Month: January 2021

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 20, 2021

39

Today is the birthday of Congressman Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) — On January 20, 1981, 52 American hostages were released by the Iranian government, following 444 days of captivity, to be reunited with their families. Not coincidentally, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President, the same day. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 92 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. …


Simple Heat Treating for a High Carbon Steel Knife Blade – Part 2, by Steve A.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) The blacksmith would heat the steel to a bright cherry red, check it with a magnet, bank the forge fire over the steel, and let it cool in the dying fire overnight, ensuring a very slow cooling rate. A modern heat treat shop would heat the steel to temperature in an atmosphere-controlled furnace and then turn the furnace off until the steel has cooled sufficiently. Another way to do this starts by clamping the file by its tang upright in a metal vise and annealing it with a torch. If you slowly …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

74

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, tools, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There is also an emphasis on links to sources for storage food and a variety of storage and caching containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on cold weather camping gear. (See the Gear section.) …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

2

“He died, as the Spanish phrase has it, full of illusions. He had not had time in his life to lose any of them, nor even, at the end, to complete an act of contrition. He had not even had time to be disappointed in the Garbo picture which disappointed all Madrid for a week.” – Ernest Hemingway, The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War


Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 19, 2021

6

Today is the birthday of the late Carla Emery (born 1939, died October 11, 2005). She is well known in self-sufficiency circles as the author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living. (This book was re-released in a 40th Anniversary edition.) January 19th is also the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 92 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be …


Simple Heat Treating for a High Carbon Steel Knife Blade – Part 1, by Steve A.

24

Modern civilization owes its existence in part to the early discovery that iron containing small amounts of carbon could be made much harder than other iron compounds. This substance, iron with between about 0.6 and 1.7 percent carbon and no other alloying elements, was the first predictably hardenable steel and can be referred to as “high carbon plain steel”. Such steels can be made as hard as a file and form the most basic group of tool steels, where tool steel is defined as steel that is able to cut softer steel. The range of these steels include the simple …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

34

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on migration between the 50 states. (See the Idaho section.) Idaho COVID causes Bogus Basin to lose $3 million in revenue, “our goal is to stay open and safe” o  o  o The big influx:   A moving company migration map.  And here is …




Glock Model 44 Pistol in .22 LR, by Pat Cascio

23

Look, I don’t care how many firearms you own, if you don’t own at least one firearm chambered in .22 Long Rifle (LR), then you don’t have a survival battery! When I worked for the late Colonel Rex Applegate, he had more than 850 firearms in his collection. Quite a few of them were chambered in .22 LR. If the good Colonel needed firearms in .22 LR, then so do you. For many years, I used to recommend that the first firearm people purchased, should have been a 12 gauge shotgun of some type. I was wrong! I honestly believe …


Recipe of The Week: Carrots And Peas With Green Mint

The following recipe for Carrots And Peas With Green Mint is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book will be one of the many bonus items included in the next edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This special 15th Anniversary Edition USB stick should be available for pre-ordering on January 25, 2021. The 14th Edition sold out quickly, so place a reminder in your calendar, if you want the latest one. Ingredients 1 …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

60

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at some more indicators of mass inflation ahead. (See the  section.) Precious Metals: First up, from Jim Curry: Gold Update – U.S. Stocks Bracing for Correction. o  o  o Gold and silver prices react to this week’s events in some unexpected ways Economy & Finance: A bond market alert: For …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 17, 2021

10

On Jan. 17, 1920 the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution went into effect, establishing Prohibition. By one account, 286 distilleries, 992 breweries, and more than 300,000 bars and saloons were closed. This is also the anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens in 1781. This small battle was the turning point of the American Revolution in the South. In it, the best battlefield tactician America produced, the backwoodsman Daniel Morgan, decisively and utterly defeated the most arrogant, bloody and successful field grade officer in the British Army, Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton. The battle set in motion the chain of events …