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Monday, December 14, 2020

British General Service Shovel, GS, Dated 1954 with Broad Arrow Stamp, C. T. Skelton & Co. Sheffield, Suez Crisis, Second Arab-Israeli War, Pioneer, Sapper, Engineer, T-Handle

 Well, as promised, here is the third shovel in my recently acquired British General Service trio.

This shovel is yet another distinct version of the GS shovels.  The previous two were from WW2, and this one is a post-war version.

You can read about the two previous, WW2 shovels here, as well as the history of the GS shovel style:

http://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2020/11/british-general-service-shovel-gs-ww2.html

http://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2020/12/british-general-service-shovel-gs-ww2.html 

This third shovel is dated 1954, and was made by the C. T Skelton & Company of Sheffield, England.  There is an excellent company history here: 

 http://trowelcollector.blogspot.com/2014/12/history-of-ct-skelton-co-tool-maker.html

 The shovel is stamped with the British Broad Arrow acceptance stamp and also has an ID number of some sort stamped:  H.2353   I have no idea what the number means, but it appears to have been stamped at the same time as the date and maker's stamp.


The handle is a T-Handle, with a metal strap reinforcement.  The wooden "T" has a a slight curve to it.

The blade has a welded front and back, forming an integral socket for the handle.

Originally the blade was painted black, with the paint extending up the wood handle a short distance.  There is still a bit of the original black paint visible, here and there.  Around the T-Handle, there are traces of a lighter, and brighter, green (not OD military green).

Although this shovel is dated 1954, it is identical to other shovels produced during WW2.  As I mentioned in previous posts, the GS shovels remained virtually unchanged for years and years.

In 1956, the British Army went to war in Egypt, with the Israelis and the French.  They joined forces against Egypt, in what was called the Second Arab-Israeli War, or Suez Crisis.  This shovel may very well have served there, since it is dated 1954.  Here is a photo of a group of British Royal Engineers, on the beach, during the war.  The shovel in the photo is a GS shovel.

Overall this is a very well made, and very solid shovel.  The blade on this one is exceptionally well made, and quite thick and reinforced near the socket shaft.  There are two small cracks on the upper edge, that are a testament to the hard use this shovel was put to.

If you haven't read up on these shovels yet, pop back to the previous two blog posts and review their history.  Now on to the photo album.  Enjoy!















Wednesday, December 9, 2020

British General Service Shovel, GS, WW2 Issue, Dated 1943 with Broad Arrow Stamp, 1940's Pioneer, Sapper, Engineer, T-Handle

 Well, as promised, here is the second British General Service Shovel in the grouping.  

Before we get into the details of this shovel, you can read up on the history of these shovels in my last post.  You will see another example, and slightly different style, of WW2, British General Service Shovel, as well as a few photos of these shovels in "action".

http://sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2020/11/british-general-service-shovel-gs-ww2.html

This second shovel is dated 1943, and has a makers mark that is only partial.

The date is a "partial strike", so only half of it was actually stamped.  The good thing is that it was the lower half of all the date numerals, so determining the year was pretty easy.  I was not so lucky with the maker.  Unless I can find another shovel with a clear stamping that matches, I may never know who made this shovel. 

The shovel has the British Broad Arrow acceptance stamp, so it was definitely military issue. 

This is an interesting variation of the General Service British Shovels.  It is constructed nearly identically as the M-1910, US, T-Handle entrenching tools!  The blade is welded, front and back to form an integral socket for the wooden handle.  The two open spots on either side of the handle, have been filled with wooden plugs.  This is the identical construction method used on the US, M-1910 entrenching tools.  I'll be looking into that similarity further, but for now, here are a few, side-by-side comparison photos of my 1943 dated US, M-1910 entrenching tool, and the 1943 dated, British General Service Shovel.


This GS shovel is basically "as-found".  I did a light cleaning of the rusted blade areas with a wire brush, and then applied a coat of danish oil over the entire shovel.  I leave the original patina whenever possible, and always go for conservation over restoration whenever I can.

Since I covered the history of these shovels in my last blog post, let's jump right into the photo album.  Enjoy!














Saturday, November 28, 2020

British General Service Shovel, GS, WW2 Issue, T-Handle Restoration with Broad Arrow Stamp, 1940's Pioneer, Sapper, Engineer

 I had the rare opportunity to pick up a trio of British General Service Shovels from a seller in the US.  All three were slightly different, with one of them damaged.  The price was amazing, so I bought all three!  One is dated 1943, one 1954, and the third is undated, but Broad Arrow stamped.

I'll be showing off each one separately in the next three blog postings.  For today, we'll start with the undated, damaged shovel.  I'll also show the restoration of the damaged handle.

This style of British, GS, or General Service Shovel, was the standard issue, full-sized shovel that saw use from WW1 (or possibly before), through the 1950's.  The GS Shovels were found in nearly every theater of operation, in service with almost all units, and mounted on nearly every British vehicle.  In addition to their mundane, uses around camps and bases, they were the preferred combat entrenching tool carried by the soldiers in the field during WW2.

