Hi Richie.

Hi taikuri, I don't just mean that the handle will separate or fold from the shovel; I mean that the actual shovel blade itself (the digging part) will fold to make it much smaller; as well as having the detatchable or folding handle.

I've not seen one with a folding blade as well which I think would potentially be an awesome idea to make it really narrow and compact when stowed in a back pack.

Idk if this will work but i have a plastic shovel with an aluminum strip riveted on. 

It will collapse, i have made one full carbon shovel already, which goes into 3 pieces like most this kind of shovels. 

We've been discussing this a bit recently as one of the other issues we see is the size of the shovel - it makes for a much larger back pack than you would otherwise need - poles, probes and the handle are relatively narrow once collapsed so it would be useful if the shovel itself could collapse or fold inwards so that you could use a camelback size backpack rather than a much larger one simply to accomodate the shovel itself.

You could make a narrow (2- 4 cm . ) strip of thin stainless steel and add at the edge as a layer in between the CF layers .. score/rough up the surface of the steel to make it bond properly to the CF/Epoxy ..

When you trim that edge -- sharpen it so that the steel edge sticks out a few mm ---  (I've made knives this way .. ) Also make the "business edge of the shovel a bit thicker/stronger than the rest of the blade .. that's where you need the strength!

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While ago i was looking for some small cf project just to practise more and i came up with this idea, make cf avalanche snow shovel for myself. At the beginning it was easy project, made 2 prototypes testing different fabrics, both came out very strong, just some pinholes. After testing them with snow and icy snow i realised that the tip of the shovel is not strong enough it crushed and they layers started to come apart little bit. Now im looking options what can i do to make the tip stronger, i was thinking some small metal insert to the tip, but havent figured out how to put it there. im happy to hear suggestions or other ideas how could i make it strong enough for icy snow.