 The first time I used one, I was cleaning out at a dog kennel. One year we had way too much snow, so I was trying to knock the drifts down so the dogs couldn't escape. And I didn't realize I had a shovel laying in there. I'm talking one of these old-school aluminum scoop shovels with a big, thick wood handle. I sucked one of those in my Toro snowblower. It actually killed the motor, but no shear pins, right? This is how strong that transmission is. I pulled the broken shovel out.