Digging Tools

[Joe D.]

LMAO!!  My new favorite saying!!

    Some people are "Dog nuts" kind of people! The same with the fluorescent yellow color they make! But you will never loose those two in the woods, or on the beach!🙈    For us urban ninjas, they also have black!♠️

[Oiwon]

I love my Lesche. Paid $50 for it from Colonial.

With that said, that digging tool posted back on the 1st page is a steal at that price. 

A quick google turned up this site which has a number of affordable (under $50) digging tools in the UK.https://www.crawfordsmd.com/metal-detecting-accessories/digging-tools/trowels

The Evo Extreme looks not bad.

The Shark tooth and Stingray would probably get the job done as well.

If you're digging in the field you probably want a pointed tip and some teeth to cut through roots if needed. 

GL and HH! 

[Joe D.]

Phrunt, get a Vanquish and "Dog Nuts" will match! LOL🤣

[kac]

Powder coating is ok on a handle but will chip off on an edge. Best bet is if it's not stainless is to leave it alone or nickel plate them for corrosion resistance. Nickel plating is more durable than a power coat just not as cool looking.

[PimentoUK]

This is what they should be made of: Maraging stainless steel.
250-stainless
Reynolds953
Super strong, and (reasonably) corrosion-resistant

And marketing it would be easy, simply saying it's used in military aircraft landing gear should be enough.
Some baboon would no doubt manage to bend a digger made from it.....

[Joe D.]

Read the link; that formulation of stainless sounds great! I wonder if the cost is prohibiting its use in the general tool market though, due to not seeing it marketed as such! Also, not all steels will hold an edge due to being too soft, or too hard! "Forged In  Fire" has tought me alot about edged steels! Because i am far from an expert! Except that i do resemble the "Baboon" part!🙉🤣

 

[PimentoUK]

The raw material is expensive; cutting/bending/drilling/grinding is difficult. Welding is not easy, then the heat-treatment needed for some of these fancy steels is quite elaborate. Not just heating to fairly high temperatures then slowly cooled, as you might expect - but it can also include immersion in liquid nitrogen baths to force the 'age-hardening' process.
There is a 'How it's made' episode on top-end kitchen knives, they get the nitrogen treatment, I think it's this one:
kitchen knives

Some background on these steels:
wiki maraging steel

[kac]

Stainless that has high nickel content is more corrosion resistant. More nickel the more difficult it is to work with like welding etc and may bend easier. 440 series used in knives is too brittle. Majority of your garden tools are either high nickel stainless and don't hold up well for our type of digging. Some companies use low grade steel and chrome plate them which also doesn't last long. The better choice I found is 4130 chromemoly which has incredible strength to weight ratio, a fairly good degree of corrosion resistance and can be easily tempered. 4130 is typically used in aircraft frames, roll cages in race cars etc.

The easier it is to cut, form weld and finish the digger the more cost effective it is. Steel itself has become incredibly expensive lately which doesn't help.

[alaskaseeker]

Whatever tool you choose keep it Sharp, i always keep a file in my bag so I can do that, a blunt tool no matter what it is is next to useless. I dont remember who made it but like the Lesche its indestructible....I have to smile i can remember hunting years ago (early 70s) with Dad. "The old Coinshooter". He used a tool that looked like a sharpened length of conduit which is exactly what it was but he would jab around make a nice cut or probe around with it.. I saw him pull a ring out of the soil and he had centered it thru the ring...In the early 70s he found a huge mans gold ring in an old park in Longview Wa.. I never saw the ring nor did my Mom but he sold it to the jeweler that cleaned it and appraised it.. The next time i vissited they were driving a new Ranchero.....

[castleberry]

On 10/19/2019 at 12:47 AM, phrunt said:

WW manufacturing company appears to be the people that made the Lesche tool.  It to them is nothing to do with metal detecting, it's of course a gardening tool.

http://www.wwmfg.com/default.asp?contentID=1103

I'm considering getting a Sampson T-handle as a replacement for my Camping shovel.  Has anyone had any experience with them? They appear to be made by the Lesche people at WW manufacturing. 

phrunt.. Im new, but have the Sampson, its great in my rocky TN soil, have abused it pretty bad and no bends so far.