fighting,Digging, Boat Paddle, Chopping, Throwing.................. Lots more if you dig.
I have a CS shovel I bought back in the 80's - love it. got to do some functional comparisons with vintage eastern block shovels & the CS is the better tool.
Mine is near or perhaps even over 20 years old. Spade, machete, toilet trowel,boat paddle, even a spatula one time Great tool well worth having.
Excellent bang for the buck plus quite a bit of fun as a thrower. @erik, didn't we throw one all weekend at Ethan Becker's place a few years back?
yup - that was my 80's vintage model. the other one we tried throwing that bent was the actual eastern block shovel.
There we go..... The normal folding shovel seems to dig a bit better but the Cold Steel Speznas Shovel is much, much lighter....
I have always used a small round file like is used for sharpening chainsaws, but for the Spetz itself I have only honed it once or twice in 2 decades that I can recall. I would think any type of metal file would be fine.
I keep one edge sharp for cutting. I keep the opposite side dull for beating and for Flint and steel fire.........
