[Lang]

Just a point on military shovels. During all this navel-gazing on picks and shovels I have looked at about 15 sites that have a study on the subject.

Those who say they were special military are only partly correct.

The vast bulk of shovels were whatever the contractor produced with the proviso he used the #2 standard dimension blade and 30 degree angle.

The split wood handles, like Darrell's and Mariano's above, are very pretty but several sites say they made up less than 10% of production. The rest being standard "D" metal handles. There were some shovels with all-wood "D" handles.

The British prefered the "T" handle and many British shovels were what would be #3 size and too big to handle easily in many circumstances.

Jeep shovels had to have a weird angle (45 degrees) to fit the vehicle and were unique. Many later contractors achieved the aim with their standard #2 conventional angle and a bent wooden shaft.

There were many complaints about the angle of jeep shovels and they were not popular with those requiring regular use.

The two photos are of the most common handle and the modified shaft to enable a standard shovel to fit a jeep.