Chris is one of the Battery/charger/flashlight gurus hereabouts, so no surprise he has not had time to test his shovel--he is too busy doing other things about which he posts often.

That said, if the Ozark Trails shovel turns out to be a good one, it will be the first Ozark Trails product that I've heard about that is.

Local surplus store has scads of Bundeswehr single-fold wooden handle shovels, along with US and Bundeswehr tri-folds.

I have used USGI WW II "T" handle shovels (standard and Airborne versions), USGI single-fold shovels (all variants from WW II to post Vietnam), USGI and Bundeswehr tri-folds, Gerber tri-fold, Glock field spade, and various ComBloc non-folder spades.

Observations:

1) All of these shovels are meant to be used with the user basically on his knees. They're that short.  Consider knee pads if a lot of digging is contemplated.

2) Whatever shovel you get, give serious consideration to a shovel carrier that will attach to the outside of your pack or belt.  Shovels get filthy, and you don't want all that crap inside your pack.  USGI MOLLE E-Tool carrier will fit all Tri-folds as well as the Glock.  Single-folds can be problematic, but a carrier can be made out of Kydex, and probably a better one than the sometimes hard-to-find original carriers.  Make it stout.

3) SOP for digging is to have one guy use his shovel as a pick (blade at 90 deg to the handle) to loosen the soil, and while he takes a break and pulls security, the other guy shovels out the soil.  Any shovel that cannot act as a pick will have to be accompanied with a collapsible pick for efficient digging.

4) Condition is everything.  The joints in surplus folding shovels are often found to be battered loose because the user(s) did not frequently check and re-tighten the locking nut on the shovel.  If the head wobbles a lot, then it's worn.  If buying used, then inspect in person, and buy the shovel with the least wobble.  These loose joints can be repaired if not too badly worn, but it's a hassle.  Wooden handles can be replaced, but once again, doing so involves removing the OEM rivet, a PITA.

5) If you want a short shovel--cheap--go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy one there.  Collapsible GI picks turn up every now ant then, along with their carrier, which is very handy for stowage and carriage.

6) If at all possible, and weight and size constraints allow, consider some form of carefully chosen full-size digging implements.  They are easier and more efficient to use.

7) Most folks can get away perfectly well with a small aluminum trowel.  If a bit more digging is expected, then the Gerber Gorge shovel :http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-22-41578-Gorge-Folding-Shovel/dp/B000WZCSTO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423524782&sr=8-1&keywords=gerber+gorge+folding+shovel is almost ideal, and it will fit nicely into a USGI Canteen/Utility pouch.

8) If you need a snow shovel for your vehicle, AAA offers a decent collapsible unit, available cheaper elsewhere.

9)  As with any tool, determine the task(s) to be accomplished.  After applying dispassionate consideration, the right tool will soon become apparent.

No offense, but I did not know the Glock shovel was commercially available 25 years ago.

If you are going to be doing any digging at all, in anything other than soft, rock-free sand or loam, then make sure to bring a pick.  The Cold Steel shovel, like all similar ones, cannot be folded at 90 deg to become a half-decent pick, and the very blunt nose of the CS shovel is far from optimal in hard or rocky soils.

Do some side-by-side comparisons of different styles of shovels in various soils, and I think you will agree with me.

As posted before, a simple aluminum or heavy-duty plastic trowel is all the digging tool that most people will ever need. Perhaps something like this, with a hardened aluminum blade:[url]http://www.seatosummit.com/product/?item=Alloy Pocket Trowel&o1=0&o2=0&o3=197-40[url].  Other, even lighter all plastic examples abound, as well as lighter, examples using exotic metals.

However, some folks might want to construct fire pits, or trench around their tents, and so might need a bit more tool.  The Gerber Gorge digging tool is ideal for this limited set of folks;[urlhttp://www.amazon.com/Military-MOLLE-Utility-Pocket-Coyote/dp/B00BJ4EH5K[/url].  As mentioned previously, when fully collapsed it will fit nicely into a USGI MOLLE Canteen/Utility pouch, so you can mount it on the outside of your pack so the inevitably attached dirt doesn't infiltrate the inside of your pack and its contents.  USGI MOLLE e-tool carriers are fine for all GI trifolds, as well as the Gerber.

Repairing GI (Bundeswehr and USGI) tri-folds can be done, but it is quite the PITA.  As against that, the repair will last the lifetime of the tool, and can be re-done, if needed, with no great effort.  I would rather buy a new Gerber tri-fold--which are quite good, BTW-- than go through the effort of repairing  a worn/damaged tri-fold, but that is just me. FWIW, the same principles, tools, and materials can also be used to repair GI single-fold shovels as well.  Some USGI single-fold shovels are legitimate collectors items, so it might make sense to sell off your collectible and buy something else.

Unless you are in the infantry, and thus constrained by circumstances, using a GI shovel for any serious digging work means making things harder on yourself than need be.

What do I have?  About one or two of about everyone of them out there, I guess.  

The most recently bought was a SOG Trifold for like $10.  It was for my niece's car where the odds of it doing any real work or see hard use are about NIL and size is more critical.  Its about the best of the little $10 tools but all of those little ones really fit into that category not for real heavy use.  

The one I pack in my truck is my Vietnam Era Military that and the German E tool, you could pretty much dig a house foundation if necessary.  That being said, my favorite actually is a better midsize non-folding shovel I picked up at tractor supply or Lowes.  I like that one better than my fullsize regular shovel.  

Shovels are a lot like guns.  They all dig but they're really task specific to what you want to use them for.  Like guns, you need one having more than one is not a bad idea.  

I guess my son as a little boy was digging with a folding shovel before he had a sandbox shovel.  

Tj

No offense, but I think being exposed to high heat, such as flame, will anneal the blade, and so make it softer.

Absolutely correct, but you'd have to reach a temperature of over 1,000 degrees C/1800+ F or basically a dull red color.  That's unlikely in a campfire which is why blacksmiths use charcoal and a bellows to create a furnace condition. Now that's steel.  Make that an aluminum shovel and you can melt it in a campfire.  It melts at 1,221 degrees F.

To your point though, in annealing steel, it has to go from dull red to a slightly stabilize temperature then fast quench to retain its dead soft condition.  What that means is if you go from red hot to slow cool, it actually doesn't get soft.  It worse.  The grains grow and it gets brittle hard.  It can snap like a twig.  

To equate this to something us old school AR and M16 shooters can relate to, fire the gun too fast and too long the barrel gets red hot, it will first soften, the barrel bend, then get hard as it cools and we just ruined the barrel.  

IMHO, the worst thing we do by cooking on our shovels is we take off the paint and because they typically are not stainless, we create a major maintenance issue at best or a rusty shovel at worse.  Also food contain acids and moisture which increases the whole corrosion thing.  Now you want to talk catastrophic failure, stress corrosion cracking if worse than any of the conditions I just posted about.  

So yes, whole heartily not a good idea to cook on your steel shovel.

Tj

You explained it far better than I did.  I stand corrected.

Same end my friend.