Scrounging is kind of an aftermath skill, I guess.
Yet, if you don't clear tens of thousands of "extra income" after meeting your needs, scrounging is a skill that will serve you well. In the 80s, I really embraced resaling and pawnshopping. Always great fun and an adventure. Got nice suits for work. Great deals on firearms at pawnshops. Lots of cookware, cheap books/records, outdoor gear, and anything else I could find.
Resaling would have horrified me as kid, but when I first went to the old Purple Heart Thrift Store and found lots of "treasures" for cheap, I was hooked. I visited every thriftstore I could find, and had a regular route. Certain Goodwill or Salvation Army stores would have more of certain items, I noted. Regular visits enabled me to hit the motherload on occasion.
As the American Middle-Class has been ruined by outsourcing jobs overseas, payments to industry to relocate abroad by our Gov't, and union-busting industrial decimation; more and more formerly middle-class folk are resaling. If you haven't got the habit yet, you ought to. Nothing wrong with buying Nearly New stuff at a fraction of regular price. Even better is getting gear on Discount Day...
Pawnshops are especially productive for tools and gear. Always pay cash at a pawnshop. Always offer 1/3 less than merchandise is priced, and tell them you're paying cash. If you pawnbroker won't deal on used goods, find a pawnshop that will. NEVER BUY UNLESS YOU GET A DISCOUNT...
Considering a "Food Storage Plan"???
Before you shell out thousands for not very nutritious freeze-dried meals in a can or pouch, pay a visit to a few of your local healthfood stores. Very easy to store whole grains in new, 5 gal paint buckets with gasket lids. Use Dry Ice you buy at the grocer's to preserve your food. In 2009, we opened a bucket of organic short-grained Brown Rice bought & put up at home in 1995. The rice was Perfect!
If you are going to eat, may as well eat food that is High In Nutrition and Builds Your Immune System. None of the foodstorage junk in a can will do this; you have to cook from scratch and use quality ingredients.
A Survivalist needs lots of tools for Food Processing and Cooking. Buy them at your resale shop. An old pressure cooker will work as well as a new one; just buy a new gasket set at local real-hardware store or order online for $10. Quality cookware, knives of all sorts and gadgets are all at the Resale very cheap. Got a nice 10" chef's knife, made in Japan for Fifty Cents recently. Thrilled because it really takes a nice edge and carves very finely. Better than the $30 Chicago Cutlery 8" knives we already owned when comes to fine slicing.
Got plenty money? Suit yourself, but as for me, I'll take $5 Levis in new condition, $3 moleskin shirts, $1 T-shirts and socks and even decent shoes or boots if can find them. Rarely buy anything at retail if can get it at a resale or pawnshop.
Doing home improvements? Habitat Re usually has a resale shop. They get donations and resell to renovators/builders. Always a fun visit.
Some people love garage-saling. Never had the time.
Craigslist.com is also worth perusing for gear you're looking for cheap, or maybe even free!
The more you conserve your assets, the more you have to work with.
Buy a Nordstroms dress shirt for $4 or $75. Not like you will know there's a difference after its been laundered...
On-line forums are also great places to shop. Lots of these allow WTB want-to-buy listings. Gun forums are quite active for almost everything. Gunbroker.com is a good resource for accessories and handloading/optic stuff. Shop the used listings, and look for individual sellers; guys with hundreds of listings don't usually deal...
Ebay is still out there. Might find some gear priced low and use a bidsniper to win the auction if you have the patience.
Lots of ways to scrounge stuff up that you probably can use and save your serious funds for those items absolutely must have... All the best!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
What's New?
Been a while since the last post. Have been pretty busy acquiring some gear, selling some, and am recently into a building/adding-on phase. We've decided to add a GREENHOUSE, and also connect our home to our outbuilding garage. Doing this myself. Built the 2-story 24x36 garage and first addition to the house in Winter with Big-Help from a young-ish carpenter and two Ace Drywall guys. Work is underway.
Lots of focus on "Survival" these days. Mostly seems to be about gimmicks & guns.
Real focus I've always had has centered on FOOD, WATER, SHELTER, CLOTHING, HANDTOOLS, REFERENCE LIBRARY, FOOD PREP GEAR, AND CAMPING GEAR. Have always been a gun-person, began handloading in 8th grade. Rarely ever bought commercial loads for any of my shooting needs.
In 1988, wife saw Kurt Saxon on Donahue Show. We ordered his books and subscribe to The Survivor. Took us a couple years to move from The Big City, but we did. Saxon was the first to coin the term "Survivalism" and define it. He defined the term to effectively mean Self-Sufficiency. Saxon's books are mainly references for DIY skill acquisition. Some sections a bit hokey, like making wooden toys and puppeteering, but so much info is there. The Survivor series and the Chemistry book are very worthwhile.
"Survivalism" is a self-sufficient way of life. Those who foresaw the collapsing social structure we are now coping with, took Action; they moved out of the line of fire.
Figure you gotta have a level 4 vest and souped-up AK with 20 magazines to make your way through the chaos? You have already failed...
This blog is not about gimmicks or videos. Too many will watch and conclude they understand but never practice.
Food is a BIGTIME failure for most who seem interested in these topics. They conclude that freeze-dried meals are viable for longterm planning. They aren't. Might be tasty for a while. Might be fast and easy to prepare; just add boiling water... But "nutritious and healthful" they aren't. Costly, they are... Got money? The freeze-dried stuff is spendy.
The real ticket to food independence is in Quality Bulk Foods, mainly whole grains and organics if you can afford them. Need The Basics and food prep gear to adapt your meals for variety of taste and style. Chinese, Mexican, Italian, American, Cajun, Japanese are all cuisines you can adapt menus from with basic Beans, Brown Rice, Wheat, Corn, Oats and variety of seasonings, oils, and condiments. Doesn't take a lot of meat to deliver Big Nutrition and Nourishment. Brown Rice & Beans yields Complete Protein. Meat in small stir-fry portions laced with lots of small-chopped vegetables & sprouts is excellent way to feed a lot of people or use limited resources most wisely.
Survivalism is not about buying your way to see self through the chaos, but being far from the chaos and able to live self-sufficiently.
Not many interested in working their way to independence though...
Time, Ability, and Money are three variables. If you have the time and ability, plus access to materials; likely you can make much of what you need yourself. Money frees up your time and enables acquisition of gear immediately. Your commitment and two more of the three variables forms a Triangle Of Preparation. Time though is fast drawing to a close. Pretty doubtful that you have Time to build a self-sufficient homestead from scratch. Maybe you have time to get property closed-on and move-in with construction underway; but takes a couple years after your home is up & functioning to get gardens, fruit trees and other productive mechanisms in place...
We will all have to work with what we have very soon...
Money might give you an edge; IF you Know How To Deploy It and aren't afraid to commit your funds.
Best laid plans need ACTION to bring them into reality.
Hope you and yours are taking action NOW...
God Bless!
Been a while since the last post. Have been pretty busy acquiring some gear, selling some, and am recently into a building/adding-on phase. We've decided to add a GREENHOUSE, and also connect our home to our outbuilding garage. Doing this myself. Built the 2-story 24x36 garage and first addition to the house in Winter with Big-Help from a young-ish carpenter and two Ace Drywall guys. Work is underway.
Lots of focus on "Survival" these days. Mostly seems to be about gimmicks & guns.
Real focus I've always had has centered on FOOD, WATER, SHELTER, CLOTHING, HANDTOOLS, REFERENCE LIBRARY, FOOD PREP GEAR, AND CAMPING GEAR. Have always been a gun-person, began handloading in 8th grade. Rarely ever bought commercial loads for any of my shooting needs.
In 1988, wife saw Kurt Saxon on Donahue Show. We ordered his books and subscribe to The Survivor. Took us a couple years to move from The Big City, but we did. Saxon was the first to coin the term "Survivalism" and define it. He defined the term to effectively mean Self-Sufficiency. Saxon's books are mainly references for DIY skill acquisition. Some sections a bit hokey, like making wooden toys and puppeteering, but so much info is there. The Survivor series and the Chemistry book are very worthwhile.
"Survivalism" is a self-sufficient way of life. Those who foresaw the collapsing social structure we are now coping with, took Action; they moved out of the line of fire.
Figure you gotta have a level 4 vest and souped-up AK with 20 magazines to make your way through the chaos? You have already failed...
This blog is not about gimmicks or videos. Too many will watch and conclude they understand but never practice.
Food is a BIGTIME failure for most who seem interested in these topics. They conclude that freeze-dried meals are viable for longterm planning. They aren't. Might be tasty for a while. Might be fast and easy to prepare; just add boiling water... But "nutritious and healthful" they aren't. Costly, they are... Got money? The freeze-dried stuff is spendy.
The real ticket to food independence is in Quality Bulk Foods, mainly whole grains and organics if you can afford them. Need The Basics and food prep gear to adapt your meals for variety of taste and style. Chinese, Mexican, Italian, American, Cajun, Japanese are all cuisines you can adapt menus from with basic Beans, Brown Rice, Wheat, Corn, Oats and variety of seasonings, oils, and condiments. Doesn't take a lot of meat to deliver Big Nutrition and Nourishment. Brown Rice & Beans yields Complete Protein. Meat in small stir-fry portions laced with lots of small-chopped vegetables & sprouts is excellent way to feed a lot of people or use limited resources most wisely.
Survivalism is not about buying your way to see self through the chaos, but being far from the chaos and able to live self-sufficiently.
Not many interested in working their way to independence though...
Time, Ability, and Money are three variables. If you have the time and ability, plus access to materials; likely you can make much of what you need yourself. Money frees up your time and enables acquisition of gear immediately. Your commitment and two more of the three variables forms a Triangle Of Preparation. Time though is fast drawing to a close. Pretty doubtful that you have Time to build a self-sufficient homestead from scratch. Maybe you have time to get property closed-on and move-in with construction underway; but takes a couple years after your home is up & functioning to get gardens, fruit trees and other productive mechanisms in place...
We will all have to work with what we have very soon...
Money might give you an edge; IF you Know How To Deploy It and aren't afraid to commit your funds.
Best laid plans need ACTION to bring them into reality.
Hope you and yours are taking action NOW...
God Bless!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
New Blog: The Counter-Sniper
See my new blog pertaining to what you may need to know about sniping and how to not be a target of opportunity.
www.counter-sniper.blogspot.com
Introductory posts are up. You may not realize it, but longrange shooting as a hobby/sport in America is at an all-time high and websites like snipershide.com have over 70k members with active forums engaging in "non-political discussion" . Perhaps the ex-marine who owns snipershide.com is just too damn stupid to grasp the reality that every politician knows and chairman mao stated so succinctly "Political Power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Why else do "Politicians Prefer Unarmed Peasants"???
Anyway, not a whole lot of genius level IQ guys among the enlisted ranks of The USMC. Most genius level IQ folks I've met are cognizant that career paths like The USMC are not conducive to early retirement unless on disability. Not to disparage The Corps. My father served in their officer ranks during WWII. He was damn lucky the war ended before he ever had to lead his platoon against Japanese machine gunners in the Pacific...
Anyway, not to realize the political reality of training men to shoot targets with fine precision at 500 to over 1000yds is simply to prove you're either Stupid, or Disingenuous. Of course, Frank Galli is really too busy training LEO and other Agency types at his Front-Sight Sniping School to carry on the Waco & Randy Weaver Traditions so widely applauded at the high-levels of the Executive Branch. Big Frigging Money in training "contractors" and "agency personnel". What else lures men who've retired from 25yrs with big city police depts as snipers to go "active duty" and leave family behind to go to Afghanistan?
