# shovelling techniques



## skizilla (Dec 21, 2008)

I am to cheap and proud to buy a snow blower and live near Springfield mass so we only get a couple big storms a year that get my goat shoveling wise.  Do any of you northerners have any techniques for shoveling, shovel recommendations, timing, or driveway prep ideas?

I personally go with a wide shovel probably 18-20 inches that is curved plastic with a inch an a half metal blade.  It works pretty well once i taped on the blade to the handle cause kept popping off.


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (Dec 21, 2008)

live in an apartment complex..


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## Warp Daddy (Dec 21, 2008)

Yeah my shoveling routine is a 9hp  2 stage snowblower 

 -- ALTHO i JUST now SHOVELED  my roof on the sunroom  12 x 16  addition to the house  about 3 ft of snow on it


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## Hawkshot99 (Dec 21, 2008)

let it sit till it melts.


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## Johnskiismore (Dec 21, 2008)

Landlord's son with his truck and plow ;-)

I am having my house built this summer and the driveway is going to be pretty big.... almost as big as my parents, and with the memories of shoveling as a wee little lad, I have put on lawaway a 25HP John Deere riding mower complete with a snow thrower!


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## Chris I (Dec 21, 2008)

make 1 line down the middle of the drive way.  then take start and one end and just hammer it out on one side.  then switch directions for the other side (depending on how the abs feel)


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## mondeo (Dec 21, 2008)

Depends on the snow.Lighter it is, more I'll tend towards a wide shovel and push. Always in the direction with the prevailing wind, and throw the snow as far as possible so as to avoid having to lift it later in the year.


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## bigbog (Dec 21, 2008)

*....*

Yah, there's nothing like spending shoveling/blowing it away when you could be skiing in it someplace...
What is also nice is the plastic scoop....~36x36"...great for those times when you wanna get some exercise , although the blower is the easiest....;-)

$.01


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## drjeff (Dec 21, 2008)

Warp Daddy said:


> Yeah my shoveling routine is a 9hp  2 stage snowblower



I'll second that technique   Just gotta be carefull not to pull a muscle in my thumb pushing the button on the electric starter though


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## Glenn (Dec 22, 2008)

I live in CT and I have a snowblower. I grew up in Western Mass and you guys get more snow than we do.


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## Grassi21 (Dec 22, 2008)

10.5 horsepower Ariens snow thrower...  this item and my back pack leaf blower are the two best purchases i have made as a home owner.


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## Warp Daddy (Dec 22, 2008)

Grassi21 said:


> 10.5 horsepower Ariens snow thrower...  this item and my back pack leaf blower are the two best purchases i have made as a home owner.



Agree totally !!

  My first Ariens a 1976 model  7 hp lasted  till this year and still started with recoil but was sometimes an effort  so sold it and bought a new Ariens   9hp -------------------these suckers really do a great job and with this pow it throws a hell af a rooster tail .


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## Grassi21 (Dec 22, 2008)

Warp Daddy said:


> Agree totally !!
> 
> My first Ariens a 1976 model  7 hp lasted  till this year and still started with recoil but was sometimes an effort  so sold it and bought a new Ariens   9hp -------------------these suckers really do a great job and with this pow it throws a hell af a rooster tail .



i have heard great things about ariens which is why i went with one.  i bought it off of a guy who used to for one season.  he decided 10.5 hp wasn't enough and bought a plow for his truck.  

love throwing the pow, hate throwing the slush/wet snow.  the wife parked our son's highchair in front of the window on saturday morning so he could watch me clear the driveway.  i hope he was taking notes because this will be his job in about 13 years.


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## Marc (Dec 22, 2008)

Don't twist when you throw the snow off the shovel.  Twisting is the singular easiest way to injur your back according to my soon to be Dr. of PT girlfriend.

Beyond that, you could do like me and shovel with a FEL:


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## Warp Daddy (Dec 22, 2008)

Grassi21 said:


> i have heard great things about ariens which is why i went with one.  i bought it off of a guy who used to for one season.  he decided 10.5 hp wasn't enough and bought a plow for his truck.
> 
> love throwing the pow, hate throwing the slush/wet snow.  the wife parked our son's highchair in front of the window on saturday morning so he could watch me clear the driveway.  i hope he was taking notes because this will be his job in about 13 years.



Saw you're an IC  my son's best buddie  was on their indoor and outdoor   track and field squad and XC squad in teh early 90's  My son was a UB athlete in the  same sports we have several  great IC friends from that period and earlier 

My former colleague and   Athletic Director a one of  the college's   i worked at held the Foul shooting record @ IC  for DECADES.

