A NEW potty trowel – the Deuce of Spades™

I like it; anodized aluminum? Will check out the KS page now. By the way, boy are to glad you announced yor affiliation with this project. People who don't may or may not live to regret it around here. Best of luck.

As part of my master plan I'm trying to keep the weight .600 ounces or less. Final proto shape is looking good.

Shape 'G' is the final shape (barring a dramatic dislocation on the space-time continuum). It was changed from the shape 'E's in the anodized proto run because of tester feedback that indicated that the top of the handle was being pushed on far more than anticipated, especially when the hole gets deeper.

Hi Mike

How wide is the handle? Did you design it for a particular hand size? I'm wondering how I'd go getting my small sized hands around it.

Also, why Al over say Ti? Al has a limited stress life cycle, eventually its going to snap. I do like your design, especially the multiple ridges (extra strength over a simple rounded spade). Also the start-up price is awesome!

Cheers,

Adam

Edit: I ordered a yellow. At $14 it kills the price points on Ti options out there. Hopefully it lasts a while against ancient arid Australian rocks.

Cool! And light! And local!

The name pushed me over the edge. I'm in for a red one!

Price point?

Lighter Ti ones are available for $30-35. I would think this better be cheap.

Edit: appears $22-25.

A different alternative is the venerable SMC aluminum snow stake. I think they come in 6" or 8.5" lengths. Some have holes punched down the middle and some do not.

They are much narrower than what is being discussed here, and they are plain aluminum color, not the bright colors being discussed here, bright enough to scare the bejesus out of a grizzly bear. As a multipurpose item, it works either as a trowel or as a really good stake for your shelter. The weight varies depending on whether you get holes or no holes and which length. The long one that I have is 1.1 ounces, and the heel of it is bent round so that it doesn't injure the palm of your hand. Cost varies from $1.50 to $3.50 each.

–B.G.–

Hi again and thanks for checking out the trowel!

Adam – Thank you so much for backing one! The widest part of the top of the handle is about 40mm (net width after bending). I think generally smaller hands fit it better than larger. Ti is superb in fatigue but I chose 7075-T6 with the idea in mind that regular, even near-constant use, would probably not put the trowel through the many tens of thousands of flexural cycles needed to make a difference. On the other hand Ti is twice as dense so it would need to be much thinner for this use and cutting yourself would be more than just possible… BTW I meant what I said about toughness and so on. I think you'll be quite pleased with its durability.

Mitchell – Thanks for the backing!

M B – ah yes but $14 on Kickstarter right now

Bob – true true, but a very small scoop for twice the weight.. and harder to clean because of the holes.

Back channel:
Josh – Thanks for the backing! Kickstarter only lets us offer one product per backer so I have set up a shopping cart on my own website for people who want more than one. Just to be clear, it follows all KS guidelines and I really want people to get their first from Kickstarter. Here's the link: http://thetentlab.com/styled-2/styled-8/index.html

Michael – I'd say it's almost exactly between metallic gold and yellow. Maybe slightly toward yellow since it looks more glinty in the photos than in person. Also see the post just above about multiples.

Thanks!

Yeah by the time I fatigue it to failure, hopefully I'll be able to afford a new lighter one. And I'll chuck it in the recycling bin :-)

Commercial – moved to Gear Deals. Not sure right now where the DEAL is though.

Aluminium eh … hum … I will be interested to see how many digs it survives. Especially in the Australian bush.

Cheers

I'll let you know Roger. Probably longer for you, as you have that nice cushy eastern states stuff to deal with ;-)

If I'm successful with this job app I might be leaving a lot more deposits in the bush this year, so it will get a work out :-)

Pledged for a yellow trowel, looking forward to see the results.

Roger, I believe the "deal" is $14 now as the Kickstarter come-on price, which looks like will be higher if/when the roll-out is official. EDIT: but true that it isn't a special deal for BPL, anyone can get the kickstarter pledge price.

Just put my name in the hat for one in Blue.
Best of Luck!

Thanks….ordered a red. Looks great.

In for one. Good luck.

Much thanks JR, John, John & Travis!

Mike, assuming the project is funded when do you anticipate shipping to the backers?

Early to mid May is my plan right now. If the project hits it's goal early, I'll be starting the process that much sooner.

The name alone is worth it, classic!

Hi Adam

> nice cushy eastern states stuff to deal with ;-)
Oh, you mean the 600 m thick layer of solid Mt Banks sandstone interleaved with ironstone? Yeah, right.

Cheers

I have a QiWiz Original titanium trowel at .4 oz, but I am a sucker for innovators and BPL entrepreneurial spirit. So I am a Backer and looking forward to the Deuce in red. Thanks!

Hi Mike,

I just backed a "NICE SHINNY BLUE ONE" Papa Smurf would be jealous!
I haven't carried a potty trowel in a long time, but for the weight and price this looks like it may be going on all my hikes.

Thanks, Jack

I'm curious why people are picking the colors that you do. I selected yellow because I want hi-viz. Currently I use the standard GSI plastic trowel at 3oz (horrors!) and the one I received is black/dark grey. While it's never happened, I'm always afraid I will lay it on the ground and then accidentally leave it behind. I even put a strip of day-glo orange duct tape on the handle to catch my eye. So with the Deuce I ordered the yellow, seems the highest-viz option. Others who have ordered, why the color you selected — some functional reason or just expressing your style? Or, you had to pick some color or another so you just played eeny meeny miny moe?

And Mike, curious why the hole in the center of the spade. Is it to drain moisture if digging in wet soil? A half-gram weight saver?