View Poll Results: Sharping the end of your shovel

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  • Bad idea

    18 90.00%
  • good idea

    2 10.00%
Results 1 to 13 of 13
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Montana
    Posts
    17

    Avy shovel question

    Someone told me to sharpen the end of my shovel to have like a knife edge, he said it helps with cutting threw ice and you can use it to hack away at a small tree if you need to. It seems like a good idea but sounds like you might take someones nose off when your digging them out. Is this a good Idea?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    JH/AK/Los Andes
    Posts
    2,678
    I would rather not have a nose than be dead but this one of those questions where there is no right answer.
    "The idea wasnt for me, that I would be the only one that would ever do this. My idea was that everybody should be doing this. At the time nobody was, but this was something thats too much fun to pass up." -Briggs
    Quote Originally Posted by LeeLau View Post
    Wear your climbing harness. Attach a big anodized locker to your belay loop so its in prime position to hit your nuts. Double russian Ti icescrews on your side loops positioned for maximal anal rape when you sit down. Then everyone will know your radness
    More stoke, less shit.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    9,300ft
    Posts
    21,938
    retarded... avi debris is hard but you dont need a knife edge
    Quote Originally Posted by blurred
    skiing is hiking all day so that you can ski on shitty gear for 5 minutes.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    The Fish
    Posts
    4,715
    nah, I just cary one of these in my bag. Guaranteed to the nose off.


    But seriously no, Im trying to think a shovel it would be needed on.
    a positive attitude will not solve all of your problems, but it may annoy enough people to make it worth the effort

    Formerly Rludes025

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Posts
    15,780
    I'd think that hitting hard snow with a sharpened edge on any aluminum shovel would roll it up like a toothpaste tube, leaving you with less edge.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Shuswap Highlands
    Posts
    4,345
    ^^^ +1
    The best cutting edge should be a consideration of the hardness of the material to be cut, and the ability of the tool to hold its edge considering the temper of its construction. I think that the factory bevel on the avy shovel is close to ideal, and it is certainly a good idea to maintain it after use (I regularly take the burs and dings out of my shovel).

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Dystopia
    Posts
    21,053
    If you have an alu shovel, and use it to chop hard snow, you will find the factory edge rounding over.

    They don't work so good after that, so yes, I have taken a file to my shovel to restore the factory edge. But I don't consider that I "sharpen" it

    Not sure it would hold a fine edge even if you tried.
    the finer the edge the faster it will round over.
    . . .

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    2,071
    :Sure sharpen it up to a knife edge and then put it inside you're pack.....
    "True love is much easier to find with a helicopter"

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    The Fish
    Posts
    4,715
    Ok add on question here, hopefully you don't mind 270bm. Anybody think these multi point shovels that ortovox came out with are better?

    My thought is material is the still the most important factor.
    a positive attitude will not solve all of your problems, but it may annoy enough people to make it worth the effort

    Formerly Rludes025

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    33,546
    If I needed to I could shave with my snowclaw. It's that sharp.

    Quote Originally Posted by Downbound Train View Post
    And there will come a day when our ancestors look back...........

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    HATU.
    Posts
    430
    Some boat stores do sell edge guard.
    "I, the undersigned,
    shall forfeit all rights, privileges, and licenses herein
    and herein contained, et cetera, et cetera . . . fax mentis
    incendium gloria culpum, et cetera, et cetera . . . memo bis
    punitor delicatum!" It's all there, black and white, clear
    as crystal! You stole Fizzy Lifting Drinks. You bumped
    into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized,
    so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    tourin BC
    Posts
    2,773
    I have an alloy shovel and after years of digging many pits, caves, wind breaks, booters and many other random shit, I have hit many rocks n shit.
    taking bur's off is one thing, but a cutting edge is more trouble than its worth. its only alloy after all.
    If you do, don't sharpen the edges, just the middle, so you don't cut up your pack.
    The multi point shovel heads did very well in a euro mag review from a few years ago, and surprisingly the plastics didn't do as badly as expected. but please, leave the plastics for the booter boys. most of the multi points i see are the small head shovels. G3 springs to mind. leave them to the girls and the kidz, or those with limited upper body strenght.
    I'll crawl back under my rock now.
    We, the RATBAGGERS, formally axcept our duty is to trigger avalaches on all skiers ...

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    The Skintrack
    Posts
    215
    You can always tape the sharp edge to save your pack. I still think the benefits would be neglible.

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