Good school


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## Grassi21 (Dec 22, 2008)

Warp Daddy said:


> Saw you're an IC  my son's best buddie  was on their indoor and outdoor   track and field squad and XC squad in teh early 90's  My son was a UB athlete in the  same sports we have several  great IC friends from that period and earlier
> 
> My former colleague and   Athletic Director a one of  the college's   i worked at held the Foul shooting record @ IC  for DECADES.
> 
> Good school



Ithaca is a special place.  Can't wait to get back up there.


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## o3jeff (Dec 22, 2008)

Have an Ariens 9/26, does the job.


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## campgottagopee (Dec 22, 2008)

I've found that my 27hp Simplicity 4x4 Legacy XL w/ 49 inch 2stage blower and 40lb spintech salt spreader works better than any shovel you could ever find.


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## drjeff (Dec 22, 2008)

campgottagopee said:


> I've found that my 27hp Simplicity 4x4 Legacy XL w/ 49 inch 2stage blower and 40lb spintech salt spreader works better than any shovel you could ever find.



And it's a really cool color too!


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (Dec 22, 2008)

At work we have 3 inches of solid ice on the driveway and paths..we're not planning on any deliveries this week due to the weather..I used about 100 pounds of salt on the paths and the sun despite frigid temperatures is softening the paths..luckily mother nature is going to do the shovelling Wednesday and Thursday with warm temperatures and rain..


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## campgottagopee (Dec 22, 2008)

drjeff said:


> And it's a really cool color too!



Damn spiffy---john deer green does nothing for me


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## ctenidae (Dec 22, 2008)

I find that spending the extra few bucks for a good shocel makes a huge difference.

Straight handle, metal blade, loop top.


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## Grassi21 (Dec 22, 2008)

ctenidae said:


> I find that spending the extra few bucks for a good shocel makes a huge difference.
> 
> Straight handle, metal blade, loop top.



straight handle is where its at.  those offset ones suck IMO.


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## hammer (Dec 22, 2008)

Grassi21 said:


> straight handle is where its at.  those offset ones suck IMO.


I actually like the offset handles, easier on the back.

I have a metal-edged shovel for scraping the driveway (getting up with my 13YO Home Depot special snow blower can't get to) but _my son_ uses a plastic blade shovel for the brick walkway.

I'd like to get a new snow blower soon...would rather wait until a good sale comes along.


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## ctenidae (Dec 22, 2008)

Grassi21 said:


> straight handle is where its at.  those offset ones suck IMO.



The bend does terrible things to the ballistics of throwing wads of snow out of the way. 
Probably are better for the back, though.


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## wa-loaf (Dec 22, 2008)




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## hammer (Dec 22, 2008)

wa-loaf said:


>



Nice.

Was that with one pass?  If so, what kind of snow blower do you have...


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## wa-loaf (Dec 22, 2008)

hammer said:


> Nice.
> 
> Was that with one pass?  If so, what kind of snow blower do you have...



Two, it's a 1983 Lawnboy 5hp. I got it for free. The electric start is broken, but it still starts on one pull and is a work horse.


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## campgottagopee (Dec 22, 2008)

wa-loaf said:


> Two, it's a 1983 Lawnboy 5hp. I got it for free. The electric start is broken, but it still starts on one pull and is a work horse.



Lawnboy makes great stuff--htat's a keeper


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## wa-loaf (Dec 22, 2008)

campgottagopee said:


> Lawnboy makes great stuff--htat's a keeper



They only make those little snow throwers now. I don't know why they stopped making the bigger blowers.


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## Trekchick (Dec 22, 2008)

I have a John Deere 544 J Front end loader with an 8 cu yd snow bucket.  Works well for me 

For my sidewalks, I have an 8ph Simplicity 2 stage snowblower


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## drjeff (Dec 22, 2008)

Trekchick said:


> I have a John Deere 544 J Front end loader with an 8 cu yd snow bucket.  Works well for me


Well, I guess that would work 



> For my sidewalks, I have an 8ph Simplicity 2 stage snowblower



I use the same Simplicity 8hp/2 stage for my home snowremoval.  Love it, and as I've already said to camp,  Simplicities are a REALLY cool color! 

Many times though I will admit as I'm clearing the driveway to daydreaming that instead of an 8HP gas powered 2 stage snowblower, that I'm using an 8HP gas powered snowgun     And I'm sure that just about anyone on this board who uses a snowblower has had similiar dreams!


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## Trekchick (Dec 22, 2008)

Due to an end of season rush on office work, we've hired a farm kid to to my sidewalk shoveling.  I miss it very much.


