This Might Be the, Um, Poo-Fect Trowel

Mike Cecot-Scherer has designed more things in the outdoor industry than you can shake a well-designed poop trowel at. He’s been an in-house and freelance designer of tents for decades at some of the biggest outdoor brands in the world. He also runs his own side business at The Tent Lab, designing and selling stuff that doesn’t directly compete with his paying clients.

One of those things is The Deuce, a clever, light, and strong poop trowel.

Cecot-Scherer is both a big believer in Leave No Trace principles, and a design and physics expert who puts a ton of thought into stuff he designs. The Deuce, besides being light and strong, is specifically meant to make digging catholes easier and more effective. The handle is fashioned to be used almost like a saw to penetrate soil, then cut it out. Then, flipped in the hand, the blade of the trowel scoops below the outline cut into the soil and, presto, big chunk of soil is removed. This is the same technique you might use to dig a big hole in compact ground: break up the soil in the pattern of hole you wanna dig, then scoop out the broken up chunks. Brilliant.

The Deuce comes in three sizes, #1, #2, and #3, in corresponding order from smallest to biggest. Cecot-Scherer says the #2 is their most popular, weighing it at just over half an ounce.

He makes some very informative videos showing how the trowel was designed and this one, below, maybe the best “how to dig a cathole” video ever made. Oscar-worthy.

Buy The Deuce here, for about $20, depending on size.