Living By The Gun? Who is paying you and making your rice bowl floweth over with all the Big Bucks? Well... let's not get political now!!!
The Reality of our Day is the snippet of unbridled truth chairman mao (the renowned "agrarian reformer" who Central Committee of PRC credits with murdering 85 MILLION Chinese citizens) let slip: "All Political Power Grows From The Barrel Of A Gun"...
Thus, The Counter-Sniper was born... Come visit. Come learn. You'd best get up to speed!
www.counter-sniper.blogspot.com
Introductory posts are up. You may not realize it, but longrange shooting as a hobby/sport in America is at an all-time high and websites like snipershide.com have over 70k members with active forums engaging in "non-political discussion" . Perhaps the ex-marine who owns snipershide.com is just too damn stupid to grasp the reality that every politician knows and chairman mao stated so succinctly "Political Power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Why else do "Politicians Prefer Unarmed Peasants"???
Anyway, not a whole lot of genius level IQ guys among the enlisted ranks of The USMC. Most genius level IQ folks I've met are cognizant that career paths like The USMC are not conducive to early retirement unless on disability. Not to disparage The Corps. My father served in their officer ranks during WWII. He was damn lucky the war ended before he ever had to lead his platoon against Japanese machine gunners in the Pacific...
Anyway, not to realize the political reality of training men to shoot targets with fine precision at 500 to over 1000yds is simply to prove you're either Stupid, or Disingenuous. Of course, Frank Galli is really too busy training LEO and other Agency types at his Front-Sight Sniping School to carry on the Waco & Randy Weaver Traditions so widely applauded at the high-levels of the Executive Branch. Big Frigging Money in training "contractors" and "agency personnel". What else lures men who've retired from 25yrs with big city police depts as snipers to go "active duty" and leave family behind to go to Afghanistan?
Living By The Gun? Who is paying you and making your rice bowl floweth over with all the Big Bucks? Well... let's not get political now!!!
The Reality of our Day is the snippet of unbridled truth chairman mao (the renowned "agrarian reformer" who Central Committee of PRC credits with murdering 85 MILLION Chinese citizens) let slip: "All Political Power Grows From The Barrel Of A Gun"...
Thus, The Counter-Sniper was born... Come visit. Come learn. You'd best get up to speed!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Reference Books, Videos Etc...
Just a quick overview, done from memory, for your quick consideration. These are books that deal with skills and/or are references for consultation. Worth having, or evaluating from your library. If out of print, maybe you find a way to save a copy for your later perusal, when all "copyright infringement" worries have gone away.
Best Survival Fiction: Pournelle & Niven's Lucifer's Hammer. Have never read a better account that covers all the aspects that might be experienced. Not like they go into great depth on "what to get" but the mindset of a population that has reason to prepare and the impact of that population in acquisition mode, relocation mode, and coping modes that morph into violence are all discussed very thoroughly. Unless you are really motivated to read the Astronomical aspects of that plot that make all action necessary, it is pretty easy to skip through the early 1/3, find the Hot Fudge Tuesday chapter, backtrack a bit to find how "prepping" affected the Greater LA area for snapping-up available goods, then get on with how all characters coped after the comet calves and basically ends modern 20th century life in coastal cities of America and parts of Europe. Fast, compelling reading. Might bring you some aspects of the equation you never considered.
Best DVD TV series fiction: Jericho the CBS series w/Skeet Lee. Excellent in many respects. As if there aren't conspiracies afoot in actual day-to-day America. Tell me Halliburton isn't Jennings & Rawl. Great cast, Great plots, lots of continuing tension and not totally a relationship soap opera.
Best DVD series for primitive living & skill coverage: Ron Hood's body of work. All of it. Rest In Peace, Ron. Great videos filmed on location and even in South American Amazon Jungle. Worth a watch for sure, maybe go in on a complete set w/several families so all can see firsthand how making fire with bowdrill, flint & steel and cave-cooking are done. The Hoods website, www.survival.com at one time offered pretty good package price on complete set purchases. Maybe your library needs a set?
Most comprehensive and amazing volume of work: Kurt Saxon w/o doubt for his compiled 4 volume sets of THE SURVIVOR, Poor Man's James Bond, and Grandpa's Book Of Chemistry. On digital media these days. See www.kurtsaxon.com. Hope you are still out there in Arkansas, Kurt; and doing well.
Best Specific Survival Book: Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson Kearny of Oak Ridge Natl Laboratory (free download at www.ki4u.com) If you buy the book, you get actual template to make a homemade radiation meter. Worth having a hard-copy!
Best overall preparedness book: Life After Doomsday by Bruce Clayton phd.
Best discussion on Firearms for survivalist purposes: Mel Tappan's Survival Guns. Also worth reading are the 3 volumes of his Personal Survival newsletter and Tappan On Survival. Runner up: Jeff Cooper's To Ride, Shoot Straight, & Tell The Truth.
We've used homeopathy for years. Kent's Repertory is The Standard Reference, along with The Materia Medica. Lots of value in Herbalism and Naturopathy. Can also personally endorse The Macrobiotic Diet and underlying theory of eating right to enable your body to heal itself. Many great cookbooks relating to Macrobiotics. Most of the foodstuffs are Basics and capable of longterm storage. Hard to find any non-GMO Soybeans, but I guess they're out there. Check your library for Macro literature. Earl Mindell's Vitamin Bible and Jethro Kloss' Back To Eden are excellent.
Merck Manual, PDR if you're into allopathy or expect to have access to pharmaceuticals. Gray's Anatomy or a more detailed medical school volume on anatomy. If you live in a city with a medical school, might check their bookshop for texts on medical knowledge and diagnosis. I found a copy of Emergency Battlefield Surgery at a resale many years ago. Also Medicine For Mountaineering is pretty well-done book for back-country healing and also deals with altitude problems, hypothermia, exposure. Of course, Where There Is No Doctor/Dentist are two great references to have. Almost forgot Red Cross First Aid. Might want to take a CPR class or see if your locale offers entry level EMT instruction classes. Wonder if Red Cross Lifeguard and Swimmer classes are still offered?
Camping and hiking, my favorite book is Colin Fletcher's The Complete Walker. Also his The Man Who Walked Through Time is very interesting read on a solo backpacking trip across the rim of the Grand Canyon. Be Expert With Map & Compass by Bjorn Kellstrom is the great orienterring book and now on video. Need to have some 1:250,000 inch format maps and a decent compass and know how to read, orient and travel by the map. Ron Hood's work already mentioned. REI and Campmoor catalogs/websites always worth a look.
The first 100 issues of The Mother Earth News are worth buying or getting on DVD. Might want to look at Dave Duffy's Backwoods Home compendiums. Woodsmoke is a primitive living series that was forerunner to Ron Hood's work, very basic and insightful. Hard to beat The Buckskinner volumes for examination of skills and gear common to early mountainmen and blackpowder, primitive weapons. Foxfire Series books are very interesting and maybe useful. Any back issues of Roedale's Gardening worth owning.
Firearms References:
Brownell's Catalog is superb for its compendium of specialty tools. Website for its parts and diagram listings. Roy Dunlapp's Gunsmithing book is a fine one. Gun Digest's Series on Firearms Dissembly are excellent. For Loading Manuals, Sierra Bullets is The Standard for precision loading and quality. Barnes' manual has some information others don't. Hornady and Lee manuals are also Very Good. Frank Barnes' Cartridges Of The World is a very good reference. Probably want to have loading tool company catalogs for parts info.
Repair and Tool References: Yep, you need em. Orig shop manuals for your vehicles and motorized or driven eqpt, or a Haines or Chilton at least.
Cookbooks: For sure! Macrobiotics cookbooks to show how to make most of whole grains and beans as protein sources w/o meat or seafood. Frances Lappe' Diet For A Small Planet and Esther Dickey's Passport To Survival are classics. Hard to imagine life w/o The Joy Of Cooking or any of the other standards. Lots of specialty and game cooking books. Would be great to have an in-depth how-to for animal butchering. Need to know how to grow sprouts.
Gardening: Rodale books are great, Lots of articles on gardening books in TMEN over the years. French Intensive and Raised Bed gardening offer great potential to small-space gardeners. Hydroponics is a useful concept if you have the sunlight or growlights. Would also look into all the drip irrigation and mulching references can find if you are in a hot clime. Really NEED a protected growing environment in light of Fukushima and all the nuclear sabre-rattling going on.
Probably have forgotten a few categories. Did a column on Short Wave radio earlier. Probably want all the frequency lists and an ARRL book or two. Bob Grove of Monitoring Times has many references. A current copy of MT will have lots of frequency and time listings.
Got a Bible? King James Version reads very well, but I like Shakeseare too!
Literature: All you want. Hard to beat resale shops for recreational and paperback books. Buy a bunch and trade them among your neighbors.
Got children or grand kids? Don't forget used textbooks or lay-in some homeschooling curriculum. Much is self-paced and requires no immediate supervision. Infants and toddlers will grow-up; don't let them grow up dumb...
Best Survival Fiction: Pournelle & Niven's Lucifer's Hammer. Have never read a better account that covers all the aspects that might be experienced. Not like they go into great depth on "what to get" but the mindset of a population that has reason to prepare and the impact of that population in acquisition mode, relocation mode, and coping modes that morph into violence are all discussed very thoroughly. Unless you are really motivated to read the Astronomical aspects of that plot that make all action necessary, it is pretty easy to skip through the early 1/3, find the Hot Fudge Tuesday chapter, backtrack a bit to find how "prepping" affected the Greater LA area for snapping-up available goods, then get on with how all characters coped after the comet calves and basically ends modern 20th century life in coastal cities of America and parts of Europe. Fast, compelling reading. Might bring you some aspects of the equation you never considered.
Best DVD TV series fiction: Jericho the CBS series w/Skeet Lee. Excellent in many respects. As if there aren't conspiracies afoot in actual day-to-day America. Tell me Halliburton isn't Jennings & Rawl. Great cast, Great plots, lots of continuing tension and not totally a relationship soap opera.
Best DVD series for primitive living & skill coverage: Ron Hood's body of work. All of it. Rest In Peace, Ron. Great videos filmed on location and even in South American Amazon Jungle. Worth a watch for sure, maybe go in on a complete set w/several families so all can see firsthand how making fire with bowdrill, flint & steel and cave-cooking are done. The Hoods website, www.survival.com at one time offered pretty good package price on complete set purchases. Maybe your library needs a set?
Most comprehensive and amazing volume of work: Kurt Saxon w/o doubt for his compiled 4 volume sets of THE SURVIVOR, Poor Man's James Bond, and Grandpa's Book Of Chemistry. On digital media these days. See www.kurtsaxon.com. Hope you are still out there in Arkansas, Kurt; and doing well.
Best Specific Survival Book: Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson Kearny of Oak Ridge Natl Laboratory (free download at www.ki4u.com) If you buy the book, you get actual template to make a homemade radiation meter. Worth having a hard-copy!
Best overall preparedness book: Life After Doomsday by Bruce Clayton phd.
Best discussion on Firearms for survivalist purposes: Mel Tappan's Survival Guns. Also worth reading are the 3 volumes of his Personal Survival newsletter and Tappan On Survival. Runner up: Jeff Cooper's To Ride, Shoot Straight, & Tell The Truth.
We've used homeopathy for years. Kent's Repertory is The Standard Reference, along with The Materia Medica. Lots of value in Herbalism and Naturopathy. Can also personally endorse The Macrobiotic Diet and underlying theory of eating right to enable your body to heal itself. Many great cookbooks relating to Macrobiotics. Most of the foodstuffs are Basics and capable of longterm storage. Hard to find any non-GMO Soybeans, but I guess they're out there. Check your library for Macro literature. Earl Mindell's Vitamin Bible and Jethro Kloss' Back To Eden are excellent.
