Snow Shovel Hack

[sideways]

Thank heavens snow is not flammable! Just sayin' I'd be toast.

That reminds me....

 

[taldesta]

I think it is both. The plastic ones are surprisingly strong. When I first started using them, I figured I'd break one on the first job. The shape works because it keeps loose material from falling off the edges of the shovel. It is also a volume thing as well.

The traditional snow shovel really sucks as far as I'm concerned except in wet or crusty snow. These ones with the ergo handles probably work better. But I'm not going to buy one to use two or three times a year when I am comfortable with the other shovels. I know that I have one of the damn things in my garage anyway.... A lifetime's worth of crap in there. Probably moved it two or three times already from house to house....

A common use was to shovel up stuff like oil dry or saw dust saturated with gasoline or diesel fuel. That's why the non-sparking issue was important and then I discovered they are really strong anyway.

Thanks ... agreed on the strength of plastic shovels.

Snow removal has been a huge issue for me wherever I have lived here in Ontario all my life ... minimally, insurance companies require clear access for fire emergencies

Whatever I had on hand was needed to clear snow was my single option. I made a priority of finding tools that worked for me, because it had to be done. No surprise, if you don't remove snow in bulk here, you don't get out and nothing gets in. For months. I have lived in 'snowshoe to the vehicle' situations over winter and it is tough. Food in, stuff out. Not to mention uninsured.

When I temporarily took the hunt camp to be closer to my dad, I loaded only two dependable snow removal tools in the overloaded van. This ensured that I could get out and also that I could get in again at my home up north. Strong and portable.

The snowblower is a gift. Love it- it saves me $500 - $600/year or more for a ploughing contractor who grabs the aggregate on the lane and deposits it on my grass and gardens, making for a three day manual clean up every spring. Not my preferred.

I love country. Long private laneway. I work hard to stay country and hope I can continue for a bit yet.

So this thread is very interesting to me.

 

[taldesta]

That reminds me....

Hey, I can use this!

 

[Danke42]

Grew up on the praries as did my wife, We both moved out to Vancouver and then met. Moved to a spot the interior where there's tons of snow usually wet. Spent ten years with a shovel and scoop. Every year my wife would say "don't get a snow blower; I like shoveling" and then a few weeks later she's pull a muscle in her back and hand it over to me. So this year we got a snow blower. Still enough shoveling with it but what used to be a 2-3 day job to clear the whole property is now a couple hours.

At least till the plow comes by.