These PKCell AA 1300 mAh cells might be good, no leak, placeholders in remotes, controllers, test equipment etc. HKJ did a review (link below) and no red flags so I’ll give them a try.
I just ordered two 8-packs @ $4.80 each so you can do multiples with the Vipon coupon.
Dunno how the edge would hold up shovelling through clay or hitting rocks, etc, but for dirt and roots it’s probably fine.
Handle is lacquered (??) on the main part, but where it’s shaved down to fit the blade, it’s just raw exposed wood. It gets wet, it’ll probably swell if not split. I’ll probably have to remove the handle and treat it to preserve it somewhat.
Also, the part around the 2 screws that hold the handle into the blade are f’n razor sharp. Either the hole is drilled poorly and has burrs sticking out all over, or the screwheads are chewed up, or… who knows. Either way, don’t keep your hand anywhere near that area if you value your skin. That’s gotta be smoothed down… bigtime.
Still, it’s pretty solid. Literally. You wanna go all John Kirby on someone, you can.
Overall, it’s pretty good, but needs work. I wouldn’t consider it unusable, but no way (except for emergencies) would I recommend it being used “out of the box” without addressing those issues.
Thats stinks LB….All my Cold Steel knives are excellent, never been disappointed by them yet(except for the super tight pocket clips), I guess shovels are not their forte.
I have the cold steel shovel for about10 years now. I found the handle a bit slippery, so I applied friction tape and a few wraps self-sealing silicon tape on the ball end for a bit of cushion.
Link wasn’t working for me. Maybe the CR/LF got you. (looking at html it appears there’s a break in the URL). I’m gonna grab a couple packs too. Thanks Llumenati!