Merck Manual, PDR if you're into allopathy or expect to have access to pharmaceuticals. Gray's Anatomy or a more detailed medical school volume on anatomy. If you live in a city with a medical school, might check their bookshop for texts on medical knowledge and diagnosis. I found a copy of Emergency Battlefield Surgery at a resale many years ago. Also Medicine For Mountaineering is pretty well-done book for back-country healing and also deals with altitude problems, hypothermia, exposure. Of course, Where There Is No Doctor/Dentist are two great references to have. Almost forgot Red Cross First Aid. Might want to take a CPR class or see if your locale offers entry level EMT instruction classes. Wonder if Red Cross Lifeguard and Swimmer classes are still offered?
Camping and hiking, my favorite book is Colin Fletcher's The Complete Walker. Also his The Man Who Walked Through Time is very interesting read on a solo backpacking trip across the rim of the Grand Canyon. Be Expert With Map & Compass by Bjorn Kellstrom is the great orienterring book and now on video. Need to have some 1:250,000 inch format maps and a decent compass and know how to read, orient and travel by the map. Ron Hood's work already mentioned. REI and Campmoor catalogs/websites always worth a look.
The first 100 issues of The Mother Earth News are worth buying or getting on DVD. Might want to look at Dave Duffy's Backwoods Home compendiums. Woodsmoke is a primitive living series that was forerunner to Ron Hood's work, very basic and insightful. Hard to beat The Buckskinner volumes for examination of skills and gear common to early mountainmen and blackpowder, primitive weapons. Foxfire Series books are very interesting and maybe useful. Any back issues of Roedale's Gardening worth owning.
Firearms References:
Brownell's Catalog is superb for its compendium of specialty tools. Website for its parts and diagram listings. Roy Dunlapp's Gunsmithing book is a fine one. Gun Digest's Series on Firearms Dissembly are excellent. For Loading Manuals, Sierra Bullets is The Standard for precision loading and quality. Barnes' manual has some information others don't. Hornady and Lee manuals are also Very Good. Frank Barnes' Cartridges Of The World is a very good reference. Probably want to have loading tool company catalogs for parts info.
Repair and Tool References: Yep, you need em. Orig shop manuals for your vehicles and motorized or driven eqpt, or a Haines or Chilton at least.
Cookbooks: For sure! Macrobiotics cookbooks to show how to make most of whole grains and beans as protein sources w/o meat or seafood. Frances Lappe' Diet For A Small Planet and Esther Dickey's Passport To Survival are classics. Hard to imagine life w/o The Joy Of Cooking or any of the other standards. Lots of specialty and game cooking books. Would be great to have an in-depth how-to for animal butchering. Need to know how to grow sprouts.
Gardening: Rodale books are great, Lots of articles on gardening books in TMEN over the years. French Intensive and Raised Bed gardening offer great potential to small-space gardeners. Hydroponics is a useful concept if you have the sunlight or growlights. Would also look into all the drip irrigation and mulching references can find if you are in a hot clime. Really NEED a protected growing environment in light of Fukushima and all the nuclear sabre-rattling going on.
Probably have forgotten a few categories. Did a column on Short Wave radio earlier. Probably want all the frequency lists and an ARRL book or two. Bob Grove of Monitoring Times has many references. A current copy of MT will have lots of frequency and time listings.
Got a Bible? King James Version reads very well, but I like Shakeseare too!
Literature: All you want. Hard to beat resale shops for recreational and paperback books. Buy a bunch and trade them among your neighbors.
Got children or grand kids? Don't forget used textbooks or lay-in some homeschooling curriculum. Much is self-paced and requires no immediate supervision. Infants and toddlers will grow-up; don't let them grow up dumb...
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Preparedness
Nope, not talking "prepping".
Preparedness is a state of mind and readiness that works in many aspects of your daily life. In the early days of Ron Hood's Hoodlums Forum there was much discussion about "what's in your pockets", and "the Altoid Tin Survival Kit". Idea was that if you had a swiss army knife (preferably a Victorinox), a lighter (maybe a Bic or Zippo) you had a tool and compact fire kit. Now, I'm not gonna discuss the vagaries of the Altoid kit, but the candy is good and the aluminum (?) maybe watertight case is almost worth the price alone. I've also noticed RWS Pellet cans are similarly compact and tight. Put whatever seems essential in there for your purposes. But the idea is with some basic tools, if you've remembered to put them in your pocket, they're lightweight, inconspicuous and compact enough to be on you when you need them; that's preparedness...
Keeping your vehicle maintained and road-worthy is preparedness; at least if you are not living currently at your Bug-Out Location. Your BOL is that place you'd really rather be than in your current locale. Your BOL should be about 20mi away from any major US Highway or Interstate and off the beaten path so that you are Out Of The Line Of Fire. Fire takes many shapes and forms. If your BOL is in deep forest, well... you want your home clear of flammable surroundings and landscaped so fire can't likely burn you out even if a maelstrom like the Texas Summer Fires or Santa Anna Winds come your way.
Preparedness, anticipation and readiness. Like carrying a self-defense firearm. Starting to look like that is a Good Idea on a daily basis. Things are pretty strange out there and if you live in a metro area, probably want some form of weapon upon your person when out & about. More states no longer require a carry license. Live in Wyoming or New Hampshire which are now right to carry unlicensed states? (Check your state to be sure, maybe the effective date has not yet arrived!) If you live in a state that recognizes the full extent and intent of the 2nd Amendment, I encourage you to carry and become accustomed to the responsibility and capability you have right to wield.
Got plenty water stored and a means to cook and prepare meals if/when the utilities go down? Know where your gear is and is it clean and usable right now or will it be when you need it? Got Strike Anywhere Matches? You'll need those. In fact, you definitely need a Fire Kit. Lots of ways to make a fire, be sure you have several and some helpers that will get a fire going in rain or snow.
Preparedness means knowing how to use all the gear and tools you now own, knowing where they are and that they are in good working order and being confident when you employ them.
Food prices seem to be escalating weekly. No one has enough food on hand; trust me on that one. Another main concern is firearms and ammunition. Similarly, prices have recently incresed about 10%. Box of Nosler 168gr match bullets I failed to buy for $68 was $75 a week later. Clerk was marking new prices right when I shopped on other items... Brings back memories of the 70s. Inflation was a weekly thing in the mid-70s to early 80s. This time it will be worse. If you are watching your money, try Thrifting and Pawnbrokers for tools, clothes, kitchen gear, fishing, hunting, camping stuff and used guns and even deals on ammunition. Pawnshops have tons of deals and you should offer 40% under the ask price if you have cash to pay with then & there. Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent DePaul, and other church ministries and private resales are the place to buy stuff that isn't critical. Spend a few hours a week making the rounds and you will be amazed what you can come home with for only a few bucks...
Food and weapons though are a must have and now is the time to buy. Handloading eqpt will be very valuable to you and enables you to make quality ammunition for about 1/3 the cost of store bought. If you can follow a few easy steps and use easy to understand tools, you can load your own ammunition. If you have money and never enough time, can recommend Dillon, Hornady, or Lee progressive loading machines which start at about $140 and go to over $1000 for fully automated ammunition making machines. I have Dillon and like the quality and speed I achieve. www.tjconevera.com is a great source for quality once-fired brass and hornady or sierra bullets at excellent prices. They also sell new cases but once-fired is just fine for quality loads and saving your money.
Handguns and semi-auto rifles are very much in demand and you should get yours NOW if you intend to buy. Buy some ammunition when you purchase your guns, maybe not at same shop but you definitely want some loaded rounds even if intend to handload the bulk of your ammunition.
Get organized and take inventory of all you have that can aid your family to stay Warm, Dry, Fed, Hydrated, and Capable of Self-Defense. Prioritize your needs and plan to meet your needs. When you make your plan, work it and be ready to seize other opportunities that may present themselves. Can't be too rigid if you see a great opportunity to buy a set of loading tools in excellent condition and the savings is at least 50% of what you might pay and contains mostly stuff you can use; buy it.
Stuff you can't use and you see as superfluous will likely bring money to you on Craigslist or Ebay. There are lots of outdoor forums for buying/selling gun gear and even tractor parts. Just saying that if you have stuff you aren't using now and don't plan to use: sell it and use the funds for gear you need...
Pretty hard to go wrong buying whole grains, canned beans, fruit, vegetables, hard candy, cooking oils, seasonings, herbs, canned or powdered milk. Plenty of stuff like Bic lighters, cheap toothbrushes, combs, soap, shampoo, disposable razors, sewing notions like thread, needles, buttons and over counter medicines and vitamins will serve you/your family or be something you can barter with.
Really think it is foolish to stockpile liquor or cigarettes in anticipation of cleaning up on barter deals. Do you want addicted persons coming around your home bringing any kind of junk, hoping to talk you out of a few smokes or bottle of booze? For the money these things cost, you may as well buy stuff you or others can use and be a resource for others rather than a pariah.
Preparedness is making an analysis of your situation, your needs, your surroundings, noting the weaknesses and exposures and formulating a plan to make the most with everything you have access to.
Preparedness is a state of mind and readiness that works in many aspects of your daily life. In the early days of Ron Hood's Hoodlums Forum there was much discussion about "what's in your pockets", and "the Altoid Tin Survival Kit". Idea was that if you had a swiss army knife (preferably a Victorinox), a lighter (maybe a Bic or Zippo) you had a tool and compact fire kit. Now, I'm not gonna discuss the vagaries of the Altoid kit, but the candy is good and the aluminum (?) maybe watertight case is almost worth the price alone. I've also noticed RWS Pellet cans are similarly compact and tight. Put whatever seems essential in there for your purposes. But the idea is with some basic tools, if you've remembered to put them in your pocket, they're lightweight, inconspicuous and compact enough to be on you when you need them; that's preparedness...
Keeping your vehicle maintained and road-worthy is preparedness; at least if you are not living currently at your Bug-Out Location. Your BOL is that place you'd really rather be than in your current locale. Your BOL should be about 20mi away from any major US Highway or Interstate and off the beaten path so that you are Out Of The Line Of Fire. Fire takes many shapes and forms. If your BOL is in deep forest, well... you want your home clear of flammable surroundings and landscaped so fire can't likely burn you out even if a maelstrom like the Texas Summer Fires or Santa Anna Winds come your way.
Preparedness, anticipation and readiness. Like carrying a self-defense firearm. Starting to look like that is a Good Idea on a daily basis. Things are pretty strange out there and if you live in a metro area, probably want some form of weapon upon your person when out & about. More states no longer require a carry license. Live in Wyoming or New Hampshire which are now right to carry unlicensed states? (Check your state to be sure, maybe the effective date has not yet arrived!) If you live in a state that recognizes the full extent and intent of the 2nd Amendment, I encourage you to carry and become accustomed to the responsibility and capability you have right to wield.
Got plenty water stored and a means to cook and prepare meals if/when the utilities go down? Know where your gear is and is it clean and usable right now or will it be when you need it? Got Strike Anywhere Matches? You'll need those. In fact, you definitely need a Fire Kit. Lots of ways to make a fire, be sure you have several and some helpers that will get a fire going in rain or snow.
Preparedness means knowing how to use all the gear and tools you now own, knowing where they are and that they are in good working order and being confident when you employ them.
