Although the scoop comes with a limited lifetime warranty, I am pretty sure that mine will no lon...Although the scoop comes with a limited lifetime warranty, I am pretty sure that mine will no longer qualify. Why? I needed a scoop that I could use in and around the water, including saltwater, that would not rust and that would allow water to drain away. Since I would be shoveling wet sand and muck, it needed it to “break suction” when raised from the bottom. I had read about sifting shovels and priced them ($$$) and thought that this Bully shovel would be an excellent and economical starting point to make my own, and the shovel did not disappoint. The shovel is made from a tough but easily machinable "poly" plastic. The scoop itself is about ¼-inch thick. And after drilling 408, 5/16” diameter holes in it, there was no discernible loss of strength. During a test in a wet, sandy creek bed it seemed to work great and the holes allow water to drain away and lighten the load. Even with the holes, it is still capable of shoveling mulch and other light-weight products. The shovel does flex more than my 50-year old coal scoop, but it is about one-third the weight of my similar wood-handled, metal scoop.The poly scoop is one-inch longer and two-inches wider than my old scoop.
In case you want to make your own, I covered the scoop with blue painter’s tape, found the center-line of the scoop, drew an equilateral triangle on the scoop and then drew lines a half inch apart parallel to the triangle sides, crisscrossing the entire scoop. I stayed away from the edges, the handle connection and the blade areas so as not to reduce the strength in those areas. I drilled 3/16” pilot holes and followed up with a sharp 5/16” hi-speed drill bit which produced very clean holes. I allowed enough space between the holes to enlarge them to 3/8” diameter depending on how the scoop works. FYI: The 408 5/16" diameter holes equal the area of a 6.33" diameter circle--a rather large hole in the scoop!
The real test will be at the beach this summer when we a piling up wet sand for sand sculptures. I plan to test it in snow next winter.
by Greensyn