coin pirate
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I could have saved up for a good Predator Pirahna, but, I like to save money and create things, so, here's my new MD shovel.
First off, I buy a nice shovel close to fitting the bill already from Home D, has a nice long narrow blade, heavy duty 1-1/4" handle, and foot peg allowance with a good ledge for my foot already, and only $24.95 minus 10% for my veteran discount.
Also, bought 2 x 10" pices of heavy duty pipe, 1" and 1-!/4" for under $10
Now I use my angle grinder to cut of the rivets off that weak a$$ plastic handle which would have been the first thing to break, Then cut out a section on the 1-1/4 pipe for the 1" pipe to fit into tightly.
Then I sand the handle down with my belt sander as it's larger slightly than the pipe, but keeping it a tight fit, checking frequently.
then assemble, alighning it straight, and hammering all the way to the top.
Now this is as far as I've gotten, I have to weld the two pipes together, drill and hammer in a couple hardened pins to secure the handle to the wood stem.
Also, this looks like a weak point and will get the seam welded and an additional pin added for strength.
The overall strength of the blade feel good along with the finished construction. So, for less than $35 I have my Shovel and I had fun doing it.
I also bought an inexpensive mini pick axe for light trenching harder dirt, gravel etc, the only thing I did to it was put a wide angle edge on the blade to make it sharp enough to cut roots if needed, but not too thin a blade to chip and gouge with every rock it hits.
Before
After
It was less than $15 and feels like it will last just fine, time will tell.
needed a new pair of gloves too
Hope you enjoyed this, tools used were a couple rat tail files, one angle grinder, one belt grinder, one bench grinder, and one welder(but for $5 you could probably get an auto garage to weld it.)
Be safe, wear safety goggles
First off, I buy a nice shovel close to fitting the bill already from Home D, has a nice long narrow blade, heavy duty 1-1/4" handle, and foot peg allowance with a good ledge for my foot already, and only $24.95 minus 10% for my veteran discount.
Also, bought 2 x 10" pices of heavy duty pipe, 1" and 1-!/4" for under $10
Now I use my angle grinder to cut of the rivets off that weak a$$ plastic handle which would have been the first thing to break, Then cut out a section on the 1-1/4 pipe for the 1" pipe to fit into tightly.
Then I sand the handle down with my belt sander as it's larger slightly than the pipe, but keeping it a tight fit, checking frequently.
then assemble, alighning it straight, and hammering all the way to the top.
Now this is as far as I've gotten, I have to weld the two pipes together, drill and hammer in a couple hardened pins to secure the handle to the wood stem.
Also, this looks like a weak point and will get the seam welded and an additional pin added for strength.
The overall strength of the blade feel good along with the finished construction. So, for less than $35 I have my Shovel and I had fun doing it.
I also bought an inexpensive mini pick axe for light trenching harder dirt, gravel etc, the only thing I did to it was put a wide angle edge on the blade to make it sharp enough to cut roots if needed, but not too thin a blade to chip and gouge with every rock it hits.
Before
After
It was less than $15 and feels like it will last just fine, time will tell.
needed a new pair of gloves too
Hope you enjoyed this, tools used were a couple rat tail files, one angle grinder, one belt grinder, one bench grinder, and one welder(but for $5 you could probably get an auto garage to weld it.)
Be safe, wear safety goggles