Food prices seem to be escalating weekly. No one has enough food on hand; trust me on that one. Another main concern is firearms and ammunition. Similarly, prices have recently incresed about 10%. Box of Nosler 168gr match bullets I failed to buy for $68 was $75 a week later. Clerk was marking new prices right when I shopped on other items... Brings back memories of the 70s. Inflation was a weekly thing in the mid-70s to early 80s. This time it will be worse. If you are watching your money, try Thrifting and Pawnbrokers for tools, clothes, kitchen gear, fishing, hunting, camping stuff and used guns and even deals on ammunition. Pawnshops have tons of deals and you should offer 40% under the ask price if you have cash to pay with then & there. Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent DePaul, and other church ministries and private resales are the place to buy stuff that isn't critical. Spend a few hours a week making the rounds and you will be amazed what you can come home with for only a few bucks...
Food and weapons though are a must have and now is the time to buy. Handloading eqpt will be very valuable to you and enables you to make quality ammunition for about 1/3 the cost of store bought. If you can follow a few easy steps and use easy to understand tools, you can load your own ammunition. If you have money and never enough time, can recommend Dillon, Hornady, or Lee progressive loading machines which start at about $140 and go to over $1000 for fully automated ammunition making machines. I have Dillon and like the quality and speed I achieve. www.tjconevera.com is a great source for quality once-fired brass and hornady or sierra bullets at excellent prices. They also sell new cases but once-fired is just fine for quality loads and saving your money.
Handguns and semi-auto rifles are very much in demand and you should get yours NOW if you intend to buy. Buy some ammunition when you purchase your guns, maybe not at same shop but you definitely want some loaded rounds even if intend to handload the bulk of your ammunition.
Get organized and take inventory of all you have that can aid your family to stay Warm, Dry, Fed, Hydrated, and Capable of Self-Defense. Prioritize your needs and plan to meet your needs. When you make your plan, work it and be ready to seize other opportunities that may present themselves. Can't be too rigid if you see a great opportunity to buy a set of loading tools in excellent condition and the savings is at least 50% of what you might pay and contains mostly stuff you can use; buy it.
Stuff you can't use and you see as superfluous will likely bring money to you on Craigslist or Ebay. There are lots of outdoor forums for buying/selling gun gear and even tractor parts. Just saying that if you have stuff you aren't using now and don't plan to use: sell it and use the funds for gear you need...
Pretty hard to go wrong buying whole grains, canned beans, fruit, vegetables, hard candy, cooking oils, seasonings, herbs, canned or powdered milk. Plenty of stuff like Bic lighters, cheap toothbrushes, combs, soap, shampoo, disposable razors, sewing notions like thread, needles, buttons and over counter medicines and vitamins will serve you/your family or be something you can barter with.
Really think it is foolish to stockpile liquor or cigarettes in anticipation of cleaning up on barter deals. Do you want addicted persons coming around your home bringing any kind of junk, hoping to talk you out of a few smokes or bottle of booze? For the money these things cost, you may as well buy stuff you or others can use and be a resource for others rather than a pariah.
Preparedness is making an analysis of your situation, your needs, your surroundings, noting the weaknesses and exposures and formulating a plan to make the most with everything you have access to.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Financial Collapse & War: It's Always About THE MONEY!
Except This Time, it's different....
America has been Used & Ruined with a Treasonous Deliberation by not only its Elected and Appointed Government Officials at almost all levels, but also by the Financial Community and Leaders and Intelligentsia at positions of all Social and Business institutions and entities.
Has there been conspiracy? Beyond any doubt!
Saw a remark today on Zerohedge about the prescient Ayn Rand and how all the social infrastructure we call "banking" and "government" seems to be/is Shrugging... My conjecture is that as chaotic as all seems on the Global Stage, those who created the situations have done so intentionally. FDR is quoted as saying "Nothing in Politics Happens By Accident"...
The Golden Rule of Business is: Don't Kill The Goose That Lays Your Golden Eggs. Pretty sure nobody ever mentioned that at Wharton or Harvard Business School though. Else why would the best brains in business have done such a thorough job of killing off the juggernaut of business that defined The USA for decades? I mean you don't come up with plans to pay businesses $10,000 in cash (not tax benefits, actual money!) for EACH JOB moved to a qualifying foreign nation under The Caribbean Basin Initiative legislation and not expect men whose personal income is primarily derived from how much cash money their stewardship brings into corporate coffers NOT To Move every single job they can!!! So they did... And they moved the enterprise of America even further abroad and paid/enabled this with US Tax Dollars and Funding...
So, for perspective; Our elected officials voted to do dismember the economic vitality of The Nation THEY Swore An OATH TO PROTECT & PRESERVE...
How does Betraying your fellow citizens by allowing Their Taxed Money, paid to Support The US Government and Our Nation, get spent to Cripple Our Nation by eliminating jobs, reducing tax collection, reducing property values, and damaging OUR Infrastructure For Self-Sufficiency?
Government is supposed to Serve US, not serve us up to vultures who would feast upon US...
I could write on this subject for years. Really it all goes back to a motive for revenge against Andrew Jackson for routing out the first den of vipers who would have destroyed the USA in the 1840s. Just where do you think the idea for a "Civil War" came from? It sure wasn't about eliminating slavery...
In fact, if you look at the impact of all the outsourcing, plant closings, and creative financing-corporate raiding; it has all resulted in greater portions of the populace of The USA working in a fashion that bring a standard of living below what a slave in the 1800s would have enjoyed. Of course those struggling for their share of the American Dream Pie are free though, aren't they??? Not really...
To return to a closer examination of the topic... The world is about to have a go at Nuclear War because The Weapons Are There, and The Surplus Population Must Be Reduced. Ask Mr Mathus and Mr. Ehrlich and all the Limits To Growth crowd like Prince Phillip of England who when asked after he was dead, if he could be reincarnated, what would he come-back as? The Prince replied, " A virus!"
What really has already killed The World though is the proliferation of Derivative financial instruments. All eyes are on Greece at the moment, for will their default as expected from their "financial troubles"; troubles caused by the Wall St. & City Of London "paperhangers" a troupe of globe-trotting confidence men who loaded up the Greek Government with bad financing and criminally structured complex agreements, trigger a cascade of further defaults as those same City & Wall St derivative originators decide they will not pay because they cannot???
Such has been The Plan all along. How else can you explain how JP Morgan/Chase, a $3Trillion dollar conglomerate, (at best if you include bookvalue Goodwill, and all assets like realty, desks, business hardware etc), can be ISSUER & Counter-Party to nearly $90T in derivatives? I mean, how can a company with cash and marketable securities worth under a Trillion issue 90x their value in "security type contracts" that purport to insure and assure solvency?
JPM is one of the better-healed issuers in the $2 Quadrillion market and likely has further undocumented exposures. I would guess, as that is all anyone can do since there is no regulation or registry of Derivatives to control the market, that they probably originated 1/3 of all this mess...
The Derivative though, I will argue, was written to fail. Big D is The Bomb that ruins everything, but destroys nothing. It is the excuse to unlimber the Neutron bombs and Hydrogen specie to decimate earth once and many times over. The goal is a 95% reduction in population.
Are you prepared?
Are you watching The News about Israel-Iran?
Are you watching from your Bug-Out Location as long as communications hold out?
Hope you are warm, safe, well-fed and hydrated.
Hope you have capacity to stay well preserved and prosper by some modicum of self-sufficiency...
Seems pretty likely the game of fiat-money musical chairs is about to end and the only chairs remaining have been sabotaged and will collapse unexpectedly as all the Nations try to dodge the bullet...
Good Luck and May God's Blessings Be With you and your families...
America has been Used & Ruined with a Treasonous Deliberation by not only its Elected and Appointed Government Officials at almost all levels, but also by the Financial Community and Leaders and Intelligentsia at positions of all Social and Business institutions and entities.
Has there been conspiracy? Beyond any doubt!
Saw a remark today on Zerohedge about the prescient Ayn Rand and how all the social infrastructure we call "banking" and "government" seems to be/is Shrugging... My conjecture is that as chaotic as all seems on the Global Stage, those who created the situations have done so intentionally. FDR is quoted as saying "Nothing in Politics Happens By Accident"...
The Golden Rule of Business is: Don't Kill The Goose That Lays Your Golden Eggs. Pretty sure nobody ever mentioned that at Wharton or Harvard Business School though. Else why would the best brains in business have done such a thorough job of killing off the juggernaut of business that defined The USA for decades? I mean you don't come up with plans to pay businesses $10,000 in cash (not tax benefits, actual money!) for EACH JOB moved to a qualifying foreign nation under The Caribbean Basin Initiative legislation and not expect men whose personal income is primarily derived from how much cash money their stewardship brings into corporate coffers NOT To Move every single job they can!!! So they did... And they moved the enterprise of America even further abroad and paid/enabled this with US Tax Dollars and Funding...
So, for perspective; Our elected officials voted to do dismember the economic vitality of The Nation THEY Swore An OATH TO PROTECT & PRESERVE...
How does Betraying your fellow citizens by allowing Their Taxed Money, paid to Support The US Government and Our Nation, get spent to Cripple Our Nation by eliminating jobs, reducing tax collection, reducing property values, and damaging OUR Infrastructure For Self-Sufficiency?
Government is supposed to Serve US, not serve us up to vultures who would feast upon US...
I could write on this subject for years. Really it all goes back to a motive for revenge against Andrew Jackson for routing out the first den of vipers who would have destroyed the USA in the 1840s. Just where do you think the idea for a "Civil War" came from? It sure wasn't about eliminating slavery...
In fact, if you look at the impact of all the outsourcing, plant closings, and creative financing-corporate raiding; it has all resulted in greater portions of the populace of The USA working in a fashion that bring a standard of living below what a slave in the 1800s would have enjoyed. Of course those struggling for their share of the American Dream Pie are free though, aren't they??? Not really...
To return to a closer examination of the topic... The world is about to have a go at Nuclear War because The Weapons Are There, and The Surplus Population Must Be Reduced. Ask Mr Mathus and Mr. Ehrlich and all the Limits To Growth crowd like Prince Phillip of England who when asked after he was dead, if he could be reincarnated, what would he come-back as? The Prince replied, " A virus!"
What really has already killed The World though is the proliferation of Derivative financial instruments. All eyes are on Greece at the moment, for will their default as expected from their "financial troubles"; troubles caused by the Wall St. & City Of London "paperhangers" a troupe of globe-trotting confidence men who loaded up the Greek Government with bad financing and criminally structured complex agreements, trigger a cascade of further defaults as those same City & Wall St derivative originators decide they will not pay because they cannot???
Such has been The Plan all along. How else can you explain how JP Morgan/Chase, a $3Trillion dollar conglomerate, (at best if you include bookvalue Goodwill, and all assets like realty, desks, business hardware etc), can be ISSUER & Counter-Party to nearly $90T in derivatives? I mean, how can a company with cash and marketable securities worth under a Trillion issue 90x their value in "security type contracts" that purport to insure and assure solvency?
JPM is one of the better-healed issuers in the $2 Quadrillion market and likely has further undocumented exposures. I would guess, as that is all anyone can do since there is no regulation or registry of Derivatives to control the market, that they probably originated 1/3 of all this mess...
The Derivative though, I will argue, was written to fail. Big D is The Bomb that ruins everything, but destroys nothing. It is the excuse to unlimber the Neutron bombs and Hydrogen specie to decimate earth once and many times over. The goal is a 95% reduction in population.
Are you prepared?
Are you watching The News about Israel-Iran?
Are you watching from your Bug-Out Location as long as communications hold out?
Hope you are warm, safe, well-fed and hydrated.
Hope you have capacity to stay well preserved and prosper by some modicum of self-sufficiency...
Seems pretty likely the game of fiat-money musical chairs is about to end and the only chairs remaining have been sabotaged and will collapse unexpectedly as all the Nations try to dodge the bullet...
