Year: 2007

Letter Re: The Importance of Making Your BOV Less Visible

Jim, I am a long time reader, and wanted to thank you for all of your efforts, hard work and dedication to SurvivalBlog and it’s readers, members and groups! Without you, your books, and your web sites, I would still be in the dark, running around without a care in the world! At least now I am prepared, ready, clear headed, dedicated, and ahead of the game! Many thanks again! All of us preparing to bug out, are stocking, loading, maintaining, discussing, prepping and planning. The subject I wanted to touch bases on, is your Bug Out Vehicle (BOV). So …


Letter Re: Some Steel Canning Possibilities

Mr. Rawles, Given the recent discussion about canning, it seems like sealed tin cans would make an effective Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) barrier. Why not can some inexpensive FRS radios, small transistor radios, and other electronic items in a standard soup-size can? Can some lithium batteries, and you’ll be all set. By the way, it would probably be a good idea to make sure that the lid and can have good electrical contact. Some cans might be lacquered/coated, so it might be wise to check the lid/can continuity with an Ohm meter. Regards, – JN-EMT JWR Replies: That is a great …


Letter Re: Storage Foods for Vegetarians?

Sir: The question of storage food for vegetarians came up and I don’t have a good answer! I have looked at several of the vendors you recommend and there does not seem to be any packages aimed at that market! I have heard about veggie MREs but have not seen them for sale. Safecastle has some nice long term storage packages put together but none seem to be aimed at this crowd. Thanks for your thoughts on this! – SD JWR Replies: I’m not aware of any storage food vendors that make vegetarian sampler, per se. As I recall, Mountain …


Odds ‘n Sods:

H5N1 in the British Isles? Yes, it’s official: Outbreak of lethal bird flu confirmed in Britain.    o o o Just in time for holiday travel: Pump price to jump 20 cents in next 2-3 weeks    o o o Thanks to RBS for sending us this article from Forbes: Empty Houses Home to Crime As Loans Fail. Here is a quote: “In the Franklin Reserve neighborhood of Elk Grove, Calif., full of subdivisions with half-million dollar homes, homeowners are fighting inner-city problems like gangs, drugs, theft and graffiti. During the boom, the suburb just south of Sacramento sprouted 10,000 …



Note from JWR:

With the many hours required to write the blog, to write books, and to do consulting, I have decided to shut down my mail order business. It was fun, but it was a huge time sink. I will also no longer be taking orders for autographed copies of my novel. Fred’s M14 Stocks still has more than 900 autographed copies available.


Letter Re: Freshness Tests for Storage Foods

Jim, Numerous web sites and books provide information about average food shelf life. However, this shelf life greatly depends for instance upon temperature (food generally stores proportionately longer at cooler temperatures), thus a properly stored food item could be good to consume well past its ‘expected’ expiration date. Sometimes discoloration (for instance) is not a show stopper. Do you or your readers know of some simple ‘freshness test’ to ensure that a given food product is good or not (or is that a stupid question)? I can start with what I gathered from the Internet: – Baking powder Freshness test: …


Letter Re: Some Steel Canning Possibilities

Mr. Editor: I read SurvivalBlog about once a week and thought you might enjoy this. Someone commented on using their home canning machine for items other than food. I can a lot of different things up to the size of a spaghetti can. Above that takes a number #10 canner and I haven’t found one reasonably priced. If I have to I go down to a store and buy some new/never used paint cans and go that route. Spare parts for firearms are heavily greased (sometimes placed in vacuum packed plastic, depending on size and function of items). Radio parts, …


Letter Re: Advice on Dog Breeds for Retreat Security?

Jim, Do you have any thoughts about survival dogs, no, not for dinner. My dog alerts me if anything approaches the cabin, which is generally bears, and sometimes a charging Saber toothed, bushy-tailed, ground squirrel, a wayward mink or martin. To the point, what about the value of hunting dogs, or breeds that will charge into the dark of night to scurry away unwelcome visitors. My homeowners insurance is high enough, so I can rule out some of the more aggressive breeds. Thanks, – D.V. JWR Replies: I have observed that there are as many opinions about “ideal” dog breeds …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Could the recently reported outbreak of Asian Avian Flu in England be the dreaded H5N1 strain? Bird flu confirmed on farm in east England. (A tip of the hat to J.P. for sending this link.)    o o o Rod sent us this: US Supreme Court may hear Second Amendment Case. Hopefully they will settle the “individual right” versus “collective right” controversy once and for all, and roll back some unconstitutional Federal laws.    o o o The high bid is still at $400 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction, for four items: a Baygen Freeplay Summit AM/FM/Shortwave digitally-tuned radio, and …



Notes from JWR:

Economist Jim Sinclair noted in a recent e-newsletter: “November 15th is approaching quickly. It is this date where supposed real valuations, according to accounting standards, have to be made on value-less class 3 assets.” I think Jim Sinclair is right. Thursday (November 15th) may go down in history as a financial reckoning day. Given the presently very shaky US markets, these revelations could very well precipitate a stock market drop–if not a stock market crash–led by the financial sector stocks. I pray that the readers of SurvivalBlog have all taken my advice and have minimized their exposure to stocks and …


New Zealand’s South Island Readies for “the Big One”, by SurvivalistSam

The whole South Island has been told to prepare for a massive earthquake in the near future. This is due to the Alpine Fault Line which is where the Australasian and Pacific plates meet on the West Coast of the South Island. The boundary between these two plates is locked and the pressure building up needs to be released. A release of such pressure would result in an earthquake about the size of a number 8 on the Mercalli Intensity scale. Such a earthquake would last for minutes, not seconds. Canterbury University Associate Professor Tim Davies was quoted at a …


Letter Re: Show Caution When Dispensing Charity

Jim– Some years ago, we enjoyed a power outage when we were living near Tacoma, Washington. It occurred on Thanksgiving day, so everybody’s turkeys were slowly cooling in their ovens. Our next door neighbor, knowing we were into preparedness, called over (land line phones were okay) asking to borrow our Coleman stove so they could heat up water for coffee. I sent one of my girls over with the stove. After about 15 minutes, the neighbors called again asking for help in lighting the stove. It was an old stove and I was embarrassed that it might have given up …


Letter Re: Recovering Salt from Hickory Chips

Mr. Rawles: Your suspicion was correct. Boiling hickory chips will not provide quantities of salt sufficient to be detected by human taste senses. It is not feasible to use this method as a means of acquiring salt for consumption. Hickory chips are used in the curing process for pork and other meats only when they are heated to the extent that they start to emit smoke. Normally the chips are wetted to prevent them from rapidly burning. The benefits of the process are as follows: 1) The primary benefit of the smoking process is that it coats the meat (most …