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!
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