SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. The Nanny State is up to their collective eyeballs in ludicrous legislation again.
Rawles XL Voyager
I noticed that the supply of the limited-production Rawles XL Voyager folding tanto knives has dried up. The manufacturer (Cold Steel) sold out more than a year ago. In a recent bit of web-wandering, I only found one dealer that still has a few on hand at around $80 each. If you’ve been hesitating, this may be your last chance to get yours at under $100. – JWR
Paladin Press
Fellow blogger Claire Wolfe mentioned that Paladin Press is closing its doors. Claire mentioned that Paladin Press is closing its doors at the end of December. Sad to see one of the few publishers of controversial titles quitting business. This comes on the heels of both Loompanics and Lindsay Technical Publications shutting down. The only good news is that they have a huge sale right now.
Survival Shelter
The Canadian Prepper has posted a video on building a large survival shelter. The Silky Saws are featured tools and he uses several sizes to accomplish the task. the video shows the entire process of building the shelter. After watching these saws in action, I’m definitely adding a couple to my preps. I’ve been searching for a replacement saw for the standard bow saw and these look good.
The Nanny State
First it was the elimination of personal ownership of firearms that was attacked. Then, when knives were used in assaults, they tried to limit the sale of those sharp pointy things. Now that acid attacks have becoming popular, Britain is now trying to control and limit the sales of it. So where will a bad guy get his acid if he can’t purchase it? How about stealing it from any of the millions of vehicles on the road with a flooded type battery? Obviously, legislators are not thinking these things through very well.
NATO
NATO has realized first-hand the dangers of smartphones. Apparently the “Russian Hackers” are targeting the smartphones of troops stationed near the boarder in their hacking attempts to gather information on troop strengths and movements. While it’s not surprising that this method is used, it does show the link between hacking attempts originating out of Russia and the Russian government. From strictly a tactical standpoint, they’d be crazy not to use this method.
Second Amendment
In a move completely devoid of surprise, the left is now calling for the abolition of the Second Amendment. the New York times columnist Bret Stephens wrote an editorial that maligned those who support the Second Amendment (calling it a fetish). Factually, the piece is full of errors and twisted statistics, but it again shows the willingness of the left to exploit tragedies for their own agendas while simultaneously claiming conservatives are the one doing it. There would actually be very little chance of such a modification passing the necessary benchmarks.
Plague
A SurvivalBlog reader noted that there is currently a plague outbreak in Madagascar with 200 known cases. It’s mostly pneumonic, which is bad – very contagious. But the percentage of deaths to illnesses is low, so it’s probably not weaponized. Interesting that they are shipping in 1.5 million doses of antibiotics to treat 5,000 patients and 100,000 who are exposed. That’s about 10 doses per person to treat.
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Wanted to put out a warning. After (too much) procrastination, I finally got around to trying to purchase my Rawles Voyager this past month. There were 2 sellers on eBay, 1 was legit, and the other I have very good reason to believe, was a 100% bootleg version. I don’t mean factory seconds or scratch & dent, I mean complete knockoff. Caveat Emptor.
I was one of the sellers on EBay. To my knowledge the only seller. If your return address was in Arkansas then you purchased from me. I can assure you the knives I purchased were 100% genuine as they were bought directly from the Cold Steel website at a much higher price when introduced to the public. I’m not a profiteer – we have our reasons for selling at a loss and we listed them for what we feel is a very reasonable price given the market. Bottom line, one heck of a knife.
No sir, at the time I was looking, there was yours (based in Arkansas), and another posting, since removed, based out of Taiwan. I had excellent reason to believe the ones based out of Taiwan were bootleg. I considered yours to be legit.
Just remember the government forced Paladin Press to disgorge its customer lists years ago. There’s no reason to think they’re not maintaining that list. Not the fault of PP just the way it is.
Hello Mr Rawles,
I am the seller of the Rawles Cold Steel on EBay. I am not a dealer (I used to be, long before I purchased these). I am a private seller. These knives were purchased to supply my family and friends with quality tools in the event of disaster and kept in a safe. We purchased over a dozen of them. Unfortunately we don’t belong to the same community as I have moved South out of the redoubt. I can assure you the knives are 100% genuine and if you wish you can contact Cold Steel and use my email address to verify I purchased these when they hit the market. I can also assure buyers these are selling for less than I purchased them for, but we are also keeping a few for our own preparedness needs. They are indeed an excellent knife and are built well above typical standards (again, I used to be a knife dealer and know my stuff). Thank you for making mention of these knives as there is only one left up for grabs at this point.
I own a tree business and I just wanted to give a thumbs up on the Silky saws. It’s what I use as a professional, I’m sure there are other good saws out there but you cannot go wrong with any Silky you purchase. Total professional saw.
Let’s see:
Rawles XL Voyager:
I got mine relatively early on. I think I paid something like $130.00 for it. It’s a great and very sharp knife. I bought a Cold Steel paring knife at the same time. It is the sharpest kitchen knife I own. I highly recommend Cold Steel knives.
Silky Saws:
Never heard of the brand, but I have a couple of similar hand saws, one is a Black and Decker the other is a Craftsman brand. Both are good saws and come in ever so handy. This brand looks interesting, requires further investigation.
Nanny State:
Britain, what else is new. The U.S. is headed in the same direction. Too bad, this use to be a great country.
NATO:
You are right, it’s only smart for the Russians to be hacking smartphones of NATO troupes that are right on their border. Now if our government would only hack the smartphones of the drug cartels. No that won’t happen, it might interfere with our governments profits from the drug trade.
Second Amendment:
I agree with you that it would be nearly impossible to get 38 states to ratify a repeal of the 2nd Amendment. However, our Trotskyist two party system also controls the governments in all the states. Like the Communists and the National Socialists, if the Democrat and Republican establishment want a repeal passed, how sure are you of the independence of the state parties? And if the states won’t pass a repeal, what is to stop the congress from deciding that it no longer requires the states to repeal any part of the Constitution? After all, 90% of what congress and the various presidents and the supreme court do is unconstitutional. One of the biggest flaws in our constitution is that there is no method of enforcing it on those who are supposed to be “bound by the chains of the constitution”, except by voting the scumbags out of office. That hasn’t happened, has it.
To say the least, I’m skeptical of all levels of government.
Finally on Plague:
Somebody in big pharma is getting a really nice payday out of this fiasco. Now, how many people in Madagascar, who don’t now have the plague, are going to get the plague from the shots.
The “State” of a nation, is always fluctuating. That is because there is really nothing new happening, from generation to generation. Different attire and tools, same human condition. What makes a great nation?, Great people. If you think that this nation is not great anymore, you might look in the mirror first, then work out from there. I’m sure many a great man has wondered about the state of the nation, but great men don’t, tear things down they build things up. America, still the greatest nation on earth, Hoouagh!