Sunday, December 05, 2004

Special Forces Shovel

In my Edged Weapons post a week or so back I mentioned that one of the items I keep around the house is a basic entrenching tool with a single ‘kind-of’ sharp edge on it. Well, if that’s the sort of thing you’re into then check out Cold Steel- a great company- because they actually make a Special Forces Shovel that comes with axe-level sharpened edges which can then be brought up to a razor’s edge if required!

As with all their products it’s incredibly reasonably priced and, if the items of theirs which I own are anything to go by, damned rugged. I may have to upgrade soon.

Spetsnaz troops used the shovel (according to a book by Viktor Suvorov I read many a year ago) as a multi-purpose item. It was a measuring tool, it could cut bread, it could be hurled at an enemy (Spetsnaz apparently practiced this by running along a beam and jumping off as they threw their shovels at a target) and it was a pretty mean CQB item to boot. I’d rather face a guy armed with a bayonet that a sharp shovel. Oh, and you can dig holes with it too!

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