We’ve discovered the best snow tools for managing winter because we not only deal with our own house, but we also do snow removal for other homeowners and for commercial clients.
I got into snow removal and management by accident. Long story short, the machines we own for the remodeling side of the MyFixitUpLife Empire are also snow missiles.
However, in order to stay in the snow business, I’ve learned some things that do and do not work well. Some big. Some small. And I’ve watched guys work their guts out for $2 an hour because they just think it’s all rawdogging the snow and cold. It ain’t.
I’ve learned a few things along the way and landed on a few must-haves for managing snow.
Top-Lines
- Snow shovels are the worst shovels for snow on earth
- Gas, battery, tractor
- Hats
- Gloves
- “Salt”
- Un-common sense tips
What’s in this article?
Best Snow Tools: Big Tools
The best tool for managing snow is being as ready as possible–-as early as possible. But we’ve also discovered which snow tools are the best for dealing with snow and removing snow. Explore the tools below and keep your family safe during every snowstorm.
Tractor
We bought the tractor for augering post holes for our decks. Period. It’s a small front-end loader with big, puffy ag tires called the Power-Trac PT-425.
Unknown when we bought it, the thing is a snow missile. I don’t even think Power-Trac knows it’s a snow missile.
I’ve made vastly more money removing snow with it than augering deck footings. It is also the best wheelbarrow/concrete mixing tub/gravel carrier on earth.
Dump Truck
We bought the dump truck to manage trash during projects for our residential clients. Between the dumpster-dump trailer-dump truck triumvirate, the dump truck made the most sense. Yeah, it keeps a lot of costs in-house, but it is a 7.3-liter diesel cauldron of go-time we don’t need to rent or walk around for a month or anything. It’s there when we need it.
It came with a plow.
Snow Thrower
A client gave me one. I had it tuned up. It’s an older Ariens. Gas. The one in the photo is also a good option.
Best Snow Tools: Small Tools
Snow removal at scale exposes holes in my game. Sure, I can wrestle a crappy shovel or boots that’re just OK through a driveway or two, but 30? No thank you. When you’re out there and in it, the energy you don’t expend is easily as important as the energy you do expend. Here are the best snow tools for managing winter.
Grain/Materials Scoop
I have no idea how Big Snow Shovel has conned us for all these years with tools that are truly terrible for the task at hand. I remember hating them when I was a kid. Odd angle of attack to the work, steel wrapped leading edges that doze the snow, not sneak under it. They’re way too long which spreads your hands out for taking big scoops. And they’re not that rugged.
For me, it’s my Craftsman grain scoop all day. It’s one of the best snow tools for any homeowner. With a short handle and a plastic blade, you can get a really low angle of attack on the snow and/or use it like a plow. It holds enough snow without holding too much. Like my tractor above, it’s not made for snow, but it, too is a snow missile.
Note: Do not get an aluminum grain scoop. Where plastic glides across rougher surfaces like concrete sidewalks, the aluminum grabs. No bueno.
Transfer Shovel
My Craftsman transfer shovel is what might colloquially be called a “flat blade” shovel. While it’s not a primary tool for snow, it’s a must-have on my truck. It solves oddball problems like ice and crust. During our last big snowstorm, we had 6-inches of snow, 1/2-inch of ice, 6-inches of snow. Salt-water snowbanks from the town plows. Nothing was getting through all that once it set up.
What did the trick was using the transfer shovel like a spear. Because it’s a little heavy–and steel–it pierced the crust and levered it off the snow pack. I’d still be out there without this shovel.
Boots
My feet get so wet and cold in all-day clean-ups, I’ve started bringing back-ups. Yes, the new leather is considered waterproof, but only for so long. The boot I have walked 100+ miles in over the years is the 8-inch Oil-Tanned Leather Timberland Pro Soft Toe.
Gloves
Gloves can be a real hole in snow removal output and fatigue. I’ve tried all kinds, but the units I’m digging the most I bought by (it’s a theme!!!!) accident.
What I’m looking for is a blend of skin-tight, knit, “dipped” gloves. I get the tactical looking bumper pad gloves look cool, but they’re not really skin tight and they’re kind of thick. When you’re engaging shovels, snow blower controls, a steering wheel 1,000x per hour any wasted motion just amplifies fatigue.
And you can’t manage your phone.
The Klein Tools Touchscreen Dipped Knit Gloves played out great while operating everything, keeping enough cold off my skin (they’re not warm, really; I’m burning calories like crazy; I don’t want “warm” gloves). And, I could manage calls.
Hat
Not what you think.
First, I despise hats. I know I’m a weirdo but unless it is a beanie that is both on the crown of my skull but also 12 miles away from my ear lobes, it ain’t happenin’. It really has to be an emergency for me to put on a ball cap.
However, it’s cold and there’s this stuff coming out of the sky. So, in a delirium one night after being out there all day I noticed my hard hat I had to wear when doing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Holy cow, that’s perfect.
The Lyft Full Brimmed Hard Hat is kind of like a resin-version of my beanie–and I can use it with my beanie. The full brim keeps flurries off of me. It’s “suspension” is astoundingly comfortable. It keeps post-storm winds (always brutal) off my head and it retains some heat. However, if I get too hot, I can remove the beanie and leave on the Lyft.
And, it’s uncommon and bright white. Whether I’m operating the tractor near or in the street (it’s murder on the mailbox snowbank) it is noticeable, so an added layer of safety for me.
I’m never working a storm again without it.
Snow Melt, AKA Salt
I’m not a chemist, in case that wasn’t apparent, but not all “salts” are created equal. That’s also why we call it snow melt.
Of the tons of this I’ve delivered to blacktop and concrete by hand, my favorite is FrostBite Commercial Green in 50-pound bags.
It meets all the criteria I have: Low melt temperature, big granules (big granules add grit while the magic of chemistry happens), pet-friendly and so on.
Its best feature is it’s green (maybe dyed?) so I can see where I broadcast it. This saves me tons of time and money. It’s one of the best snow tools.
Buckets
I know people repurpose their broadcast spreaders for salt application. And I suppose that’s fine. On the other hand, I’ve seen ~~$20,000 salt spreaders on giant commercial jobs just seize up.
On a driveway or two and/or long sidewalk having a few buckets on hand might make your day. Casting it out of the bag? Possible. I’ve done it. But practical? Come on.
Assuming multiple walks, stairs, the mailbox, sidewalk lengths, the deck or patio, and driveway, here’s how I do it. And here’s why:
Broadcasting out of the bag is impossible. The amount needed is inaccessible.
Ice Melt, AKA Salt
You’re going to think I’m lying to you at this point, but my favorite ice melt is also an accident.
In the run up to the last storm, everybody was cleaned out. Somehow, a store found a supplier and a truck was coming in at 8pm. And what I think is that my local big box got what it could get–-not what it typically sells, which got 25 bags of FrostBite Commercial Green in 50-pound bags on my truck.
It’s the best.
From the chemistry end of things, it’s way less caustic to concrete and has a way lower melt temperature than typical rock salt (sodium chloride). It’s a blend of magnesium, calcium, and sodium chloride.
If you spread as much snow melt as I do, details matter and one of them is the Frost Bite Granule size. Unlike, say, calcium chloride–it’s both white and is about the same aggregate size as cat litter–the granules are visible and have enough umph to melt into deeper pockets of snow without disintegrating.
And, they’re dyed green. Unlike every other salt product I’ve used, I can see where I broadcast Frost Bite Commercial Green and know what landed where.
