Trowel

[nature nut]

If you ever are planning a trip just out camping or just a hike in a remote area. Try taking a small trowel, preferably not folding because full tang ones have more strength. You can sharpen one side of the trowel and use it as a hatchet and also it can be used as a hammer and you wouldn't belie:happy-clapping: that by being able to dig into the ground efficiently your job of building a well ventilated fire, a shelter/ventilated fire, driving stakes into ground, camps jobs, cleaning off branches (keeping knife edge cleaner for finer jobs) and a whole host of more things. try one, youll be surprised! What does everyone think?

[paul standley]

Nice one.... Last year I purchased a trowel from a 'cheapo' store for 70 pence. A metal tang trowel with wooden handle & foam handle wrap.

I put a bit of a chamfered edge on one side and a serrated edge on the other which worked as a makeshift saw and works well for cutting out a sod to bury one's business so to speak.

Also works well around the campfire and as a lightweight hammer so Nature nut is spot on with this tip....

[nature nut]

How did you put that serrated edge on mate? any good for cutting wood?

[paul standley]

How did you put that serrated edge on mate? any good for cutting wood?

hacksaw cuts 5mm deep into the edge of the trowel and 3 or 4 mm apart so you get a lot of little 'castellations' and then twist each castillation slightly in alternating directions so that you create a slight 'kurf' like on a real saw blade. Won't give a Laplander saw any competition but adds multiple functionality to the trowel.

will cut small branches 1.5" thick but that's all. The metal is cheap and soft so the sawing action is more like rough ripping of the fibres.

[nature nut]

still sounds pretty goood:D:D ta mate

[Ashley Cawley]

I've never carried a trowel or spade to be honest, I've always used a digging stick and can't say I even need that often. I can't say I've had many situations where I've thought "I could really do with a trowel right now" either?

I've got my digging stick to dig, knife to cut & saw to saw, any other uses you could entice me with?.. then I might try it ;)

[paul standley]

I've never carried a trowel or spade to be honest, I've always used a digging stick and can't say I even need that often. I can't say I've had many situations where I've thought "I could really do with a trowel right now" either?

I've got my digging stick to dig, knife to cut & saw to saw, any other uses you could entice me with?.. then I might try it ;)

Will also double as a spork at a push..

[Ashley Cawley]

Will also double as a spork at a push..

lmao.. I know I've got a big-mouth but that's pushing it a bit!

A spoon or fork is something can easily be knocked-up in the woods.

[paul standley]

lmao.. I know I've got a big-mouth but that's pushing it a bit!

A spoon or fork is something can easily be knocked-up in the woods.

OK Ash... I can see you are not convinced...!

I'll make a proper digging stick this weekend whilst I'm out and see how it compares. Not sure I could make a spoon or fork too quickly in the woods yet but could manage chopsticks.

[MikeWilkinson]

I'm with Ash on this one, A trowel is just another tool that I would need to carry. For the sake of ten minutes with an axe and knife I could fashion a servicable trowel out of a good piece of wood.

Spoon would take me a little longer, a fork is just a notched stick with the notches pointed so fairly quick to whittle one.

[Ashley Cawley]

I'm talking utility here, nothing fancy, a fork can be made in under a minute, I've made & used a few like this:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_dzoenG8Svds/Sgb8YpnH-II/AAAAAAAAQEo/RxaBR5Iac2w/s400/DSCF1666.JPG

As for spoons; if your making it just because you want to use it to eat (and not just for the enjoyment of whittling) you can make a spoon a lot quicker, rough & rugged but does it's job. It doesn't have to be smooth or finished with oil, that can all be done later (after you've used it) if you decide you want to keep it.

I'm not suggesting that everyone should make a new spoon every time they're out!.. That's obviously not a clever use of resources, hence why I carry wooden spoons I've made & kept before.

Feel free to keep the multi-purpose suggestions for a trowel coming... you never know I still might be converted ;)

[MikeWilkinson]

Thanks for sharing that Ashley, even simpler than what I usually do.

[OKBushcraft]

I have a Fiskars garden trowel-made of black plastic, works ok. The handle doubles for a place to stow a fishing kit. I would rather leave it at the house.
I do have a Cold Steel Spetznaz E-tool- not light but it can do loads more than dig. I have used it as an axe and have built shelters with it numerous times. Cutting 2"-3" saplings, limbing and topping the sapling. Still a bit heafty for minimalizing. I am sure I can also use it to cut some meat and veggies.
Over all my vote is with Ashley on this, even in my drought ridden area, I can usually find a stick to make into a digging stick.

[Adam Savage]

What if you're out on the moors, with no supply of timber for a digging stick? I know you won't need it to dig in a fire pit, or chop/saw branches, but bushcrafter droppings need to be buried lol.

[Adam Savage]

If you had a particularly clean trowel, you could use it as a mini frying pan for an egg or piece of bacon...just a thought.

[jbrown14]

The original post reminded me of this Hori Hori knife (http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=10504&cat=2,51810&ap=1) from Lee Valley Tools. Kind of a hybrid trowel/knife for gardening, but someone may find it useful for bushcraft. They also sell a Forged Japanese trowel (http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=66876&cat=2,51810&ap=1) that is sharpened along one edge. Same idea as the first.

I've never carried a trowel myself, though I do carry an avalanche shovel when snowshoeing in the winter (whether in the mountains or not.) If I need to bury my "droppings" as it were, I usually find a spot soft enough where I can kick a 10-12" deep hole with the heel of my boot in the duff, and carry on with business. If the ground is too hard for boot-heel digging, I will snap off a quick digging stick from whatever is lying around. I'm not hiking on moorland, or tundra, and I've always been able to wait til I get below treeline, so my personal methods have been effective so far.

