Along the same vein as the axe, you see a lot of shovels along for the ride.
Like the axe, you will rarely use it for more than digging a cat hole, or preparing a fire pit. Maybe leveling out a place to sleep if you're out over night. My shovel gets used most often by someone else when they bog their Subaru down in the sand and need to dig out. Other people have used it way more than I have. But it comes in handy if you do need it.
I have found that those folding military surplus shovels are next to useless for any real digging. You can work up a pretty good sweat and not get very far. Being basically lazy, I carry a real shovel. Got it at the garden section of Lowes. It's good quality, and fairly inexpensive. Fits right behind the front seats of the TJ along with the axe and two 80' hanks of 10mm Dacron spinnaker sheet. It's handy to get to and not in the way.
Now the shovel that I carry is a round point D handle shovel about 48" long. It's big enough to actually get some work done with and small enough to pack around. It's an honest wood and steel contraption. Sharpen it up and dig away!
It really shines in the sand, as it's big enough to actually throw enough sand around to make short work of unsticking a rig. I have an attachment for my farm jack that allows me to lift a tire out of a hole if hte wheels will allow it. It's pretty fast and easy to lift a tire, fill in the hole and drive out of the predicament.
Like the axe, you will rarely use it for more than digging a cat hole, or preparing a fire pit. Maybe leveling out a place to sleep if you're out over night. My shovel gets used most often by someone else when they bog their Subaru down in the sand and need to dig out. Other people have used it way more than I have. But it comes in handy if you do need it.
I have found that those folding military surplus shovels are next to useless for any real digging. You can work up a pretty good sweat and not get very far. Being basically lazy, I carry a real shovel. Got it at the garden section of Lowes. It's good quality, and fairly inexpensive. Fits right behind the front seats of the TJ along with the axe and two 80' hanks of 10mm Dacron spinnaker sheet. It's handy to get to and not in the way.
Now the shovel that I carry is a round point D handle shovel about 48" long. It's big enough to actually get some work done with and small enough to pack around. It's an honest wood and steel contraption. Sharpen it up and dig away!
It really shines in the sand, as it's big enough to actually throw enough sand around to make short work of unsticking a rig. I have an attachment for my farm jack that allows me to lift a tire out of a hole if hte wheels will allow it. It's pretty fast and easy to lift a tire, fill in the hole and drive out of the predicament.
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