Before we get too far along though, here is a shot of the restored GS Shovel that is pictured above.  I'll go over the restoration, a bit later in the blog post.

The standard issue, British, entrenching tool during WW2, was the Pattern 1939 spade, and then the Pattern 1937, "combo-tool".  Both of these tools were very unpopular with the troops, and as a consequence, the field soldiers, unofficially, adopted the GS Shovel as a substitute.  

In many of the old photos, it is common to see the smaller, official Pattern 1937 tools  being carried on the belt, with a full sized, GS Shovel carried in the pack, or tucked cross-wise in the front belt.  Basically, if the soldier needed to dig a hole, the GS Shovel could be counted on to actually get the job done, unlike the diminutive Pattern 1937 tools.  There was also the belief that the heavier, and larger, steel blade of the GS Shovel offered a bit of "armor plate" protection when carried (an extra, and potentially lifesaving bonus, in the soldier's eyes!).  

 


In 1958, the British Army adopted a new entrenching tool, the Pattern 1958 Light Infantry Shovel.  This was a GS Shovel with a slightly shorter handle (29 inches), with a hole drilled through, near the T-handle.  The hole was for mounting it on a carry-stud, on the Pattern 58 web harness.

You can read more about the Pattern 1958, short handle shovel, here:  https://talesfromthesupplydepot.blog/2016/05/09/short-general-service-shovel/

The GS Shovels are still used by the British Army, but I believe they may be a slightly different style.

From the beginning, the GS Shovels were basically a civilian, T-handle shovel, that had been accepted into British Military service.  The military shovels all had a British Broad Arrow stamp.  The civilian shovels are missing this stamp, but are otherwise the same.

The British military specifications for the GS Shovel, call for a blade that is 8 inches across.  There was another British shovel called the Round Edge Shovel, or RE Shovel, that had a blade that was more rounded and 10 inches across. To save weight, the sides of the RE Shovel were trimmed straight, shaving almost a pound off of the weight.  The resulting, lighter, shovel became the GS Shovel.  You can read more about the wider RE Shovel here:  https://talesfromthesupplydepot.blog/2017/10/17/ww1-royal-engineers-shovel/

During WW2, there were quite a number of slight variations of GS Shovels.  All handles and shafts were made of wood, but some had reinforcing metal straps over the T-Handle, and some did not.  Some of the "T's" were slightly curved, and some were straight.  I think that basically, if it was a T-handle shovel, that fell within the blade dimensions, and overall dimensions, it was accepted into service, without all needing to be exactly the same.  There were even slight variations in the metal blade construction.  In fact, these shovels were made by literally hundreds of manufacturers during WW2.  Some were well established shovel makers, and some were smaller shops and factories that only made the shovels during the war.  Some shovels were dated, with manufacturers marks and names, and some were unmarked, with only the Broad Arrow stamp.

Now that we have covered some of the history and specifics of these General Service Shovels, let's take a closer look at this first of three, GS Shovels that I have.

This particular shovel has only one marking.  It is stamped with the Broad Arrow acceptance stamp.  There is no date or manufacturer's name.

These WW2 vintage shovels are also painted black on the metal blade, and up the wood handle a short distance.

This shovel is the typical, WW2 style shovel, and almost certainly dates to WW2 due to it's rougher construction and the fact that it is unmarked and undated.  These unmarked and undated examples are nearly all from WW2, and most likely were made by smaller contractors.  It is just a guess, but I believe these more basic, and unmarked shovels, may have been produced later in the war.  

You can see the Broad Arrow stamp in the photo.

When I received the shovel, the T-handle was missing.  The handle had snapped off at the base of the T-handle, diagonally down the main shaft.  The top edge of the shaft, where it butted up to the T-handle was still present on one side, so I was certain as to the original length of the shaft.

 After photographing the shovel in it's original, damaged state, I headed down to the bunker to restore it back to its former glory (well, as close as possible!).

Here is the basic process I followed to restore the handle.  To make the repair, I cleaned up the break surface, by making a clean, straight, diagonal cut.  I duplicated this angle on a new piece of handle shaft, and glued the two together.  After gluing, I shaped the grafted portion to match the original shaft.  Next I drilled and installed a long, brass, wood screw, from top to bottom, inside the wood shaft.  This serves to reinforce the glued joint internally.  After the screw was installed, I carved and shaped the top of the shaft to accept the T-Handle.  I then made a T-handle and installed it on the carved shaft, pinned everything in place, and finished the new, bare wood with stain.

Here is a side-by-side photo of the repaired handle next to another WW2, British T-handle shovel (before stain).  The left shovel is a WW2 vintage GS shovel, and the right shovel is the repaired shovel.

I finished up the repair with several coats of stain, and then coated the entire handle with Danish Oil.  The final color is still a bit off, so I will have to do a bit more matching later.  It is very difficult to color match new wood to the original old, and weathered, wood, in this type of repair.  It will never be a perfect match, but it will do just fine for display.  This is what I consider a "museum restoration".

Here is the finished product.  Let's take a look at the fully restored, WW2 vintage, General Service Shovel.