Best digging tool?

[Mighty AP]

Hey Dave..........none taken!

 

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[papa]

I too have arisen to the joys of diggemhood.Search far and wide,for no tool will compair,with AP's.Also doubles as a wicked throwing knife.
Thank You Oh Great Tin Bender !!

 

[jorge del norte]

Don & ModerMiner - Thanks for the information....very helpful. Either way I go, I think a padded palm glove is in order. I went again today for a couple hours and my palm is sore as can be.

Again thanks for your help guys..... .

lejeuene, think about the amount of ground your displacing. It just plane hurts!!! I use a combo of a long screw driver and a cheap hand troll.

I put the screwdriver in the ground alittle off center of target and rotate it around in a circle.....seems to work without to much palm pain.....hard soil is another problem though....AP offered me a digger last year.....I should have taken him up on it.......they look nice.

mws

 

[potsy]

I also use the shark from lesche, the rubber place for your foot is a great place for the impact of a sledge when the ground is frozen.
Tanner

 

[Knipper]

I'm a knifemaker too....(Voting member of the Knifemaker's Guild since 1989)

I couldn't find a commercial trowel that held up either, or one that suited my digging style so I made one.
This one is two inches wide at it's widest point and 14 " long. Heh...I'm optimistic about finding deep targets.

Anyway, I ground this out of L6 tool steel, a little over 1/4" thick. It has a 10" hollowgrind on the top side, and two shallower 10" hollowgrinds on the bottom. I left close to full thickness for a strip in the middle for additional strength. The shaft has a fuller (groove) ground in for additional strength as well...kind of like an I-beam.

The handle has been taper ground toward the end to preserve strength and reduce weight. Handle material is green canvas Micarta with nickel-silver bolts, and a brass lined lanyard hole.

I tapered the digging end of this trowel towards the tip so it slides nicely into the dirt. The edges are sharp to cut sod.

The key to this unit lasting is the heat treatment. Its L6 heat treated to Bainite...which basically means you can pry with it and bend it up to about 45 degrees (which I've never been able to actually do...) and it will spring back true....it won't break until you put a long pipe on the end and bend it 90 to 130 degrees off of 'straight'. The edges of the trowel portion are hardened and the rest of the steel is heat treated the high 40's to low 50's, Rockwell scale (a very strong spring temper).

My prototype last year worked VERY well, and that wasn't even the same steel or careful heat treatment. I just wanted to try out the design. Then I went all out with the L6 bainite heat treatment. I don't expect I'll live long enough to wear it out or break it! Now if I just don't leave it laying in a park somewhere

I used to use a knife to cut plugs, but this has replaced them. Also, if one ever needed to, it makes a great hatchet for roots ( or self defense, if need be! )

Knipper

 

[cryptodave]

Update on the Fiskars Big Grip Trowel http://www.fiskars.com/US/Garden/Product+Detail?contentId=85570

This is simply a fantastic trowel, very well made. It is bigger than most trowels, so you get more digging done.

It has a lifetime warranty to never break or bend. I BROKE mine this weekend. Snapped it off at the handle where the rubber meets the metal.

Called Fiskars today, they didn't need any info but my address and said that I should have a new one in 5 to 7 days. That is as simple as it can be, and nice customer service to boot!

 

[ModernMiner]

Don & ModerMiner - Thanks for the information....very helpful. Either way I go, I think a padded palm glove is in order. I went again today for a couple hours and my palm is sore as can be.

Again thanks for your help guys..... .

Lejeune,
Here is a picture of my highly modified high-tech trowel that I mentioned above, with the cheap fix to avoid blisters.
I put on one of those rubber chair leg pieces, and haven't had a blister since. The padded gloves are a must too.
I've been using this same digger for years without breaking it yet.
HH,
MM

 

[WV Hillbilly]

Hi All , I bought a treasure wise 3 in 1 tool off e-bay . It came with a sturdy leather sheath . I haven't been able to use it much yet due to the weather but it seems to be a good sturdy tool . I believe it's the same tool as the A. O. Leonard soil knife . If you type in metal detector tools on e-bay should bring some up . I paid about $27.00 for tool , sheath and shipping . HH

 

[Nashoba]

For the money, the fiscars is a great tool for sure, and quite inexpensive. But after a bit of a wait, I now have my MightyAP diggin' tool and unlees, god forbid, it gets lost, I am pretty darned sure I will be digging with it for decades to come.
~Nash~

 

[Ridley]

I use a Wilcox product. The long handle helps with hard soil. It's stainless steel with a Hunt-Wilde handle grip.




Ridley

 

[Rockfshr]

well I can hope that one day I will make the list for AP. Fingers crossed.

 

[txkickergirl]

I use a big ol buck knife
works great except hurts the palm when digging and the end is metal so it turns my palm silver.

 

[Sandman]

I've been using a Marine bayonet for years now an it isn't the best but I don't hunt the land much anymore. I will look at the Fiskars as it looks like it would catch on pull tabs and rings nice. Thankx.......

 

[cryptodave]

I've been using a Marine bayonet for years now an it isn't the best but I don't hunt the land much anymore. I will look at the Fiskars as it looks like it would catch on pull tabs and rings nice. Thankx.......

Sandman, if its the digging tool from Fiskars your looking for, try Target first. As far as I have been able to find, they are the only ones that carry it. The digging tool is $9.99 and the trowel is $5.99.

 

[Pulltab Parson]

It looks like a nice tool, I got the Ames 7 in 1 and the Corona sheath that was next to it, it works great but it is $5.00 more. I also have an old M-16 bayonet that I just came across so perhaps I will put that in the detector tool box as a back up (Thanks for the idea Sandman).

 

[JW]

Check these out!!!

 

[JW]

Another model...

 

[jorge del norte]

don't have a PTO on my detector........but thats cool

 

[Pulltab Parson]

What are those, some kind of bulb planter on steriods??

 

[woody_g]

dang crypto can't believe you broke your fiskars.i have put mine through a lotta digging and really didn't think you could break it.good to know they are easy to replace if i ever do