Portable Folding Survival Spade

The shovel in the shed is no use to you here.

Everyone owns a long-handled shovel and nobody carries one. So when you need to dig — a bogged wheel, a fire pit, a drain around the tent at two in the morning, a hole for the dunny — you end up using a hubcap, a stick or your hands. The dig takes three times as long and you are wet, filthy and no further ahead.

This one folds down small enough to live permanently in the ute, the boat or the bottom of a pack, in its own camouflage pouch. The head pivots on a bolt and locks with a threaded collar: in line with the handle to dig, or set across at a right angle to work as a hoe and drag material back toward you. The handle folds in half again on top of that.

The blade is not just a blade. One edge is cut into a coarse serrated saw for roots and light timber, there is a bottle-opener notch through the top edge, and the far side of the head is a narrow pick arm for breaking hard ground.

It is a light emergency tool that lives with you, not a replacement for a real shovel. Both those things are true and the first one is the reason to own it.

What It Does

• Digs out a bogged wheel: sand or mud in front of the tyre, on a beach or a bush track, without carrying a full-length shovel to do it.
• Trenches a tent in the rain: a shallow drain around the fly at 2am beats lying in a puddle until morning, and this is the only tool you will actually have with you.
• Clears ground for a fire: scrape back to dirt, cut through the roots in the way with the serrated edge, and you have a fire pit that stays where you put it.
• Breaks up hard-baked ground: the pick arm goes into dry, crusted or stony ground that a flat blade just skates across.
• Lives in the vehicle: folded into its pouch it takes almost no room, which is the difference between owning a shovel and having one.

Key Features

• Folding head: pivots on a bolt and locks with a threaded collar, either in line for digging or square on as a hoe.
• Folding handle: the shaft hinges in the middle so the whole tool packs flat.
• Serrated saw edge: coarse teeth cut down one side of the blade for roots and small timber.
• Pick arm: a narrow pointed arm on the opposite side of the head for hard ground.
• Bottle-opener notch: cut through the top edge of the blade.
• Textured grip: moulded ribbed handle grip over the shaft.
• Carry pouch included: a camouflage fabric pouch with a hook-and-loop flap, shaped to the folded tool.
• Two colours: army green and black.

Limits

What this spade will not do

• Do not lever with it: a folding spade carries its whole load through one hinge bolt and a threaded collar, and that hinge is where these tools break. Prise a rock or a stump with it and you will bend or snap the joint. If you need to lever something, use a bar.
• It is not a real shovel: the blade and the handle are both short. Digging any volume of ground with it means crouching and it will take you far longer than a long-handled shovel. Keep it for when you have no choice.
• No knife, no fire starter: some folding spades are sold as multi-tools with a blade, a striker and a whistle buried in the handle. This one is not. What you get is what is listed above — do not buy it expecting a survival kit in the shaft.
• The saw edge is coarse: it will get through a root or a sapling. It is not a bush saw and it will not cut firewood at any sensible rate.
• The compass is not confirmed: a small button compass appears in the end of the handle in one supplier photograph of the army green tool, and does not appear in the photographs of the black one. We cannot confirm it ships on both colours, so do not choose this tool for its compass.
• No verified weight or size: the figures the supplier previously supplied for weight and packed size were not credible for a steel tool, so we have removed them rather than repeat them. Both are listed as not specified.

Q & A

How heavy is it and how big is it folded?
Not specified by the supplier. The old listing quoted 0.1 kg, which is not a believable weight for a steel spade head, a steel shaft and a bolt — so we pulled it rather than pass on a number that is plainly wrong. Rather than guess, we have left both blank. What the photographs show is a tool that folds down to roughly the size of the pouch it ships in, which is about the footprint of a large hand.

Is it stainless steel?
The supplier describes it as steel. The tool is painted — olive or black — and a painted finish is what you use on carbon steel, not what you would normally do to stainless. We cannot verify the grade, so treat it as a coated steel tool: dry it before it goes back in the pouch, and touch up the paint if you chip it.

Can I use it as an axe?
No. There is no axe head on it and the serrated edge is a saw, not a chopping edge. Swinging a folding spade at timber puts the whole shock through the hinge.

What is the pick arm for?
Hard, dry or stony ground. A flat blade skids off baked clay; the pick goes in and breaks it up so the blade has something to shift. Set the head square to the handle and use it like a mattock.

Does it come with the pouch?
Yes. The camouflage pouch with the hook-and-loop flap is included and is sized to the folded tool.

How long will it take to get here?
Allow 10 to 14 days from the day you place the order, and up to 3 weeks before you chase it. Regional and remote addresses take longer. Delivery is free to Australia and New Zealand.

Specs