A NEW potty trowel – the Deuce of Spades™

Say, what is the overall length of this trowel? Looks about 6"?

According to the diagram it is 6.8" long.

Hi Delmar,

Thanks for backing my Kickstarter project.

It's a pretty neat system Kickstarter has come up with: stuff is offered to the public by creators such as myself. There's a specific dollar goal set and if the project makes it (or goes over) then the project gets funded at the end. That's when you would see charges, not before. For reasons best know by Kickstarter they use Amazon payments as an intermediary.

For the Deuce, we've already met our goal so we will be funded and everyone is going to get what they pledged for. I'm at work right now seeing how early I can get them started. I really want to start shipping them the instant the funds are released which will be about April 22nd.

Best,
Mike

Cool, thanks Mike! Good luck to you!

Hey Mike a minor footnote from a self-admitted metal nerd.

You mention that the Deuce of Spades is made of 7075 with a T6 temper, Brinell hardness of 150. That's good stuff! And expensive! It's the hardness of a mild steel.

You also compare this to hardware store aluminum extrusions of 6063-O (Annealed) at Brinell hardness of 25. Maybe you can find soft annealed in hardware stores, don't know. But Lowe's, for example, sells Hillman extrusions of 6063-T5, which has a Brinell B hardness of around 60. Which is nowhere near your trowel of 150, but a good sight better than dead-soft 25.

Just FYI.

Excellent! I'll update the FAQ
Thanks, Mike

"I find it very interesting that the titanium Suluk trowel that John Abela references is nearly identical in dimensions AND full of holes yet only 2g lighter. That is not what I would have expected."

Aluminum is lighter then titanium, so the weights seem about right.

Think I may have to give one of these deuce scoops a whirl as well.

You should. The kickstart price is great. To wit: a foot of 7075-T6 angle would cost you $11 — IF you could find anyone to sell you only that much. Leaving research and development aside, now add punching or cutting (or whatever is used here), shaping, deburring, polishing, anodizing, shipping…for $15?…it's a deal. No relation to the project here (other than putting in for one), just a minor machinist who knows a bit about working with aluminum.

Thanks Mike for the deal, I just pledged more to get a second one.

Sorry, when does the survey come out where we can select different colors? Did it already come out?

Survey is almost ready!
Mike

Dang, missed it! I really need to check these boards more carefully. But congrats on getting fully funded and let us know when its out on the market so the rest of us can get one. (ps – I'd vote on a teal one for the ladies, well, for anyone! And lime green – very trendy right now! :) )

Got both my red and blue deuce today in the mail….they look beautiful, weigh right on the money at 17 grams and feel really strong. Looking forward to using them this season.

USPS just delivered my red one. Very pretty and lightweight. It looks well made and should certainly do the job it was designed for.

Are you ready to test it?

–B.G.–

Just got mine in the mail today, Thanks Mike!

Also got mine in Blue. Awesome!

…let my 10 year stress test it digging a hole in the rocky, Arizona dirt last night. Held up great. Well done.

I was getting anxious since I have to work later. Got mine when I got home. Very impressive quality. It may be a few weeks before I test it for real.

Would folding over ~1/8 inch of the edge along the handle and top rim of the spade body help the grip and make it the edges where hand contacts more resist to cut in? I understand that it would significantly add the difficulty and cost to achieve that, but hey, this is already a perfection pursuing game, isn't it?

A folded edge would improve the feel, to be sure; I don't believe aluminum reacts well to a sharp bend however.

Delmar is right, the alloy that makes the Deuce so strong (7075) also makes it unable to take a roll-over bend.

BUT I've found a new feature that I hope will make up for it! Watching my 2yr old dig with one upside down gave me the idea to try it myself… turns out it's GREAT for really hard ground and wheedling out stones. Not yet sure if there will be durability problems because you can really put a lot of force on the handle this way. Maybe be a little careful, wot? Rolling the top edge would probably make it much harder to use this way. I'd love to hear from BPL owners on this.

Is trowel supposed to be have a relative sharp end/edge to easily dig and cut through roots and a relative dull and rounded end/handle for easy handling for hands to apply force? I understand that the relative smaller end is easier for hard ground than the larger end when applying same strength, but suggesting using upside down just indicates that both ends have the same edge and sharpness.

Thanks for letting me know that roll over bend is not applicable due to the material, but I would brainstorm how to improve the handle edges to easy the hand/palm for digging, although I agreed with others that this is already an excellent product.

Hi SW,

True, a normal trowel would be just as you say. This one is made with the idea that it will be carried for hours and hours and be used for digging only a few minutes a day. So the balance of its priorities is heavily weighted toward ultra lightweight (and affordability). As a result it's a just-so thin sheet of high-alloy aluminum that treads right at the edge of comfort acceptability. Since it's formed from a uniform sheet, the edges are the same all the way around and are quite thin enough to go through roos and such without trouble. One could sharpen the trowel for extra cutting power but It will dull quickly. I've found that the natural sharpness caused by use is plenty sharp. Using it upside down is way more effective and cooler than I would have imagined. For me now it's a must-have feature. I'm even thinking of making a shape 'L' that would allow more aggressive levering when used this way.
More info is available here: http://www.thetentlab.com
Soon I'll be putting up the design development evolution from shape A to the final shape K.
Best,
Mike