Things every man should have in his car - photo

[metric_taper]

Those are good pics. It felt crazy to pay over $90 for a grain scoop, but at 1/8", that one had the thickest blade I could find.

100% agree, if you use them for general winter snow removal, the front edge will erode from scrapping concrete, so thickness is important, as well the quality is probably a harder aluminum alloy. I don't trust the plastic ones to not shatter in the cold.

Also note, if you ever have to put out a grass fire (snuff the fire out with the flat bottom), they work good if your boots or shoes can walk on the surface without melting (or attack from the upwind side). The aluminum pulls the heat out and gets the temp below vaporization. I learned that from a friends aunt, that wanted her pasture burned off in the spring.

[piper184]

100% agree, if you use them for general winter snow removal, the front edge will erode from scrapping concrete, so thickness is important, as well the quality is probably a harder aluminum alloy. I don't trust the plastic ones to not shatter in the cold.

Also note, if you ever have to put out a grass fire (snuff the fire out with the flat bottom), they work good if your boots or shoes can walk on the surface without melting (or attack from the upwind side). The aluminum pulls the heat out and gets the temp below vaporization. I learned that from a friends aunt, that wanted her pasture burned off in the spring.

We had that 1966 blizzard in SD too. Looked about the same way there. Steel grain scoops were the order of the day. We shoveled coal for the furnace with ours. Aluminum ones were too expensive. In 1983 when we got our first house I splurged and bought an aluminum scoop. I knew it would wear out on the concrete driveway so I bolted a steel cutting edge to the bottom. (I didn't know about cutting edges on heavy equipment until later). Over the years I have replaced that edge twice but the scoop still looks new. It has outlasted two plastic scoops.

[metric_taper]

We had that 1966 blizzard in SD too.

My dad grew up on a farm near Yankton, Tabor. Spoke Czech until the 6th grade. He took a job up in ND 1955 cold war building of the GFAFB. I remember many long drives down US81, long before I29.