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## drjeff (Dec 22, 2008)

Trekchick said:


> Due to an end of season rush on office work, we've hired a farm kid to to my sidewalk shoveling.  I miss it very much.



In all seriousness, I find that snowremoval duties in the winter and lawn cutting duties in the non snow months to be a GREAT source of mental traquility for me.  And for this reason, and not just my ski love,  I wish that we'd get clearable storms atleast once, if not twice a week all winter long.


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## ctenidae (Dec 22, 2008)

drjeff said:


> In all seriousness, I find that snowremoval duties in the winter and lawn cutting duties in the non snow months to be a GREAT source of mental traquility for me.  And for this reason, and not just my ski love,  I wish that we'd get clearable storms atleast once, if not twice a week all winter long.



I believe getting your hands dirty is the best way to keep your head clean.

Drink your orange juice.


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## Warp Daddy (Dec 22, 2008)

Yeah snowblowing HAS a certain  ZEN to it 

BTW nice job wa-loaf   ----------2 passes  on that stretch  look sweet


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## campgottagopee (Dec 22, 2008)

Warp Daddy said:


> Yeah snowblowing HAS a certain  ZEN to it
> 
> BTW nice job wa-loaf   ----------2 passes  on that stretch  look sweet



Yeah, called ice cream headache---dang it was cold this a m


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## Warp Daddy (Dec 22, 2008)

campgottagopee said:


> yeah, called ice cream headache---dang it was cold this a m



brainfreeze


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (Dec 22, 2008)

drjeff said:


> In all seriousness, I find that snowremoval duties in the winter and lawn cutting duties in the non snow months to be a GREAT source of mental traquility for me.  And for this reason, and not just my ski love,  I wish that we'd get clearable storms atleast once, if not twice a week all winter long.



I like the term mental traquility..a combination of that and leisure time is what I live for..I really hope New England has a snowpack that lasts all winter and into the late Spring.  

Do you guys use much salt as well??  I used alot of it at work today but isn't it really bad for the environment?  It erodes at everything..


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## Jisch (Dec 22, 2008)

*Yes*



Chris I said:


> make 1 line down the middle of the drive way.  then take start and one end and just hammer it out on one side.  then switch directions for the other side (depending on how the abs feel)



+1 on this technique. 

I have a blower, but its old and used and breaks down, and for many years I didn't have one at all. It is amazing how quickly you can go with a blower versus shoveling. Much like the difference between cutting the lawn with a push mover versus the tractor.

The middle down the line technique is exactly how I do it. I look at shoveling as a form of excercise and try to find a pace that gets my heart rate up and I can maintain for a long period of time. My driveway is 120' long, so depending on the snow, it can be a 2 or 3 hour work out. 

John


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## mondeo (Dec 22, 2008)

Glenn said:


> I live in CT and I have a snowblower. I grew up in Western Mass and you guys get more snow than we do.


I grew up in WNY and for a while my family didn't have a snow blower.

My parents figured that three kids were a just as effective, yet cheaper, method of clearing the snow.



drjeff said:


> In all seriousness, I find that snowremoval duties in the winter and lawn cutting duties in the non snow months to be a GREAT source of mental traquility for me.  And for this reason, and not just my ski love,  I wish that we'd get clearable storms at least once, if not twice a week all winter long.



+1. One of the things I miss due to living in a condo in CT is the chance to do any shoveling at all. It's actually to the point that when I was visiting the folks over Thanksgiving, the first thing I did one morning was go out and shovel the 4-6" of snow out of the driveway. Peaceful and a good workout.


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## ctenidae (Dec 22, 2008)

mondeo said:


> +1. One of the things I miss due to living in a condo in CT is the chance to do any shoveling at all. It's actually to the point that when I was visiting the folks over Thanksgiving, the first thing I did one morning was go out and shovel the 4-6" of snow out of the driveway. Peaceful and a good workout.



You're more than welcome to come shovel my driveway and steps. I was away all weekend and had to hack through the 2 foot ice berm at teh end of my drive to get the car in. It all has a nice thick layer of ice on top that will make shovelling fun.

There is beer available.


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## drjeff (Dec 22, 2008)

GrilledSteezeSandwich said:


> I like the term mental traquility..a combination of that and leisure time is what I live for..I really hope New England has a snowpack that lasts all winter and into the late Spring.
> 
> Do you guys use much salt as well??  I used alot of it at work today but isn't it really bad for the environment?  It erodes at everything..



