Broken shovel

My shovel broke recently. I was quite surprised, and thought I'd post here and see if this is common.

It was a BCA model, the "companion" I think, probably around 5 years old. Painted red metal blade with rescue instruction diagrams on it. As snow shovels go, I'd put it on the larger-than-average side - certainly not a fast-and-light model. The break was in the blade, where the sheet metal is bent round to form the neck for the shaft. The failure occurred while a buddy was moving soft snow around at a campsite. Minimal force was applied when it broke, it was apparently already very weak at that stage. From my hazy recollection of a materials class, it looks like cracks had formed from both the obvious stress concentration points and grown through about a third of the material before it finally failed (see attached pic).

I've not used this for anything other than avalanche practice, snow pits, and camping. No impacts to rocks or concrete or the like. On the other hand, I've not treated it with any special care, either. Looking online there's some mention of prying not being recommended with snow shovels, I'm probably guilty of doing that on occasion.

BCA were very good about it, and replaced the blade for free with no questions asked despite it being five years old.

Moral of the story for me so far: 1. Check for cracks every season 2. avoid painted blades which hide cracks. Happily, the new version of the companion is anodized rather than painted.

Thanks for sharing - that's the first time I see such a break!

I have an 8-year-old painted BCA that hasn't seen much use at all. It is the 'light' version, with the (shorter - 7' or so, iirc) probe in the handle. I've heard Scotsman complain about people with lightweight rescue equipment, so I asked a patrol gal recently and she thought the shovel was perfect for touring, which assuaged my concerns a bit.

But now I am thinking I may want to replace this set with something better... while I don't tour with Scotsman,  I still don't want to be 'that' guy, and even less so 'the guy with the shovel that broke.'

Plus, the anodized blades look so badass, *almost* as cool as ice-axes 

Cheers
Ivo

wow... do you recall doing much prying when digging?   i've always been told to dig by doing the 'chop, chop, scoop' method vs using an avy shuffle vs a traditional shovel where you'd pry up what you're shoveling (thus risking a break like that). 

That radius is a classic stress concentration where the cracks started. It is curious though as that side of the handle would be in compression when the blade is loaded with a normal scoop. Generally cracks are initiated in locations that are tension dominated. So, prying or smacking the snow with the back of the shovel would be the top of my list as the culprit.

Thanks for the heads up! I just went and checked my shovel.

Orion

Hmmm i have that exact same shovel. Purchased it a good 5 or 6 years ago. Love it as it seems to be big enough to move serious snow but light enough to not be a hindrance.

I looked at mine and didnt see anything abnormal in the area of your breakage. Ill have to keep an eye out so thanks for the heads up!

I've heard Scotsman complain about people with lightweight rescue equipment...

I have to agree with Scotsman on this one. I once showed up for a tour with a friend who showed me a new shovel that had no handle and slots cut into for hand holds on the sides... a scoop essentially. saves weight and space. "great, lets swap for the day heres mine" I said... (similar BCA model as in this thread). of course he said no... "well, if you don't want me digging you out with that than why would I"? problem solved...

back to the subject, thanks for posting. I never thought about regularly inspecting my BCA shovel until now.