Good Luck and May God's Blessings Be With you and your families...
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Food: Why It Is A Key Priority
Got food? Like several years worth?
Really ought to be a priority for you & your family. Might also consider acclimating your family to what you are storing. If your bunch has never eaten hot cereal mush for breakfast on a routine basis, Winter is a good time to begin serving breakfasts like Oatmeal, BearMush/Farina, Cracked Wheat Cereal, MaltoMeal, and Rice breakfast cereals. Hot cereals served with Molasses, raisins/dates/prunes, Nuts especially Walnuts & Pecans, and sweetened with Brown Sugar, Honey, or Maple Syrup can be not only nutritious but also very filling and substantial source of energy to begin your day. No refrigeration required. Forgot to mention Yellow and White varieties of Grits. Cornmeal makes some very tasty cornbread and a slab or two of cornbread with butter and honey is especially tasty with any meal.
Don't overlook Peanut Butter and Jelly/Preserves on homemade wholewheat bread as another breakfast that gives lots of protein and calories which spell energy.
Unless you have lots of refrigeration and freezer capacity, plus the AE to generate the power to run them; your diet and food prep menus will have to change. If you own a ranch/farm or enough land to keep a few cattle, hogs, and other meat livestock, your protein supply will be limited. Lots of guys figure to hunt their meat.... Not really viable, in my estimation.
Many armchair preppers and best-case scenario survivalists figure hunting will be a resource. Not me. Unless you live extremely remote and have formidable barriers that isolate your area from interlopers, there will be lots of folk pursuing their next meal in the woods. Game tends to be quickly killed-off or leave an area with significant hunting pressure. What you're likely to find in the woods is someone more stealthy than you who will follow you home and survey your situation, coming back at a time when the Surprise Visit they've planned has been coordinated and planned.
The first year and likely first 2 years, you'll need to be self-sufficient in every aspect of your food supply; just to maximize value of your time and be present to dissuade those Surprise Visitors...
The idea of "hunting" is really a pipedream. What you're looking for is killing game animals, not spending time finding a track or trail and then stalking for the kill. Gathering Protein is the name of the game. All the illegal practices outlined in your fish & game handbook are going to yield results. Baiting animals is a possibility. Fish traps come to mind. Actually, the best way to gather Protein is by trapping and snaring. You set 25 traps out on a trapline and you've got 25 different likely spots being "hunted" 24/7. Snares take game quietly. Don't want to be firing weaponry unnecessarily in The Aftermath...
Before there is an Aftermath, there will be The Main Event. Your food supply must be such that you're able to stay off the radar and Out Of The Line Of Fire. Even a good idea to use oil or kerosene to heat your home, propane for cooking in that first year etc so you don't attract Surprise Visits who got wind of your homestead by smelling your woodsmoke. Woodsmoke also provides a pretty visual picture, and if barometric pressure is low, it won't rise much above chimney level. Hungry and desperate folk have nothing better to do than search out where their noses lead them. Be sure it isn't to your back door...
In an earlier article, we discussed how home canning, home packed storage of whole grains, and using a dehydrator can combine to give you a dependable resource of high protein foods. Sprouts and Wheatgrass offer a very high vitamin content and can be grown in small areas indoors. Healthfood stores offer many varieties of sprouting seed these days. Wheatberries will yield wheatgrass when planted in a tray of potting soil and kept in sunlight a few hours everyday. Sprouts have more nutritional value than mature vegetables.
Learn now to make your own bread. Breadmachines are excellent for mixing dough and saving you the time an effort of kneading dough. For $10 or so at a resale, hard to go wrong. Having 2 of the same type enables you to process that much more dough. Easy to bake 4 loaves as it is to bake one, more efficient use of your oven also. Takes 4 cups of flour to make a 2lb loaf. Use at least 2 cups of Hard Red Winter Wheat flour, AKA Whole Wheat, to be sure your bread has a decent level of protein. 3 cups hrww to 1 cup white gives a good consistency. Might look up the recipes for Ezekiel Bread to get even higher protein levels in your bread which will be a diet mainstay.
Brown Rice is The Primary Dietary Superfood. More protein than any other whole grain and combined with beans it yields a Complete Protein. You want to store a lot of Brown Rice, preferably Organic Short-Grained variety.
Meat can be used sparingly. Stir fried and in stews, small amounts of meat are very filling and do not over-tax your digestive tract. Eating whole grains will have beneficial effect on digestive and elimination tracts. You want your food to build your body's health and immune system, not merely to taste yummy...
Eggs store very well when kept refrigerated. Probably can hardboil them and keep them in a pickling solution for many years, but I have never partaken of such "bar food", pickled pigs feet included. Still, if you got eggs and no way to keep them below 55F; you do what you can. If you've got a chicken pen in the backyard then you are set, and fresh eggs keep several days easily at room temperature. Might look into digging a root cellar, or if you have a nearby stream, doing a food submersion box for keeping stuff cool.
Gotta have a way to cook once your utilities are down. Maybe you have a propane setup now, but will your stove work w/o electricity? Many of the basic jobs these days use electronic ignitors and unless you have AC power, the stove won't function. A 2 or 3 burner campstove with a 5gal bulk tank, hose and adaptor is a decent solution. Maybe you want a couple of campstoves and a Coleman camp oven to bake in? Or maybe you have a BBQ-Smoker out on the patio?
Kurt Saxon in The Survivor discusses using a Stanley Thermos as a slow-cooker for morning cereal. Couple ounces of grain, add in the correct amount of boiling water and tightly cap the thermos and in morning have warm, ready to eat cereal. Easy to make soup or reconstitute jerky. Can't have too many Stanley Thermoses...
Gonna need potable water for drinking and cooking, not to mention handwashing. Coleman makes their blue plastic 5gal jug with a spigot tap and vent which is ideal for using on countertop and can be stacked 2 or 3 high. A new or fairly clean 30gal trash can will also hold water reliably. Fill with a hose and you can use a two-wheeler dolly to move around. Put a clean trash can liner bag inside before filling, and don't forget the lid and a ladle or pump. Can likely find 55gal soda syrup drums if you live near a softdrink bottling plant. Clean out the residue and add a little bleach, then rinse and fill from your garden hose AFTER you've moved the barrel where you want it located. Gotta have water stored and don't forget water for hygeine as well.
Need a place to keep your foodstuffs out of excessive heat and humidity. 5gal plastic buckest with gasket seal lids are very durable and don't admit moisture or conduct any condensation. Gotta use the CO-2 packing method detailed earlier to be sure, but that is easy to do. Plastic jars of gallon size are ideal for storying loose grains, pasta, beans and herbs & spices. Honey is especially long-storing and much better in the nutrition dept than is sugar.
More to come on this subject....
Really ought to be a priority for you & your family. Might also consider acclimating your family to what you are storing. If your bunch has never eaten hot cereal mush for breakfast on a routine basis, Winter is a good time to begin serving breakfasts like Oatmeal, BearMush/Farina, Cracked Wheat Cereal, MaltoMeal, and Rice breakfast cereals. Hot cereals served with Molasses, raisins/dates/prunes, Nuts especially Walnuts & Pecans, and sweetened with Brown Sugar, Honey, or Maple Syrup can be not only nutritious but also very filling and substantial source of energy to begin your day. No refrigeration required. Forgot to mention Yellow and White varieties of Grits. Cornmeal makes some very tasty cornbread and a slab or two of cornbread with butter and honey is especially tasty with any meal.
Don't overlook Peanut Butter and Jelly/Preserves on homemade wholewheat bread as another breakfast that gives lots of protein and calories which spell energy.
Unless you have lots of refrigeration and freezer capacity, plus the AE to generate the power to run them; your diet and food prep menus will have to change. If you own a ranch/farm or enough land to keep a few cattle, hogs, and other meat livestock, your protein supply will be limited. Lots of guys figure to hunt their meat.... Not really viable, in my estimation.
Many armchair preppers and best-case scenario survivalists figure hunting will be a resource. Not me. Unless you live extremely remote and have formidable barriers that isolate your area from interlopers, there will be lots of folk pursuing their next meal in the woods. Game tends to be quickly killed-off or leave an area with significant hunting pressure. What you're likely to find in the woods is someone more stealthy than you who will follow you home and survey your situation, coming back at a time when the Surprise Visit they've planned has been coordinated and planned.
The first year and likely first 2 years, you'll need to be self-sufficient in every aspect of your food supply; just to maximize value of your time and be present to dissuade those Surprise Visitors...
The idea of "hunting" is really a pipedream. What you're looking for is killing game animals, not spending time finding a track or trail and then stalking for the kill. Gathering Protein is the name of the game. All the illegal practices outlined in your fish & game handbook are going to yield results. Baiting animals is a possibility. Fish traps come to mind. Actually, the best way to gather Protein is by trapping and snaring. You set 25 traps out on a trapline and you've got 25 different likely spots being "hunted" 24/7. Snares take game quietly. Don't want to be firing weaponry unnecessarily in The Aftermath...
Before there is an Aftermath, there will be The Main Event. Your food supply must be such that you're able to stay off the radar and Out Of The Line Of Fire. Even a good idea to use oil or kerosene to heat your home, propane for cooking in that first year etc so you don't attract Surprise Visits who got wind of your homestead by smelling your woodsmoke. Woodsmoke also provides a pretty visual picture, and if barometric pressure is low, it won't rise much above chimney level. Hungry and desperate folk have nothing better to do than search out where their noses lead them. Be sure it isn't to your back door...
In an earlier article, we discussed how home canning, home packed storage of whole grains, and using a dehydrator can combine to give you a dependable resource of high protein foods. Sprouts and Wheatgrass offer a very high vitamin content and can be grown in small areas indoors. Healthfood stores offer many varieties of sprouting seed these days. Wheatberries will yield wheatgrass when planted in a tray of potting soil and kept in sunlight a few hours everyday. Sprouts have more nutritional value than mature vegetables.
Learn now to make your own bread. Breadmachines are excellent for mixing dough and saving you the time an effort of kneading dough. For $10 or so at a resale, hard to go wrong. Having 2 of the same type enables you to process that much more dough. Easy to bake 4 loaves as it is to bake one, more efficient use of your oven also. Takes 4 cups of flour to make a 2lb loaf. Use at least 2 cups of Hard Red Winter Wheat flour, AKA Whole Wheat, to be sure your bread has a decent level of protein. 3 cups hrww to 1 cup white gives a good consistency. Might look up the recipes for Ezekiel Bread to get even higher protein levels in your bread which will be a diet mainstay.
Brown Rice is The Primary Dietary Superfood. More protein than any other whole grain and combined with beans it yields a Complete Protein. You want to store a lot of Brown Rice, preferably Organic Short-Grained variety.
Meat can be used sparingly. Stir fried and in stews, small amounts of meat are very filling and do not over-tax your digestive tract. Eating whole grains will have beneficial effect on digestive and elimination tracts. You want your food to build your body's health and immune system, not merely to taste yummy...
Eggs store very well when kept refrigerated. Probably can hardboil them and keep them in a pickling solution for many years, but I have never partaken of such "bar food", pickled pigs feet included. Still, if you got eggs and no way to keep them below 55F; you do what you can. If you've got a chicken pen in the backyard then you are set, and fresh eggs keep several days easily at room temperature. Might look into digging a root cellar, or if you have a nearby stream, doing a food submersion box for keeping stuff cool.
Gotta have a way to cook once your utilities are down. Maybe you have a propane setup now, but will your stove work w/o electricity? Many of the basic jobs these days use electronic ignitors and unless you have AC power, the stove won't function. A 2 or 3 burner campstove with a 5gal bulk tank, hose and adaptor is a decent solution. Maybe you want a couple of campstoves and a Coleman camp oven to bake in? Or maybe you have a BBQ-Smoker out on the patio?