I tend to use a bit of salt both at home and at work simply for liability issues.  If my home employee(the kids babysitter/nanny) slips and falls and injures herself,  my wife and I could be on the hook for a settlement,  so the path she takes from her car to my front door gets shoveled regularly(even if it's a non snowblower amount of snow) and a liberal dose of salt hits the same path.

Same thing at work, the sidewalk from where the snowplow guy stops and the front door of my office gets scraped and salted regularly for liability issues.


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## Hawkshot99 (Dec 23, 2008)

I have a plow guy that does my apartment lot.  He nearly had to buy me a new car Sunday night.  Missed my car by 6" at 30mph clearing the lot.  The lot is 150' long, he does not need to drive that crazy.  He hit the side walk hard, and it made his truck bounce high in the air.  Then he never shoveled my walkway.......


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## Glenn (Dec 23, 2008)

ctenidae said:


> I believe getting your hands dirty is the best way to keep your head clean.
> 
> Drink your orange juice.



I only wear my hat backwards when I'm wrenching on our vehicles....

Dr. Jeff is 100% correct: Snow removal is relaxing. So is mowing the lawn. Most people gripe about those tasks; I look forward to them. I find it really relaxing to do a job outside, that yeilds good looking results.


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## Glenn (Dec 23, 2008)

Hawkshot99 said:


> I have a plow guy that does my apartment lot.  He nearly had to buy me a new car Sunday night.  Missed my car by 6" at 30mph clearing the lot.  The lot is 150' long, he does not need to drive that crazy.  He hit the side walk hard, and it made his truck bounce high in the air.  Then he never shoveled my walkway.......



Some plow guys like to throw em' back whilst out and about. 

We used to throw beers to the guy that operated the large front end loader in college. We lived in the second floor, so he could pull to the side of the turn around area and catch what we tossed. It was always worth throwing him a few beers because he'd deliver when I'd say: "Ok, now do a few doughnuts with that beast!" Nothing funnier when you have a few in you: Watching some dude make a multi ton piece of a construction equipment doing doughnuts behind the dorm. Classic.


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## Warp Daddy (Dec 23, 2008)

Glenn said:


> Some plow guys like to throw em' back whilst out and about.
> 
> We used to throw beers to the guy that operated the large front end loader in college. We lived in the second floor, so he could pull to the side of the turn around area and catch what we tossed. It was always worth throwing him a few beers because he'd deliver when I'd say: "Ok, now do a few doughnuts with that beast!" Nothing funnier when you have a few in you: Watching some dude make a multi ton piece of a construction equipment doing doughnuts behind the dorm. Classic.



Yeah and THAT dude grew up and became Cris Elliot the MAD snowplow driver in the flick called  SNOWDAY
 :dunce:


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## hammer (Dec 23, 2008)

Hawkshot99 said:


> I have a plow guy that does my apartment lot.  He nearly had to buy me a new car Sunday night.  Missed my car by 6" at 30mph clearing the lot.  The lot is 150' long, he does not need to drive that crazy.  He hit the side walk hard, and it made his truck bounce high in the air.  Then he never shoveled my walkway.......


As much as I hate to do so, I've learned to give the plow trucks going through the neighborhood a wide berth...especially if I want to keep my mailbox...

One time I made a plow truck slow down while I was clearing my driveway...on his next pass he made sure he sped up as he went past my driveway and I got a good shot of snow right in the back.


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (Dec 23, 2008)

I'd rather push the snow with all my weight..then lift it..


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## Hawkshot99 (Dec 23, 2008)

hammer said:


> As much as I hate to do so, I've learned to give the plow trucks going through the neighborhood a wide berth...especially if I want to keep my mailbox...
> 
> One time I made a plow truck slow down while I was clearing my driveway...on his next pass he made sure he sped up as he went past my driveway and I got a good shot of snow right in the back.



My car was parked.  I was going out to move it, so he  could get the entire lot.


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## Glenn (Dec 23, 2008)

Warp Daddy said:


> Yeah and THAT dude grew up and became Cris Elliot the MAD snowplow driver in the flick called  SNOWDAY
> :dunce:



He told us his boss was usually pretty hammered on tequillia when driving the skid steer around campus. These were contractors IIRC...not the college facilities guys.


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## Bumpsis (Dec 23, 2008)

Snow blowers are for sissies.
I'm sticking with my assortment of snow showels. Bent handle scoop, bent handle flat blade are the most heaily used. I like the straight handle scoop for breaking up the street plow wall that is formed after they pass down the street and bury our cars. The long bladed push shovel is for the polishing step - it's great for scraping down to the pavemenet. I actually enjoy showeling snow. The only aspect of it that gets rather annoying is that there is no place to put it.

