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Product Description
Designed for digging catholes in the backcountry, the Suluk 46 Tark Trowel is a packable titanium shovel. The serrated end makes it easy to cut through a variety of terrain, while the bent tabs on either side protect your hands during excavation Read More
That's the main drawback of all these great ul trowels, imho. If the ground isn't tooooo tough to dig in, you could add some nylon tubing or reinforced auto fuel hose to the end of the handle (just slit it down the middle, maybe tack it in place with some silicone). Otherwise add a couple ounces for a different trowel with a larger comfy handle. The new Vargo is a nice design in this regard, just wish it were a little bigger and made from stronger titanium (which probably is not feasible for the design).
I seriously considered this, but partly because I was looking for an item for a get-home bag, intended to be used... well, hopefully never (in earnest) and certainly not for months on end the trail, I looked for options and ended up buying the "Deuce of Spades" from thetentlab.com. for about $21 shipped, .6 oz/17g (standard model), anodized 7075-T6 (choice of colors, black being the only subdued).
Can't compare since I don't have both, can't review since I haven't put it through its paces yet, but it does seem amazingly light and sturdy, and probably more pack-friendly. Might be worth considering for a drop someday.
The $35.00 MSRP shown on the Massdrop page is misleading when shown directly below the price of the lowest-cost trowel of the group (small aluminum). The price of this small aluminum trowel when ordered directly from Suluk 46 is $25.00, as you can see here: http://suluk46.com/products%20%20-%20P11%20Titanium%20Trowel.html
MountainPassThanks for bringing this up @MountainPass . We've corrected the MSRP. Either it was initially set as the titanium version, or the aluminum version plus shipping. Either way, it has now been corrected. And as @chugger points out, members in the US are saving the $10 minimum shipping fee from Suluk 46 (based in Canada) and international members are probably saving even more.
The serrations on the side of this trowel are going the wrong way to be useful as a cutting edge as advertized. A quick look at any sawblade will show the design is flawed. You are more apt to hang up on small roots with the upstroke of this trowel than for the serations to add any cutting action. Just sayin'
MYOGGood point about the sawing action, but in this case I think Suluk has it right -- the teeth are oriented as in a Japanese handsaw, whose thin metal straightens, and is strong, in tension (pull stroke), but would buckle if one tried to cut with a push stroke. Also, the very oblique leading angle of the Suluk "sawteeth" gives them a lot of mechanical advantage to shove a root aside on entry, then cut it on withdrawal.
swimjayYou may be correct in the mechanical advatage on the downstroke but if you have encountered digging in thickly growing, fine spider web like roots you would find those serations a real pita. They are much to big not to tend to snag. Simply making the trowel sides tapered narrowing to the point would probably offer the same mechanical advantage as in any old fashioned shovel design. Remember digging soil is a totaly different dinamic than sawing through wood plastic ect. Eliminating the serrations all together would make it a simpler more effective design easier to mfg so potentially less expensive. Good design should be effective yet reduced to its simplest form. Your poop dont care how fancy it looks :)
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Bulk order shipped! The vendor informed us that the group's order was picked up and is on its way to our warehouse in New Jersey. Based on the tracking provided, the order is scheduled to arrive on 12/8.
Expect another update from us on 12/12 or sooner if something comes up.
If you have any questions, please visit our Help Center (https://massdrop.com/helpcenter).
Thanks again for joining this drop! We have submitted the group's order with the vendor for the Suluk 46 Tark Trowels and they are working hard to prepare it for shipment.
As soon as the group's order is ready at the vendor's location, they will send the bulk shipment to our warehouse in New Jersey where our warehouse team will break it up into individual orders and ship them. The current estimated ship date from our warehouse is 12/9.
We will keep the group updated throughout the fulfillment process. You can expect an update from us by the end of the day Pacific Time on 12/2.
If you have any questions, please visit our Help Center (http://massdrop.com/helpcenter).
For a given size, not too much difference in weight between Ti and Al. But is there much of a difference in stiffness, (resistance to bending), resistance to buckling, and resistance to bending to failure, between the two, in shapes like these trowels? I know that Ti retains its strength to much higher temps, but of course that wouldn't apply here.
swimjayI'm kind of an anti-titanium nazi (people make too much stupid shit out of titanium...) but I'd go for titanium here. The titanium one should be more rigid, more resistant to bending, and primarily handle rocks a whole lot better. You want the increased hardness and strength of titanium for this application.