Kurt Saxon in The Survivor discusses using a Stanley Thermos as a slow-cooker for morning cereal. Couple ounces of grain, add in the correct amount of boiling water and tightly cap the thermos and in morning have warm, ready to eat cereal. Easy to make soup or reconstitute jerky. Can't have too many Stanley Thermoses...
Gonna need potable water for drinking and cooking, not to mention handwashing. Coleman makes their blue plastic 5gal jug with a spigot tap and vent which is ideal for using on countertop and can be stacked 2 or 3 high. A new or fairly clean 30gal trash can will also hold water reliably. Fill with a hose and you can use a two-wheeler dolly to move around. Put a clean trash can liner bag inside before filling, and don't forget the lid and a ladle or pump. Can likely find 55gal soda syrup drums if you live near a softdrink bottling plant. Clean out the residue and add a little bleach, then rinse and fill from your garden hose AFTER you've moved the barrel where you want it located. Gotta have water stored and don't forget water for hygeine as well.
Need a place to keep your foodstuffs out of excessive heat and humidity. 5gal plastic buckest with gasket seal lids are very durable and don't admit moisture or conduct any condensation. Gotta use the CO-2 packing method detailed earlier to be sure, but that is easy to do. Plastic jars of gallon size are ideal for storying loose grains, pasta, beans and herbs & spices. Honey is especially long-storing and much better in the nutrition dept than is sugar.
More to come on this subject....
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Quick Overview About Shortwave Listening
Knowing what is going on at a time when internet has gone away/shutdown will be critical. News in the USA media is so poor that shortwave offers much to consider. There is alternative media, albeit questionable, and Amateur Radio net discussions, plus Pirate Radio and freecasters. Not going to discuss transceivers in this comment, or scanners, nor satellite sideband listening. There are many Ham Bands above the -0- to 30,000 Herz coverage range of the Shortwave Receiver. No discussion of those here either.
What you can find in the airwaves using a decent quality, selective tuning and contemporary designed Shortwave Reciever include Utility Bands, Commercial Bands, AM broadcast, Amateur Bands, Military Transmissions, Time broadcasts by USA and Canada, and other Government functions and Agency Networks. Many of the same functions from foreign broadcasters and users.
Knowing when to listen is also important. Shortwave propagation depends on skip and solar radiation to excite the signal and bounce it around the earth. We are supposedly entering a Solar Maximum period again, so SWL will be good with many signals heard that otherwise could not be. Basically, the 0-8khz spectrum is an evening proposition. If listening to 120 meter band 1,800 to 1950 hz, you won't get decent reception until after the sun has set. The 40 meter band from 6950 to 7200 is good late afternoon until morning. The higher spectrum bands come in during daylight, and need skip to be very active. The long-band frequencies can be decent most any occasion, but have limitations.
The American Amateur Relay League ARRL has great amounts of information in their huge compendium of publications and especially the ARRL Handbook. Lots of websites done by Hams that explain propagation and how-to make a proper antenna and setup a listening post. Google is your friend, or look at your library and the publications cited below, especially Monitoring Times published by Grove Enterprises.
As to radios, none of the small traveler size World-Band radios are worth much in my experience. I have broken 3 Sony radios over the years, back when I used them often. Touch pads break or the computer chip goes defective. They are just not made for regular SWL service. Once in a while use, maybe they hold up. For sure, if going this route, buy the AC adapter and some kind of earphone or set of headphones.
There are lots of inexpensive/cheap chinese radios sold these days. Back in Y2K era, Grundig and others came out with crank-dynamo gizmo radios often incorporating a flashlight and other functions. Avoid these like the plague. The original BayGen handcrank radio may be an exception, but other emergency radios are just going to disappoint. For the money, no big deal if a $60 unit (or cheaper) craps-out, but do you have a Real Radio and a Real Antenna, plus decent headphones to aid your listening? A digital display Shortwave Receiver is what I'm talking about, or an Amateur Transceiver that covers all bands from 50-30,000 hz. Don't need a ham ticket to own a transceiver.
Aside from listening to the international SW broadcasters, you'll need Upper and Lower Sideband capability. A BFO or beat frequency oscillator was the high-tech means of tuning up/down on a given signal 50yrs ago. Now electronic switching and mode selection do the chore way more effectively. Great fun to tune-in a signal, but slow and demanding. To my mind, you listen to Shortwave for information and you may only get one shot at hearing it. Don't mess around with old gear. There are enough challenges to hearing a weak signal as it is...
Even the big table-top consumer rigs are way more robust than the miniatures. Talking a bout the Sony 2010 and various Grundig Satellit models from 500 to 800 series. Supposedly some guy is selling refurbed Zenith Trans-Ocean radios on ebay. They were cool in their day, but even the Panasonic 2800 from the 70s had a digital readout. Really don't want the old BFO control if your in a survival situation. You may only get one shot at hearing a message/broadcast in the clear. As far as old Hallicrafters and earlier hobbyist gear, forget them. Many are collectible, but not for ease of use or signal processing clarity. Old Collins gear and other legendary receivers would be great for collector or to serve an advanced listener who knew the machine and how to employ it, but for our purposes we want fast signal processing, immediate access to clarity and ease of use.
If you take your communications needs seriously, you get something like a 90s era Drake R8, Icom, Yaesu, or Kenwood general purpose receiver and if it needs an adapter to run from a 12v battery you get it. You also get a real antenna like a tuned dipole with a balun as your connection point and run PL259 terminated balanced feedline. The best deal of all time was the Drake R8 series because of the standard 4 filter widths and other top-notch features like dual antenna inputs and dual vfo, 100 memories in the first models and variety of modes and search/scanning; not to mention, computer interface.
There are plenty of computer interface software which mimic a Shortwave Receiver, yet relying on one of these is foolish. Pretty damn impossible to repair a motherboard or other computer component. Ham type SW sets are more repair friendly. If buying used, I'd recommend buying from a bonafide Ham Dealer that guarantees they've inspected and done a 24hr continuous play test of the gear to ascertain function. Also specify you want any computer interface also tested and would like to acquire software and cabling with your unit.
The large table-top portables that Sony and Grundig, also Motorola and Phillips sold are also very decent; just not as serviceable and robust as the Ham Quality Gen Purpose Receivers. Your gonna need a real set of quality headphones with full-size not a mini plug. The lightweight stuff, even expensive senheiser, sony and other will not take the constant usage. You want full-enclosure and padded ear cups, not the foam junk made for gizmo electronics.
Something else you might want is a tape recorder you can run while listening. A VHS machine can be used to record up to 8hrs on extended mode using 160 tapes. Maybe you have software to record to a RW DVD with a straight line-in function? Even better.
Got a Frequency Guide? Monitoring Times still publishes shortwave broadcaster time logs in every issue. Kinda spendy these days, but worth it if you don't know who and where to listen. Grove Enterprises used to publish a large bound book detailing all the General Coverage frequencies with a large section on Government Agency Networks and military bands. Can probably find various frequency lists on the internet if you search.
To get an idea about pricing, ebay is pretty much a dead horse compared to years ago, but some still sell there. Amazon might be another venue to watch, but ebay will give some idea of prices and show some obscure eqpt/accys. Icom and Yaesu seem to be the strong ham-gear survivors. An FRG 8800 or 7700 is a decent rig, the Icom R-71 and 75 series are better. Kenwood R2000 and 5000 were in-between the Yaesu and Icom in their day. Be sure of parts and continuity if buying Kenwood. I have an R1000 and it has been dependable and robust.
What you can find in the airwaves using a decent quality, selective tuning and contemporary designed Shortwave Reciever include Utility Bands, Commercial Bands, AM broadcast, Amateur Bands, Military Transmissions, Time broadcasts by USA and Canada, and other Government functions and Agency Networks. Many of the same functions from foreign broadcasters and users.
Knowing when to listen is also important. Shortwave propagation depends on skip and solar radiation to excite the signal and bounce it around the earth. We are supposedly entering a Solar Maximum period again, so SWL will be good with many signals heard that otherwise could not be. Basically, the 0-8khz spectrum is an evening proposition. If listening to 120 meter band 1,800 to 1950 hz, you won't get decent reception until after the sun has set. The 40 meter band from 6950 to 7200 is good late afternoon until morning. The higher spectrum bands come in during daylight, and need skip to be very active. The long-band frequencies can be decent most any occasion, but have limitations.
The American Amateur Relay League ARRL has great amounts of information in their huge compendium of publications and especially the ARRL Handbook. Lots of websites done by Hams that explain propagation and how-to make a proper antenna and setup a listening post. Google is your friend, or look at your library and the publications cited below, especially Monitoring Times published by Grove Enterprises.
As to radios, none of the small traveler size World-Band radios are worth much in my experience. I have broken 3 Sony radios over the years, back when I used them often. Touch pads break or the computer chip goes defective. They are just not made for regular SWL service. Once in a while use, maybe they hold up. For sure, if going this route, buy the AC adapter and some kind of earphone or set of headphones.
There are lots of inexpensive/cheap chinese radios sold these days. Back in Y2K era, Grundig and others came out with crank-dynamo gizmo radios often incorporating a flashlight and other functions. Avoid these like the plague. The original BayGen handcrank radio may be an exception, but other emergency radios are just going to disappoint. For the money, no big deal if a $60 unit (or cheaper) craps-out, but do you have a Real Radio and a Real Antenna, plus decent headphones to aid your listening? A digital display Shortwave Receiver is what I'm talking about, or an Amateur Transceiver that covers all bands from 50-30,000 hz. Don't need a ham ticket to own a transceiver.
Aside from listening to the international SW broadcasters, you'll need Upper and Lower Sideband capability. A BFO or beat frequency oscillator was the high-tech means of tuning up/down on a given signal 50yrs ago. Now electronic switching and mode selection do the chore way more effectively. Great fun to tune-in a signal, but slow and demanding. To my mind, you listen to Shortwave for information and you may only get one shot at hearing it. Don't mess around with old gear. There are enough challenges to hearing a weak signal as it is...
Even the big table-top consumer rigs are way more robust than the miniatures. Talking a bout the Sony 2010 and various Grundig Satellit models from 500 to 800 series. Supposedly some guy is selling refurbed Zenith Trans-Ocean radios on ebay. They were cool in their day, but even the Panasonic 2800 from the 70s had a digital readout. Really don't want the old BFO control if your in a survival situation. You may only get one shot at hearing a message/broadcast in the clear. As far as old Hallicrafters and earlier hobbyist gear, forget them. Many are collectible, but not for ease of use or signal processing clarity. Old Collins gear and other legendary receivers would be great for collector or to serve an advanced listener who knew the machine and how to employ it, but for our purposes we want fast signal processing, immediate access to clarity and ease of use.
If you take your communications needs seriously, you get something like a 90s era Drake R8, Icom, Yaesu, or Kenwood general purpose receiver and if it needs an adapter to run from a 12v battery you get it. You also get a real antenna like a tuned dipole with a balun as your connection point and run PL259 terminated balanced feedline. The best deal of all time was the Drake R8 series because of the standard 4 filter widths and other top-notch features like dual antenna inputs and dual vfo, 100 memories in the first models and variety of modes and search/scanning; not to mention, computer interface.
There are plenty of computer interface software which mimic a Shortwave Receiver, yet relying on one of these is foolish. Pretty damn impossible to repair a motherboard or other computer component. Ham type SW sets are more repair friendly. If buying used, I'd recommend buying from a bonafide Ham Dealer that guarantees they've inspected and done a 24hr continuous play test of the gear to ascertain function. Also specify you want any computer interface also tested and would like to acquire software and cabling with your unit.