My house doesn't have a driveway, so it's street parking. When snowfalls are in excess of 8 inches I have to load up the snow in garbage pails and haul it off onto the yard. It makes a nice heap for kids to dig into and hauling barrels of snow is  a hell of a work out.


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## bigbog (Dec 23, 2008)

*....*

Bumpsis,
One of those _should've been there.._   Jan-Apr 1993 storms....parking on the streets of Brighton was open warfare!...nothing short of....:grin:


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## Warp Daddy (Dec 23, 2008)

Bumpsis said:


> Snow blowers are for sissies.
> 
> Let 'see must be  a city boy talkin ' smack
> 
> has no  200 ft driveway-or side pkg lots or 100-200 ft of walkways - prolly never seen a whiteout come in sideways D


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## Terry (Dec 24, 2008)

I shovel with a 7.5 foot fisher on my old 77 chevy truck that has 326,000 miles on it. Amazing how well the old girl will push snow. Much better than the new trucks. Full time 4x4 and limited slip differential make a huge difference. I also have a 4 foot snow blower on the front of my 1970 International cub cadet tractor. Only a single stage, but works good on anything but real sloppy snow.


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## campgottagopee (Dec 24, 2008)

Bumpsis said:


> Snow blowers are for sissies.
> I'm sticking with my assortment of snow showels. Bent handle scoop, bent handle flat blade are the most heaily used. I like the straight handle scoop for breaking up the street plow wall that is formed after they pass down the street and bury our cars. The long bladed push shovel is for the polishing step - it's great for scraping down to the pavemenet. I actually enjoy showeling snow. The only aspect of it that gets rather annoying is that there is no place to put it.
> 
> My house doesn't have a driveway, so it's street parking. When snowfalls are in excess of 8 inches I have to load up the snow in garbage pails and haul it off onto the yard. It makes a nice heap for kids to dig into and hauling barrels of snow is  a hell of a work out.



Sissy this---frickin Magilla Gorilla couldn't shovel my driveway!!!!


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## campgottagopee (Dec 24, 2008)

GrilledSteezeSandwich said:


> .
> 
> Do you guys use much salt as well??  I used alot of it at work today but isn't it really bad for the environment?  It erodes at everything..



I go thru a pallett of 80lb bags per year---my driveway is 400ft and very steep---gotta keep er clean


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## Glenn (Dec 24, 2008)

I'm thinking we need a "post pics of your snow removal device(s)" thread.


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## Mildcat (Dec 24, 2008)

Bumpsis said:


> Snow blowers are for sissies.



Well knit me a skirt and call me a sissy! :lol: My driveways just friggen huge and my neighbors driveway is right next to it so I can't throw the snow that way. Some spots I'd have to walk each shovelful 20-30 ft just to throw it.


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## Terry (Dec 24, 2008)

Glenn said:


> I'm thinking we need a "post pics of your snow removal device(s)" thread.


 This is a picture of "the beast"


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## hardline (Dec 24, 2008)

when i buy a new house in the north i will put in a heated driveway but as soon as i have kids they will shovel. a freind has one and its great. a little excessive but i loath shoveling.


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## Trekchick (Dec 25, 2008)

Trekchick said:


> Due to an end of season rush on office work, we've hired a farm kid to to my sidewalk shoveling.  I miss it very much.





drjeff said:


> In all seriousness, I find that snowremoval duties in the winter and lawn cutting duties in the non snow months to be a GREAT source of mental traquility for me.  And for this reason, and not just my ski love,  I wish that we'd get clearable storms atleast once, if not twice a week all winter long.





ctenidae said:


> I believe getting your hands dirty is the best way to keep your head clean.
> 
> Drink your orange juice.


Yesterday I shoveled sidewalks for our commercial accounts and it felt great!
We got another 4 inches over night, which makes me grin 

I love winter!


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## Bumpsis (Dec 27, 2008)

Warp Daddy said:


> Bumpsis said:
> 
> 
> > Snow blowers are for sissies.
> ...


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## skiing is life (Dec 27, 2008)

Since i live near you i would know that out of the few storms we get, the majority of them are wet, heavy snow. 
   That being said dont pick up as much snow as the shovel will allow. What i do is just pick up small amounts that i can quickly throw to the side and carry on. 


You could also invest in a powershovel, they make things a hell of alot easier. they cost about 100 bucks:smile:







https://www.shoptoro.com/Comergent/en/US/adirect/Toro?cmd=ToroCatProductDetail


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## Glenn (Dec 29, 2008)

Terry said:


> This is a picture of "the beast"




Love it! Sweet rig!


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