Homemade Spud and Mantua Ice

[Brighamfish]

So I finally got around to making my own ice spud this year. Welded it up about two weeks ago from some 6' x 1/2" black pipe & an old chisel my Grandpa gave me years ago. Chisel was about 12" x 2.5" x 3/8" steel with a 3" fan shaped blade.

Went to Mantua a little over a week ago to try it & the whole lake was pretty much ice free other than 1/2" of slush on top, no chipping that day. With the colder temps this week I thought I'd check out Mantua again tonight and most of the lake is now hard water. Reaching the shore it was easy to see the Ice there has a LOT of variation in thickness and quality, perfect for a spud test!

There is 1-3" of ice everywhere we went that varied from weak white slush to solid clear. It was really nice to be able to use the spud and see what was walkable. I could hit it down & where it didn't go through I could walk out & where it did go through the ice would start cracking or sagging under me if I walked on it. After a minute or two of testing I starting walking along with confidence chipping away as I went.

I Think I'm going to narrow the blade a bit so it will penetrate deeper & give me a little more safety margin with less effort. Overall I'm pretty happy with how it's come out. Kids liked the idea of putting a stencil on it so I put a pic of what we came up with for that up too. Likely do the dragon in black and flames in yellow and gold. Hopefully it will help determine if those nasty pressure ridges are crossable for the wheelers too. Nothing worse than crossing those things when they "look" solid and praying your rig doesn't go down.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the great report. I seen ice on Hyrum as well but didn't have time to go check its thickness. It's probably like Mantua. Not sure if it would have enough to get on. Definitely time for caution. Thanks for the report. J
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[RockyRaab]

You might want to put some kind of lanyard on it - or risk having it go zipping to the bottom on that last stab you made into thick ice.
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[lilfish]

+1 on the lanyard recommendation its not if but when
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[Brighamfish]

For sure on the lanyard. I was also thinking about putting some grip tape you use on stairs on it. Like sandpaper with a sticky backing.
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[Fowl-Hook]

The lanyard is essential, when the spud actually breaks thru thin Ice which is only rarely or when chipping out an old hole it will with no effort at all break your wrist over and your grip will be gone. I know from actual experience TWICE. Unless you enjoy making new Spuds simply put a wrist strap on your tool and use the strap every time.
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[MACMAN]

Cool spud! I never go without mine, even on thick ice (for pressure ridges). I did something this year I had never done before, but highly recommend it. Up at East canyon the edges were refrozen. In my muck boots, in 12” of water, I spent about a half hour figuring out exactly how hard I had to punch the ice to determine how thick actually held me. I got a few strange looks, but it was a very successful experiment. I now know exactly how to tell what’s safe or not. Everyone should do this.
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