Wet Prospecting Shovels - information and questions

[Philski]

I dont get much gear that works as well as the new ergonomic shovel from Fiskars. Its had 3-4 weeks of non stop abuse and is still in really good shape. Better than expected. The rubber around the lever point is a little tatty. But, Its incredibly well balanced. The shaft is triangular for strength and ergonomic to touch and features a rubber sleeve to minimise blisters and fatigue. you can seriously use it all day long. And they are available at bunnings for under $50. One of the key benefits in the goldfield is the ability to slice through roots with ease "compared to other shovels" and employ awesome leverage without a hint of ever breaking the handle or spade itself. In clays, gravels, humus and rock,

This shovel, goes off.

Its also light weight 1.9kg so great to carry long distances and use all day long

They also make a super light weight model (900 grams!) at a tad under $40. It features a riveted head and would make an ideal pack shovel with rivets removed and bolts added. I didnt feel it would be up to the job strength wise. But have not tested one in working conditions.

photo taken from Fiskars.

have a great day
Phillip

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Great review Phillip, makes me want to go buy one!

I hope you found lots of good stuff in the 4 week test

Cheers, Tone

 

[Philski]

This is from a flogged out area on our West Coast Range. all off the top 2 meters.

The first 2 weeks were spent on and around Mount Meredith. Its simply stunning and practically unexplored with modern machines. But found trace gold and observed lots of other economic minerals. Walked Lots, shoveled little.

Only nugget was this little fellow 1.75 gram. We also got a half gram picker and a bit of shotty (match head size) and flaky gold average first week was 3 grams per ton, second week was about 1g per ton. We sampled creeks in a catchment and hit the best creek first> taking any workable gravels as we went. area has been turned upside down historically. But, found several patches of workable tailings and some virgin gravels. Interestingly the virgin stuff produced zero gold off the bottom. How the old timers knew?

Nothing with either the gpx 5000 - 11" mono or x terra 70 - 6 inch DD

The shovel is awesome.

 

[Chimpy]

G'day

Been using one for a couple of years now and going as good as the day I bought it. Good bit of kit

Cheers

Chimpy

 

[slowflow]

Show us how tatty they look now. Have you used it to lever rocks out of the way? Do you get any feel as from the old wooden handle? thanks

 

[Philski]

Hi Superflow

yep, levered quite a few rocks out of the way. 30kg-80kg at a guess. most i could carry once out but a few had to be dug out, levered up and rolled out of the way. The rest where predominantly football sized rocks, then smaller gravels.
Interestingly, it cut quite a lot of smaller (sub 8 inch) quartzite / conglomerate alluvium clean in half !!!
And, it still looks fine with no damage to the blade at all really!

The Fiskars spade is made with a high strength Boron steel alloy. So its a lot stronger than the average shovel and very responsive being all metal in the handle and blade and not to shabby at opening up cracks at all. The tip goes in cleanly and the edges are flat enough to do good scrapings with decent load sizes in each grab. It took out a few large ledges using the tip. "accidently" it didnt buckle or bend at all or even look like it would. Way better than any shovel i have ever used before because of the construction and leverage it generates i guess. I didnt want to break it of course but gave it more stick that i normally would, when i got a feel for it. The crank handle is a blessing if your scraping low as it keeps your knuckles out of the way.

I will post photos of mine tomorrow. Only wear is the protective sleeve down the bottom on the lever point and where i rub my foot against shows some wear. By well balanced, i have never had a shovel stand up straight in the air by itself with an inch of it in the ground. Its designed to dig holes and it does it and cut roots very well. Around 20mm roots are fine. Bigger than that, we hit with the pick.

if you get one and your not 100% happy with it. i will buy it off you and pay postage down here for it. thats how confident i am in it as a prospectors tool.

have a great day
Phillip

 

[Chimpy]

G'day

Here's some pics of mine that's seen some heavy use

Sorry about the poor lighting but you can see it has a few good years left. Light, long, strong and sharp. Good kit

Cheers

Chimpy

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Who sells this?

 

[Philski]

Hi, thats in pretty good condition for its age chimpy.