The large table-top portables that Sony and Grundig, also Motorola and Phillips sold are also very decent; just not as serviceable and robust as the Ham Quality Gen Purpose Receivers. Your gonna need a real set of quality headphones with full-size not a mini plug. The lightweight stuff, even expensive senheiser, sony and other will not take the constant usage. You want full-enclosure and padded ear cups, not the foam junk made for gizmo electronics.
Something else you might want is a tape recorder you can run while listening. A VHS machine can be used to record up to 8hrs on extended mode using 160 tapes. Maybe you have software to record to a RW DVD with a straight line-in function? Even better.
Got a Frequency Guide? Monitoring Times still publishes shortwave broadcaster time logs in every issue. Kinda spendy these days, but worth it if you don't know who and where to listen. Grove Enterprises used to publish a large bound book detailing all the General Coverage frequencies with a large section on Government Agency Networks and military bands. Can probably find various frequency lists on the internet if you search.
To get an idea about pricing, ebay is pretty much a dead horse compared to years ago, but some still sell there. Amazon might be another venue to watch, but ebay will give some idea of prices and show some obscure eqpt/accys. Icom and Yaesu seem to be the strong ham-gear survivors. An FRG 8800 or 7700 is a decent rig, the Icom R-71 and 75 series are better. Kenwood R2000 and 5000 were in-between the Yaesu and Icom in their day. Be sure of parts and continuity if buying Kenwood. I have an R1000 and it has been dependable and robust.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Essential Cutting Tools
Probably not going to discuss Kitchen Cutlery in this article, but when it comes to knives you can use in the field, don't overlook a large Chef's Knife, Carving Knife, Filet Knife, or any Paring designs... Other than for fileting or oyster shucking (sp?) you want a heavy spine, and full length tang under the handle/grips for best all-around use. Of the many kitchen knives we own, Chicago Cutlery's basic, oak slab handle chef's knives would prove most durable in the field. So, just because you don't have a ton of money to spend on Outdoor Knives, don't think you have to go without.
Before leaving the topic of Kitchen Knives, I will say that over the years, I have found dozens of Excellent and As-New pieces of survival gear and general quality kitchen gear at Resale and Thrift Shops. Got time to look? The Salvation Army, Goodwill, AmVets, Purple Heart, Value Village, St. Vincent DePaul and all the independent shops and church ministry resales are full of stuff you can use. Will probably do an article on how-to shop these valuable resources soon.
Knives at the Resale: You'll find literally piles of donated kitchen flatware, knives, whisks, can-openers and gadgets galore at Resales. For knives that will do Dual Duty you want a heavy tang and full-length handle. You want to see steel running full length of the handle with handles riveted or screwed in place. The heavier the steel on the back, the more durable the tool. Thinner blades will slice more evenly, but for prying and hacking you want a .20" or thicker backbone/spine on that piece of steel. You're looking for quality made gear, also smooth-edged blades will be easier to sharpen. Japanese steel can be very good. Stainless steel will be common, but regular carbon-steel will take a better edge and be easier to sharpen. The USA made Old Hickory style traditional knives are usually carbon steel. Some of the best knives we've found resaling have been Farberware. Good cookware for sure, but their knives are pretty well made. Have 2 that are partially serrated, part straight-blade; for general slicing knives they are very good. Saw edge knives are great for slicing bread. Paring knives are good for any fine job and come in a wide variety of blade tip styles. Steak knives make pretty good all-around field knives.
Nice thing about buying Resale knives is most will be in excellent shape. Most people seem to not know how to sharpen their cutlery, so maybe that is why these good kitchen tools were given away in the first place? If you are paying $1 or maybe $2.50 for a quality knife, pretty hard to gripe about how it is just not "perfect for the job". Don't overlook HD items like cleavers or real long bladed knives... With a dremel tool or some form of grinder, even a hacksaw or plain chisel and file; you can Re-Shape a good piece of knife steel into just the tool or blade style you want.
I have bought outdoor knives at the resale, also axe blades, also gardening tools like pruning shears, and seen chainsaws from time-to-time. Best place to buy a quality chainsaw like Stihl, Husqvarna, or Echo which all make Pro-Quality long-lasting tools, is gonna be a PawnShop. Gotta know how to recognize a good condition tool, but most Pawnshops will give you 24hr moneyback. Can save plenty money on nearly new tools. Add a couple drops of acetone to old gas, if present and see if it doesn't start right away. If the motor runs, the rest is easy...
There are plenty of websites, books, and videos on using knives in the outdoors. Hood's Woods Hoodlums is a discussion forum that was attached to Ron Hood's Survival.com website and there was plenty of discussion there about primitive survival skills in the bush and discussion about best outdoor knives etc. I understand Ron died recently and his passing is a great loss to all who ever became even marginally acquainted with his work in Primitive Outdoor Living. The Hoodlums forum is worth a read as are Ron and Karen Hood's other books and videos. Plenty of discussion there as to how a Large Bowie blade or other large utility knife can form the basis for wilderness survival.
While you can use a rock or heavy hardwood to pound on the spine of your semi-custom Bowie, it makes more sense to use an axe, hand-axe, or a saw. Pretty hard to beat a Swedish bow saw for price and speed of cutting. With an axe you have a tool built specifically for chopping, but with the edge being so long, you can use an axe in other ways besides just as a chopper. A hatchet works great when butchering large animals and for processing small wood into small fire portions. Might want to carry a plastic wedge or two if you're going to be felling timber, or cut a wedge or two in the field. Very handy when your chainsaw might get stuck as kerf narrows as the timber shifts on a cut...
Kydex is a very tough & durable plastic that shapes easily by heat application and can be molded for sheaths and blade protectors fairly easily (I'm told) by home hobbyist. You want any exposed blade to be protected, to reduce danger to you or others. Knives can be carried in a tool-roll arrangement. Canvas or heavier material will work, just sew pockets for your various blades to fit in snugly and you'll find you can roll up your gear and tie it. Great way to keep camp kitchen knives in one place.
In the field you can easily carry a sheath knife, but maybe not in town. Always a help to have a pocketknife. A medium sized Swiss Army Knife is an excellent all-around tool to carry. I like the Super-Tinker which has scissors, file, Phillips screwdriver plus an awl and fine flathead blade. Gerber and Leatherman multi-tools are also very useful.
A number of guys are into legal-carry defensive knives. Thumb-assisted opening pocketknives, if equipped with a HD blade-lock may be an option. In some states you can own automatic knives... If I'm going to carry a tool to fight with, it will be a handgun. No discussion here on knife fighting, but maybe you need to investigate the option if you can't carry a pistol.
Rope saws are interesting, not too practical though. Might be useful in a very tight situation. The cutoff wheel on a full-size handheld grinder, a Foredom or Dremel hand tool is an extremely valuable resource. Super for cutting hard steel, with a locking plier like a Vise-Grip, the cut-off wheel enables modifying hardware and shaping sheet steel or other metals. The small, lightweight ones tend to break very easily, so keep a bunch on hand, but nothing beats one of these for fast shaping metal if you don't have an acetylene torch.
As far as a survival tool goes, the knife and all other specialty cutting tools are essentials to work safely and fast. I urge you to evaluate your needs and begin looking at solutions.
As essential as your cutting tools are, you must be able to maintain the edges so they cut safely and quickly. Chainsaws and other serrated edge cutters will need round, Swedish Files. Must have the correct file radius to keep the saw cutters sharp, same way with other serrated edge blades. Flat edge knives can be kept sharp with diamond hones, carborundum or Arkansas stones, and other hones. For axes you want a file and round carborundum stone which keeps your fingers from the edge. A grinding wheel and polishing buffer can also help fine-tune your edge.
Wood chisels also are edged tools that help in general carpentry. Not really the scope here, but if you are assembling tools for outdoor living a variety of chisels and likely a plane or two will make your efforts more polished and professional in appearance. Cold chisels for shaping steel and other metals also must be maintained. A set of metal shears also works great if cutting sheetmetal or other light metals or heavy plastic. Haven't talked about scissors. A good set of outdoor scissors bound to be useful. The cheap, orginal Fiskars with orange handle are a good all-around scissor. Hard to beat gardening shears for cutting sappling size forest vegetation and doing it quietly.
One specialty tool will mention is the Nicholson Bow-Hack saw. This is a 12" saw frame that takes both Swedish saw blades and hacksaw blades. Compact enough to easily fit in a daypack, it is very versatile and affordable.
For outdoor knives, I own and use Gerber, Cold Steel, Blackie Collins, USAF Pilot's survival knife, and Victorinox Swiss Army knifes, Leatherman and Gerber multi-tools, plus Case, Buck, and a few customs. Machetes of various sizes and Ghurka designs are also great for the versatility they enable. Try Pawnshops for used outdoor quality knives, but know what you are buying and what the online wholesalers sell for. Knives are an in-demand item so often are over-priced; from my experience. Always offer 1/3 less than the asking price in a pawnshop...
Before leaving the topic of Kitchen Knives, I will say that over the years, I have found dozens of Excellent and As-New pieces of survival gear and general quality kitchen gear at Resale and Thrift Shops. Got time to look? The Salvation Army, Goodwill, AmVets, Purple Heart, Value Village, St. Vincent DePaul and all the independent shops and church ministry resales are full of stuff you can use. Will probably do an article on how-to shop these valuable resources soon.
Knives at the Resale: You'll find literally piles of donated kitchen flatware, knives, whisks, can-openers and gadgets galore at Resales. For knives that will do Dual Duty you want a heavy tang and full-length handle. You want to see steel running full length of the handle with handles riveted or screwed in place. The heavier the steel on the back, the more durable the tool. Thinner blades will slice more evenly, but for prying and hacking you want a .20" or thicker backbone/spine on that piece of steel. You're looking for quality made gear, also smooth-edged blades will be easier to sharpen. Japanese steel can be very good. Stainless steel will be common, but regular carbon-steel will take a better edge and be easier to sharpen. The USA made Old Hickory style traditional knives are usually carbon steel. Some of the best knives we've found resaling have been Farberware. Good cookware for sure, but their knives are pretty well made. Have 2 that are partially serrated, part straight-blade; for general slicing knives they are very good. Saw edge knives are great for slicing bread. Paring knives are good for any fine job and come in a wide variety of blade tip styles. Steak knives make pretty good all-around field knives.
Nice thing about buying Resale knives is most will be in excellent shape. Most people seem to not know how to sharpen their cutlery, so maybe that is why these good kitchen tools were given away in the first place? If you are paying $1 or maybe $2.50 for a quality knife, pretty hard to gripe about how it is just not "perfect for the job". Don't overlook HD items like cleavers or real long bladed knives... With a dremel tool or some form of grinder, even a hacksaw or plain chisel and file; you can Re-Shape a good piece of knife steel into just the tool or blade style you want.
I have bought outdoor knives at the resale, also axe blades, also gardening tools like pruning shears, and seen chainsaws from time-to-time. Best place to buy a quality chainsaw like Stihl, Husqvarna, or Echo which all make Pro-Quality long-lasting tools, is gonna be a PawnShop. Gotta know how to recognize a good condition tool, but most Pawnshops will give you 24hr moneyback. Can save plenty money on nearly new tools. Add a couple drops of acetone to old gas, if present and see if it doesn't start right away. If the motor runs, the rest is easy...
