Why do you need a tourist shovel in modern hiking? After all, often such trips are short-term, and you are not far from the city. Of course, it does not concern avid lovers of multi-day trips in the mountain or forest wilderness: everything is clear with them, and their set of tools there is more serious than that of an amateur traveller.
The main purpose of a shovel is obviously digging. However, the market presents us not only with the old “soviet” shovel models, but also a multi-tool shovel, with which you can perform additional actions. Therefore, the design may include:
- hidden rescue knife,
- emergency whistle,
- bottle opener,
- saw,
- pickaxe.
The 5 in 1 tourist shovel provides applicability in completely different situations, including clearing the area for setting up a tent and cutting branches for a fire. Packed compactly into a minimalist case, this comprehensive toolbox is the perfect companion for your wilderness adventures, travel, fishing, and hunting.
Warning: when buying a shovel, pay attention to the structure of the handle, as it will bear the main load. Also, it is good if it has an anti-slip surface for comfortable operation.
What materials are folding shovels made from?
The length of the shovel service life depends on the materials used in manufacturing. The highest quality are metal: aluminium and steel. Their prices are appropriate.
A cheaper alternative is a combination of wood and metal. This kind of small shovel is the most common choice for hiking. During a hike, the weight of the equipment becomes a critical point, and every 100 grams are scrupulously calculated. After all, no one wants to drag too much stuff with them. Therefore, the choice is most often made in favour of combined models, and weight is the deciding factor.
Note: if you still want to buy a metal shovel, give preference to the aluminium version, which is characterized by good strength and reliability.
There is nothing to say about plastic shovels. Even though modern technologies invent new types of plastics, they still cannot be compared with the hardness of wood and metal. Therefore, even cleaning up a place to spend the night can quickly turn into a broken inventory item. The only case of their justified use is folding shovels for cars used for clearing snow. But they are much larger than those compact models that are used on hikes, and the working canvas itself has a rectangular shape, and not a semi-oval with one pointed part.
Any shovel has:
- blade;
- shaft;
- collar.
The latter is absent only in monolithic structures, but they are not folding. To join the handle and the blade, either a bolted connection (only for a wooden or metal handle) or a threaded connection (metal, plastic) is used. Naturally, a folding car shovel car with a metal connector will be more reliable, but also more expensive. For a car, weight is not so important, because you will not carry it on you. Read our top article on the cold accumulator.
And if you want to get a quality tool that will work flawlessly without breaking under the “pressure of circumstances”, choose a product with a wooden handle, and everything else should be metal. Such a shovel can be taken with you on a trip to the mountains. For those who plan to use such a device only for cleaning a car from snow, the classic plastic model is enough: inexpensive, compact, and convenient.