The shovel below has put around 25 meter - 30 meters of gravel though. 3 dump trucks or so worth.

i also noticed last night on the European Fiskars website they have a 200 Pick and a 250 mattock. i will get one when i find a stockist in Australia and test it out. It looks the business though. Another interesting one is a Fiskars telescopic shovel. fair dinkum.. 8)

The spade on the above model is 2mm so fine enough for most crevices and cracks to get some blade into it.

only downside i can see, is the handle on mine looks like a weak point with the single screw fixture. But may also be a nice little storage hollow for long trips too

 

[Philski]

i got mine from Bunnings / Launceston. They can deliver if your not in their area. Im sure it would be the same with mainland bunnings too. I would hope other places stock it in Australia? But, havent found one yet.

have a great night
Phillip

 

[slowflow]

Thanks they look OK!!

 

[Greglz86]

My third shovel for the year is now in a tree somewhere around tuena. I threw it after the handle snapped just like the handles on all my other shovels.
Im now looking to buy a new one, probably need something ridiculously strong as "apparently" im a bit rough with them.
Heading to bunnings soon to get a new one. Any recommendations will be considered.
I wonder if the staff at bunnings will let me give them a thorough testing before buying.

 

[Hunting the yellow]

weld a steel one on m8 cant go wrong I've broken that many wooden handles on things I just give up on wood I use steel handles for everything now

 

[backcreek]

Hay Greglz,

My two cents worth.

Get one with a fiberglass handle and while you are there get yourself a full sized pick and use it to break up the ground instead of your shovel.

My third shovel for the year is now in a tree somewhere around tuena. I threw it after the handle snapped just like the handles on all my other shovels.
Im now looking to buy a new one, probably need something ridiculously strong as "apparently" im a bit rough with them.
Heading to bunnings soon to get a new one. Any recommendations will be considered.
I wonder if the staff at bunnings will let me give them a thorough testing before buying.

 

[Greglz86]

My first shovel had a wooden handle that was given to me. I got 6 months out of that one until the handle snapped.
The second was a fiskars. It was completely made out of aluminum. It was strong and light. But it snapped where the handle was welded to the blade.
The last was a kelso, it was fiberglass and seemed really strong. But without it snapped.
So far the wooden handle lasted the longest.

 

[Greglz86]

Hay Greglz,

My two cents worth.

Get one with a fiberglass handle and while you are there get yourself a full sized pick and use it to break up the ground instead of your shovel.

My third shovel for the year is now in a tree somewhere around tuena. I threw it after the handle snapped just like the handles on all my other shovels.
Im now looking to buy a new one, probably need something ridiculously strong as "apparently" im a bit rough with them.
Heading to bunnings soon to get a new one. Any recommendations will be considered.
I wonder if the staff at bunnings will let me give them a thorough testing before buying.

I also use a large cc ezy pick. Just wish the shovels were as strong :/

 

[Greglz86]

weld a steel one on m8 cant go wrong I've broken that many wooden handles on things I just give up on wood I use steel handles for everything now

Should have kept the blade. Hmmmm, wonder if its still in that tree. Lol

 

[Hunting the yellow]

if your worried about it snapping at the weld you can always weld a extra collar over the weld where its welded to the handle

 

[HeadsUp]

Hay Greglz,

My two cents worth.

Get one with a fiberglass handle and while you are there get yourself a full sized pick and use it to break up the ground instead of your shovel.

My third shovel for the year is now in a tree somewhere around tuena. I threw it after the handle snapped just like the handles on all my other shovels.
Im now looking to buy a new one, probably need something ridiculously strong as "apparently" im a bit rough with them.
Heading to bunnings soon to get a new one. Any recommendations will be considered.
I wonder if the staff at bunnings will let me give them a thorough testing before buying.

my fibreglass handled one has outlasted my wooden handles

and as BC said , loosen the ground with the pick first , it only takes 20 seconds to loosen a square metre down to about 6 inches and shovel that through your banker and repeat.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Mate I go through quite a few shovels but kobalt has outlasted most. The trick is buying a good handle they will set you back a minimum $45 and will last for years. You don't get a good handle and a good shovel for $40. I found fiberglass wrars out near the jead and eventually cracks. Plastic is too heavy metal is too heavy. Good quality wood hands down. Laving yoir shovel in a dry ppacw wjen not in use helps