There are plenty of websites, books, and videos on using knives in the outdoors. Hood's Woods Hoodlums is a discussion forum that was attached to Ron Hood's Survival.com website and there was plenty of discussion there about primitive survival skills in the bush and discussion about best outdoor knives etc. I understand Ron died recently and his passing is a great loss to all who ever became even marginally acquainted with his work in Primitive Outdoor Living. The Hoodlums forum is worth a read as are Ron and Karen Hood's other books and videos. Plenty of discussion there as to how a Large Bowie blade or other large utility knife can form the basis for wilderness survival.
While you can use a rock or heavy hardwood to pound on the spine of your semi-custom Bowie, it makes more sense to use an axe, hand-axe, or a saw. Pretty hard to beat a Swedish bow saw for price and speed of cutting. With an axe you have a tool built specifically for chopping, but with the edge being so long, you can use an axe in other ways besides just as a chopper. A hatchet works great when butchering large animals and for processing small wood into small fire portions. Might want to carry a plastic wedge or two if you're going to be felling timber, or cut a wedge or two in the field. Very handy when your chainsaw might get stuck as kerf narrows as the timber shifts on a cut...
Kydex is a very tough & durable plastic that shapes easily by heat application and can be molded for sheaths and blade protectors fairly easily (I'm told) by home hobbyist. You want any exposed blade to be protected, to reduce danger to you or others. Knives can be carried in a tool-roll arrangement. Canvas or heavier material will work, just sew pockets for your various blades to fit in snugly and you'll find you can roll up your gear and tie it. Great way to keep camp kitchen knives in one place.
In the field you can easily carry a sheath knife, but maybe not in town. Always a help to have a pocketknife. A medium sized Swiss Army Knife is an excellent all-around tool to carry. I like the Super-Tinker which has scissors, file, Phillips screwdriver plus an awl and fine flathead blade. Gerber and Leatherman multi-tools are also very useful.
A number of guys are into legal-carry defensive knives. Thumb-assisted opening pocketknives, if equipped with a HD blade-lock may be an option. In some states you can own automatic knives... If I'm going to carry a tool to fight with, it will be a handgun. No discussion here on knife fighting, but maybe you need to investigate the option if you can't carry a pistol.
Rope saws are interesting, not too practical though. Might be useful in a very tight situation. The cutoff wheel on a full-size handheld grinder, a Foredom or Dremel hand tool is an extremely valuable resource. Super for cutting hard steel, with a locking plier like a Vise-Grip, the cut-off wheel enables modifying hardware and shaping sheet steel or other metals. The small, lightweight ones tend to break very easily, so keep a bunch on hand, but nothing beats one of these for fast shaping metal if you don't have an acetylene torch.
As far as a survival tool goes, the knife and all other specialty cutting tools are essentials to work safely and fast. I urge you to evaluate your needs and begin looking at solutions.
As essential as your cutting tools are, you must be able to maintain the edges so they cut safely and quickly. Chainsaws and other serrated edge cutters will need round, Swedish Files. Must have the correct file radius to keep the saw cutters sharp, same way with other serrated edge blades. Flat edge knives can be kept sharp with diamond hones, carborundum or Arkansas stones, and other hones. For axes you want a file and round carborundum stone which keeps your fingers from the edge. A grinding wheel and polishing buffer can also help fine-tune your edge.
Wood chisels also are edged tools that help in general carpentry. Not really the scope here, but if you are assembling tools for outdoor living a variety of chisels and likely a plane or two will make your efforts more polished and professional in appearance. Cold chisels for shaping steel and other metals also must be maintained. A set of metal shears also works great if cutting sheetmetal or other light metals or heavy plastic. Haven't talked about scissors. A good set of outdoor scissors bound to be useful. The cheap, orginal Fiskars with orange handle are a good all-around scissor. Hard to beat gardening shears for cutting sappling size forest vegetation and doing it quietly.
One specialty tool will mention is the Nicholson Bow-Hack saw. This is a 12" saw frame that takes both Swedish saw blades and hacksaw blades. Compact enough to easily fit in a daypack, it is very versatile and affordable.
For outdoor knives, I own and use Gerber, Cold Steel, Blackie Collins, USAF Pilot's survival knife, and Victorinox Swiss Army knifes, Leatherman and Gerber multi-tools, plus Case, Buck, and a few customs. Machetes of various sizes and Ghurka designs are also great for the versatility they enable. Try Pawnshops for used outdoor quality knives, but know what you are buying and what the online wholesalers sell for. Knives are an in-demand item so often are over-priced; from my experience. Always offer 1/3 less than the asking price in a pawnshop...
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Bartering and Items To Buy For Barter
Maybe you remember the Johnny Walker whiskey advertisement showing the two Southampton mansions at night with one upper crust neighbor calling upon the other? The caption was, "I was hoping to borrow a cup of Johnny Walker Black"... Many of the prepper persuasion put great credence and faith in stockpiling tobacco an alcohol products which they expect will be items in great demand once retail vending of such items ceases.
Maybe they're right? Maybe their neighbors and strangers they wish to trade with will trade items which they possess, but the intrepid prepper forgot to purchase, all for a couple of airline bottles of liquor or a few cigarettes? Kinda doubtful.... See any holes in that rationale?
Perhaps the gentry of Southampton will trade their surgeon neighbor a case of Scotch or couple boxes of Partagas #10 churchills; but such doings will only be accommodations and an attempt to preserve civility. On the more common level, barter will hopefully facilitate trade. What will you offer the mechanic who can bypass a defective part and rig another salvaged from elsewhere to restore your generator or other important machine? Gonna offer him tobacco or liquor?
Any man who is head of household in all aspects once the collapse aftermath has settled-in, will be doing his family harm by trading valuable services, gear, or supplies for garbage that brings no value to his family. Does smoking or drinking bring any positive value to his family? Pretty had to rationalize that it does. Maybe you trade some oddball part you don't own equipment for and all the guy has is a bottle of Old Grandad? Maybe you know some retired Major of Marines who has the fondness for Old Grandad??? If so, it comes down to are you likely to get a better offer, and what can you trade into if you've got the bourbon?
Still, those who intend to profiteer off their neighbors addictions will find themselves regarded as something of a scourge. Imagine, the one chance in most smokers' lives to go cold turkey and the guy at the end of the block opens a smoke and bottle shop... Not a good business plan for building goodwill among families you have to live with.
What does work for barter? Things just about anyone can use and may need. Thing like electrical wire, replacement parts like outlets and switches, lightbulbs, matches, sewing needles, thread, first-aid items, aspirin, sunscreen, bug repellant, work gloves, socks, underwear, soap of all kinds, bleach, clothespins and clothesline, buckets, funnels, canned food, candy & treats, shoelaces and polish, used clothing like bluejeans and Carharrt dungarees, cooking oil and spices, dishpan sets with drying rack, DVDs and books, especially how-to and magazines.
Some of the most essential items might include flints and lighter fluid for Zippo lighters, a welding sparker and sparker fints, matches of all types, sharpening stones, files, Kitchen knives and utensils of all sorts, also flatware like forks and spoons. If you live rurally, maybe you have topo maps and cheap compass. Blank DVD and CDs also along with plain, ruled, and paper in binders.
You can buy specific items that're gonna bring more in a public barter, like individually wrapped TP or boxed soaps. Stuff in factory packaging shows item is original and not tampered with or shorted. Worth more in such situations. Yet, if you lay-in extra stock of most of the essentials you'll need, you'll have these things to offer others who might've not done so. If you have a Printer Refill Kit, you're gonna be a real pal to someone whose last inkjet cartridge had only a few print jobs left. Things like PVC pipe, plumbers glue, teflon tape etc enable much when needed and cost very little. A selection of hacksaw blades, cold chisels and files will enable a lot of metalworking projects and salvage. If you have a tap & die set or two you can be a real hero making screws and nuts that couldn't otherwise be replaced.
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Buy good quality items and look for what is on sale or you can get savings by coupon. JoAnn Fabrics often has shopper coupons for up to 40% off. Maybe you buy a couple fabric wheel cutters and Gingher scissors and use one and put the other away?
Storing gasoline and other volatile fuels may be a concern, but you can buy extra oil, especially the high quality 2-stroke oil for chainsaws and other small engines, good synthetic grease and differential lube, along with brake fluid are also items many folks will have forgotten.
Not like you want to get known far and wide as a resource, but having extras and being willing to trade can be a real skill and blessing to your family and others.
Maybe they're right? Maybe their neighbors and strangers they wish to trade with will trade items which they possess, but the intrepid prepper forgot to purchase, all for a couple of airline bottles of liquor or a few cigarettes? Kinda doubtful.... See any holes in that rationale?
Perhaps the gentry of Southampton will trade their surgeon neighbor a case of Scotch or couple boxes of Partagas #10 churchills; but such doings will only be accommodations and an attempt to preserve civility. On the more common level, barter will hopefully facilitate trade. What will you offer the mechanic who can bypass a defective part and rig another salvaged from elsewhere to restore your generator or other important machine? Gonna offer him tobacco or liquor?
Any man who is head of household in all aspects once the collapse aftermath has settled-in, will be doing his family harm by trading valuable services, gear, or supplies for garbage that brings no value to his family. Does smoking or drinking bring any positive value to his family? Pretty had to rationalize that it does. Maybe you trade some oddball part you don't own equipment for and all the guy has is a bottle of Old Grandad? Maybe you know some retired Major of Marines who has the fondness for Old Grandad??? If so, it comes down to are you likely to get a better offer, and what can you trade into if you've got the bourbon?
Still, those who intend to profiteer off their neighbors addictions will find themselves regarded as something of a scourge. Imagine, the one chance in most smokers' lives to go cold turkey and the guy at the end of the block opens a smoke and bottle shop... Not a good business plan for building goodwill among families you have to live with.
What does work for barter? Things just about anyone can use and may need. Thing like electrical wire, replacement parts like outlets and switches, lightbulbs, matches, sewing needles, thread, first-aid items, aspirin, sunscreen, bug repellant, work gloves, socks, underwear, soap of all kinds, bleach, clothespins and clothesline, buckets, funnels, canned food, candy & treats, shoelaces and polish, used clothing like bluejeans and Carharrt dungarees, cooking oil and spices, dishpan sets with drying rack, DVDs and books, especially how-to and magazines.
Some of the most essential items might include flints and lighter fluid for Zippo lighters, a welding sparker and sparker fints, matches of all types, sharpening stones, files, Kitchen knives and utensils of all sorts, also flatware like forks and spoons. If you live rurally, maybe you have topo maps and cheap compass. Blank DVD and CDs also along with plain, ruled, and paper in binders.
You can buy specific items that're gonna bring more in a public barter, like individually wrapped TP or boxed soaps. Stuff in factory packaging shows item is original and not tampered with or shorted. Worth more in such situations. Yet, if you lay-in extra stock of most of the essentials you'll need, you'll have these things to offer others who might've not done so. If you have a Printer Refill Kit, you're gonna be a real pal to someone whose last inkjet cartridge had only a few print jobs left. Things like PVC pipe, plumbers glue, teflon tape etc enable much when needed and cost very little. A selection of hacksaw blades, cold chisels and files will enable a lot of metalworking projects and salvage. If you have a tap & die set or two you can be a real hero making screws and nuts that couldn't otherwise be replaced.
.
Buy good quality items and look for what is on sale or you can get savings by coupon. JoAnn Fabrics often has shopper coupons for up to 40% off. Maybe you buy a couple fabric wheel cutters and Gingher scissors and use one and put the other away?
Storing gasoline and other volatile fuels may be a concern, but you can buy extra oil, especially the high quality 2-stroke oil for chainsaws and other small engines, good synthetic grease and differential lube, along with brake fluid are also items many folks will have forgotten.
Not like you want to get known far and wide as a resource, but having extras and being willing to trade can be a real skill and blessing to your family and others.
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