Cold steel special forces shovel

i have one in each car, its great if you got stuck in the snow,handy to dig yourself out. i had a tree limb that was down at a friends house,instead of him buying an axe,i got the shovel out of the car & i cut it up with a cs shovel. its a very handy thing to have around.never damaged the handle,& they sell replacement ones. it wouldnt be too hard to make a handle out of pressure treated wood or another hard type wood.for about 15-20 bucks you cant go wrong. the bad axe is just as cool, & its fun to throw.check that one out,too.....
 
It's a shovel. Not a hatchet or machete. I have used mine in a pinch for light brush cutting but it wasnt designed for that. Use the proper tool for the job.;)KV
 
kvaughn said:
It's a shovel. Not a hatchet or machete. I have used mine in a pinch for light brush cutting but it wasnt designed for that. Use the proper tool for the job.;)KV
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Ahhh but it was designed as a hatchet/machete and it can be used as both.
 
I got mine about a week ago. Not very tough...:jerkit:

The screws though the thin part of the handle really
weaken the wood. They need to find a better way to attach
the handle in my opinion(or maybe a tough plastic one). Then again, I'm pretty tough on things.


Roof-8111.jpg
 
kvaughn said:
It's a shovel. Not a hatchet or machete. I have used mine in a pinch for light brush cutting but it wasnt designed for that. Use the proper tool for the job.;)KV
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Excellent point.

Shovel is standart equipment of Russian infantry which suppose to be dropped anywhere, dig into the grund and hold this position until further order. This is what shovel for. And paratroopers which in SU were used in same way National Guard is used in US, use shovels when they have order not to use guns, but still have to defend themselfs against angry mobs.

I remember talking to one paratrooper - meet him in the train when he came home after his turn. He sad they were pretty scared when thin line of 19 years old kids stand unarmed against mob in Alma-Ata during their "Revolution of Gashish" back in eighties. At that point they grab whatever weapon they have - fortunately shovels where not removed from them and it was no any order not to use shovels...

This is to my understanding source of this legend - super specnaz weapon shovel...

Thanks, Vassili.
 
blackfeetmageet said:
How did you break it?
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Smashing the flat side against a wood block as in a strike against
the skull. It shouldn't have broken that easy. A plastic handle would
solve all issues with this shovel. I wish they would change it. The handle
is weak, those Spetsnatz must be some wussies...8)
 
yerscattergun said:
Smashing the flat side against a wood block as in a strike against
the skull. It shouldn't have broken that easy. A plastic handle would
solve all issues with this shovel. I wish they would change it. The handle
is weak, those Spetsnatz must be some wussies...8)
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you should have used a watermellon instead of a block of wood. you can always buy a new handle for like 6-8 bucks from CS which is nice but yeah a plastic or metal handle would fix the problem...
 
I have had one for about 8 years. I use it mostly for throwing, and keep it in my tool box of my truck for emergencies. I have never sharpened it. Just left the factory edge. I could still take some one's head off.

I have replaced the handle once. I made the mistake of letting some unskilled throwers spend some time with it. One guy in particular was sure that the harder he threw it, the more likely it would be to stick. He tore that handle up. I have never seen some one able to get a handle first hit all day long, no matter where I had him stand. Handle first hit. move a 1/4 step back, still handle first. All day long. That handle was so impacted, I had to drill it out.


on a side note, the top of my handle was much much more flush with the back of the shovel. That one you got really protrudes.

IMG013-1.jpg
 
From the looks of it I would say that the broken handle previously pictured was due to a flaw in the wood (more than screws or abuse). It takes tremendous force to make a reasonably strong hardwood of that thickness to fracture across the grain. Normally you would see a great deal of lengthwise splintering as well. I think it is likely that the wood used for the handle was allowed to spalt slightly prior to drying. Fracturing across the grain would be much more likely if that was the case. So the problem may be unique to that shovel or lot of shovel handles made from the same tree.
 
4yanks, you might be right about a flaw but it seems to have broken due
to the screws and corresponding holes being excessively large for their
purpose(in my opnion). CS is going to send me a replacement :thumbup: and if the pre drilled holes aren't to big I might try the next smaller size. I was thinking of wrapping the part of the handle that goes in the shovel in duct
tape to help cushion against blows. The bottom pic shows where the fracture
started and propagated around the screw hole. Oh yes, disregard the cuts in the handle, those happened after the break. :D

Roof-8112.jpg


Roof-8113.jpg
 
I got my replacement handle. Cold Steel's customer service is pretty
darn good! I replaced the handle only using the forward screw as I
believe the rear screw weakens the handle where it needs to be the strongest.
I have pounded on it pretty good and the handle hasn't loosened up.
By the way, the handle does not come pre drilled and those screws require
some serious hand strength to seat! :eek:



Roof-8118.jpg
 
Been using mine at least weekly for throwing and light chopping. So far it has held up good. I too wish there was a synthetic handle. Maybe od green or black.
 
eccvets said:
which machetes have you tried out? I was thinking about a kukri
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NOOOOOOOOOo! dont get the kukri. IT SUCKS.

They have two seperate lines of machetes in their catalog.

The line that includes the bowie, the barong, and the Saxon are good. But the line that includes the kukri is crap. The edge came to me completely rolled over. I could have done a better grind on my F#$%^&* sidewalk! The sheath sucked too and the handle was straight up plastic. In comparison to their other line of machetes (same price) the Kukri sucks.

The line that includes the Bowie is awesome. The handle and sheath rock.
 
I have two of the CS Shovels. One Ive owned for many years and the other I bought a couple years back. One is kept in my truck and the other in the family Commissary Assault Vehicle (Chrysler Town & Country).

Ive never had any problems with either...though Ive never tried to chop seasoned wood with mine. I try to use the proper tool for the proper job. In this case I know you were trying to check out its capabilities but your findings reinforce my opinion.

Shovel is an awesome tool and you can't beat the price. I too would love a synthetic handle...even if it was just offered as an aftermarket item.
 
They do advertise it as a chopper though and I think it does work. It's just the way the handle is designed is a bit off and should have been cut off a bit lower or should have been shaved down so it doesn't catch on things.


Superfuzz said:
I have two of the CS Shovels. One Ive owned for many years and the other I bought a couple years back. One is kept in my truck and the other in the family Commissary Assault Vehicle (Chrysler Town & Country).

Ive never had any problems with either...though Ive never tried to chop seasoned wood with mine. I try to use the proper tool for the proper job. In this case I know you were trying to check out its capabilities but your findings reinforce my opinion.

Shovel is an awesome tool and you can't beat the price. I too would love a synthetic handle...even if it was just offered as an aftermarket item.
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If you use a screw made specifically for wood I don't think you'd have any problems with it splitting wood as hard as that.

yerscattergun said:
I got my replacement handle. Cold Steel's customer service is pretty
darn good! I replaced the handle only using the forward screw as I
believe the rear screw weakens the handle where it needs to be the strongest.
I have pounded on it pretty good and the handle hasn't loosened up.
By the way, the handle does not come pre drilled and those screws require
some serious hand strength to seat! :eek:
Click to expand...
 
Took me alot of work to get to the good steel, and yes the rolling was quite evident.

after the work I am very happy with my magnum kuhkri, the size is perfect IMO, the length and gentle forward curve kinda makes it feel like its a bit more of a short sword than a kuhkri, so I like it even more so.

But yeah be ready for alot of wear and tear on your stones if thats what you'll use to get the metal down to a ncie edge.
 
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