Russian Field Spade, Straight, WW1 Model, Surplus

A wood-shafted e-tool from the Russian empire. At least some of these were made during WWI, some might be a bit younger but old in any case. A magnificent piece of war history but absolutely shitty for digging for anything but holes in your psyche.

We ordered Austro-Hungarian spades but some Russian spades from the same era ended up amongst the batch. They are quite similar, but they have Cyrillic scribblings on the blade. The ones that we have left seem to be all Russian, so that's why the modified text. In case you happened to get a Russian one and don't want it, please contact our customer service..

Features

At least some of these are over a hundred years old. The manufacturing year isn’t visible on all of them anymore, so we cannot verify that every one of these is. Some of these show that they were manufactured in 1915. But there can be a bit younger shovels here as well.

This is a simple straight-shafted entrenching tool, the length of which can vary between c. 51-61 cm (20”-24”) because some have a longer shaft replaced by a user. These look quite a bit like the German WWII e-tool. A smart person would have put a handle on the shaft but these have a dildoesque lump instead. Some might come without the knob, and some shafts have been painted green for a camouflage effect. However, most of these have the unpainted short knobby shaft, so you will most likely get that.

The blade has a flat edge, a bit like on snow shovels. Some blades have sharpened sides, some don’t.

Use

If your philosophy of life is all about modern efficiency, this e-tool is as useful for you as a bikini on a hippo. The shaft is short as hell, the ergonomics infernally crappy, and the flat edge can only easily dig holes in your soul. But traditional bushcrafters and reenactors don’t care about modern decadence. Their joy stems from overcoming difficulties. And it is quite hard to get more difficult than this.

Condition

Used Russian military surplus. For their age, these are in good condition. But since these are old, used, and possibly seen a war or two, they do have lots of signs of use. The blade can be scratched, dented, rusted, and dirty. The shaft can be stained, scratched, and full of initials or lewd messages by the previous owners. But they are intact and they work. And if you clean the rust and gunk, they will be quite nice.