Military shovel and pry bar

[Goldbear]

So trying to keep costs down getting into it, for those that have used them what do you think of the military shovel and a modified cat claw?

 

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[Hefty1]

They work just fine.

 

[GrayCloud]

I had to sleep with one, while at North Fort Polk.

 

[Hefty1]

Must have been the "Modified Cat Claw"

 

[GrayCloud]

Naw, just trying to stay alive. Black recruits were knifing white requites while they slept. Those they didn't knife, got beat up by half a dozen or more at a time. Not a racist statement, just the truth, so if the truth hurts so be it.

 

[TheNewCatfish]

Pulled out my own folding military shovel infront an old prospector in New Mexico and he started laughing. Boy he says, (and i,m 54 years old) "What you gonna do with that" ? "Dig for gold i says". Well, "You're gonna dig a hole alright, but the gold is just gonna slip right off the end of that shovel". "You need a flat shovel to lift out gold, or at least use a garden trowel". By the way he says, "You got yourself a crevassing tool yet" ? (Eyebrows raised) "What's a cervassing tool" ? (More laughter) "How you gonna drag the little pickers and flakes from the cracks in the rock" ? "Thought i'd just suck it out with my hand held battery operated Dust Buster vacuum" I says. "Don't get caught in a Wilderness Area with a battery operated device prospecting, cause they'll fine the heck outta ya".
"Batteries are TOXIC materials"!

Turns out a crevassing tool is a screwdriver with the end sharpened to a point and the last inch or so bent downward. Totally disgusted and embarassed we commenced to pull out the rest of my gear throwing much of it in a growing pile of useless disgarded junk. Later we went to his tool shop and he made me a crevassing tool out of an old screwdriver.

 

[GrayCloud]

The problem with the catclaw is this. 110 degrees, sun blaring straight down on bare solid metal. Better have some good gloves or you are a gonna get burned.
Still a good tool, just not for Summer use in the Southwest.

 

[paratrooper]

I use an entrenching tool as well . It is very versatile as a spade or a pick . With the shovel head at 90 degrees it makes a great scoop . Plus they go for about $5 so a replacement is not a wallet breaker .

 

[Tuberale]

You really need a turkey baster too. Will usually have enough suction to suck up small nuggets and flakes. Cheap too. $1 at many Dollar Tree stores.

 

[Goldbear]

What? Where and how would I use that? You don't mean as a mini dredge in the water right? Use it dry in the cracks?

 

[Tuberale]

What? Where and how would I use that? You don't mean as a mini dredge in the water right? Use it dry in the cracks?

You'd use the baster in cracks and crevices to extract small pieces, as you loosen them up with the crevicing tool. You should be able to use it in dry or wet conditions.

Baster bulb doesn't have a lot of pull, but does have considerable suction close to the tip.

Here's a suggestion: try adding a short tube of rubber to the end of the nozzle, to allow you to get further into deep cracks/crevices. Unless you're trying to pull too large of rocks out, should suction them out pretty easy. Or, at the very least, suction would hold onto small rocks/nuggets to allow extraction. Perfect for those "hard to reach" spots that no one else can get close to.