[Adam Savage]

We have a company called Axminster tools over here, they sell those Hori Hori Knife/Japanese gardening trowels. Always looked at them and wondered if I could use it for something interesting. I see your point with the climate/terrain being an issue in considering a trowel or not over commonly available alternatives.

[JEEP]

I just got a Sea to Summit Aluminium Pocket Trowel from Leave No Trace; https://store.lnt.org/explore It weighs next to nothing and takes up almost no space in my pack.

In Denmark there are no real wilderness left - and most public forests actually have public restrooms. Though you often find said restrooms closed for maintenance or because of vandalism - or just outright too disgusting! Most of these toilets are chemical- or dry closets with a large tank in the ground. A big problem with these are that, if you do not close the door properly when you exit the restroom (and somehow people tend not to), a lot of animals will come in there looking for water during the dry season - a lot of smaller animals fall in and drown that way.

You often see traces of people relieving themselves on the bare ground in the area around the restrooms, either because people find the restroom closed or too dirty - causing not only the restroom itself, but the area around it, to be a rather filthy and disgusting place to come by - aswell as being a health hazard for both humans and the wildlife.

The public restrooms in the Danish public forest were erected, mainly during the 80s, in oder to make the forests more accessible for the public. But, in reality they have proved to be a hazard to the wildlife aswell as causing massive human waste pollution in the area near them.

This is my motivation for buying and carrying a trowel...

I could cut myself a digging stick. But, when I need to go, I do not want to spend time finding a suitable stick and cutting it to shape :)

[Jack Russell]

This is my motivation for buying and carrying a trowel...

I could cut myself a digging stick. But, when I need to go, I do not want to spend time finding a suitable stick and cutting it to shape :)

Probably something to do with that award winning IPA methinks Jakob! Bet Ash has the constitution of a Billy Goat so could fell several logs and still be in time with a digging stick not to need his trowel though. For my tuppence (well a quid from bushcraftland) the little camp folder finds a place in my daysack when I'm off to the dunes or the estuary, just because there's not no trees and unlike the bears, Jack has to (ahem) in the mud and the crud. (comes in handy for smotting fish on the bonce when you catch 'em too)

[JEEP]

:D

IPA's aren't bad in that way actually. But, I did brew a dark Belgian once, which did a fine job as a laxetive.

[Jack Russell]

Jakob, you are a star. I read elsewhere on the forum that Martin considers you our version of a "certain Star Wars character" - whilst he's right I find myself considering that Pinewood studios would do well to screentest you for the next Bond movie, anyone guess where my logic is going on this one?????
At the Bar Jack

[Ashley Cawley]

I could cut myself a digging stick. But, when I need to go, I do not want to spend time finding a suitable stick and cutting it to shape :)If I'm in a rush sometimes I just find an appropriate spot to do my business, then I dig the hole afterwards beside and knock it in... can't believe you gents have got me talking s**t here :p

[feebullet]

If you had a particularly clean trowel, you could use it as a mini frying pan for an egg or piece of bacon...just a thought. I cooked a steak on a cane knife once, couldn't help myself!

[Adam Savage]

I cooked a steak on a cane knife once, couldn't help myself!

The world's most expensive hot plate lol

[feebullet]

The world's most expensive hot plate lol

Nah came across an impromptu steak in the far far far north of Queensland, Australia.... it was the biggest lump of metal I had on me at the time so it was pushed into service. The thought of walking it back to where I was staying was absurd.... and the back packers who donated it might have just needed some of that mick dundee experience before they would "warm" to me. If this wasn't a family forum I would end the story 'in the bush' but that is a conversation for another day!

[Adam Savage]

Nah came across an impromptu steak in the far far far north of Queensland, Australia.... it was the biggest lump of metal I had on me at the time so it was pushed into service. The thought of walking it back to where I was staying was absurd.... and the back packers who donated it might have just needed some of that mick dundee experience before they would "warm" to me. If this wasn't a family forum I would end the story 'in the bush' but that is a conversation for another day!

I thought you meant a Chris Cain survival tool. Didn't realise there was an actual cane knife.

[feebullet]

this is what I am on about https://farmerswarehouse.com.au/product.php?productid=22574&cat=0&page=

[Jack Russell]

interesting that the trowel receives mixed blessings on this thread. I'm thinking that I can't justify a machete or parang (let alone a nice shiny gransfors B axe) in my pack for fear of being arrested, not wanting to hijack the thread, does anyone have any alternative carries as a wide bladed utility tool? (or does that start Adam's / Paul S's / Raven's / Canadian Mike's / et al creative juices flowing). I guess Jakob is the man to source us something of a hybrid but I see he already has succumbed to the trowel himself suggesting that a bushcraft alternative is not readily available to us ........ yet........ we need something as iconic as the laplander saw, and shiny and exspensively lightweight so Martin will spend his hard earned on it, totally irresistable to Ashley to give it NB street cred (with a vd review). And it's gotta be bleddy ansome so mr and mrs roadkill fancy one too.

[Adam Savage]

I'll get cutting and shaping the titanium....:)

[Martin]

I used the trowel this morning and I have to say it performed amirably!!! I also had to follow Ashley's method of digging the hole after the event and knocking the lot in, as I didn't want to wake Adam up to ask for the trowel.

Martin

[Adam Savage]

I used the trowel this morning and I have to say it performed amirably!!! I also had to follow Ashley's method of digging the hole after the event and knocking the lot in, as I didn't want to wake Adam up to ask for the trowel.

Martin

Happy that it meets the SAS (Saint's Approval Seal) :)