Day: October 11, 2025

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — October 11, 2025

On October 11, 1923, the hyperinflated German Mark issued by the Weimar regime fell to 10 billion per British Pound and\ 4 billion per U.S. Dollar. — October 11, 1138: A massive earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, killed an estimated 230,000 people. — Today is the 75th birthday of novelist William R. Forstchen. He is best known for his survivalist novel One Second After. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used …


Parkerizing at Home – Part 1, by S.A.

Parkerizing is the trade name of a chemical reaction process that uses a mild acid solution to deliver manganese or zinc to a steel part and thereby coat that part with either manganese or zinc. The generic name for this process is “Phosphate Coating”, but most folks use the familiar name, Parkerizing, and often use a lower-case “p” when writing about it. The purpose of parkerizing is to provide a protective finish on steel parts. The resultant phosphate coating will hold lubricants and rust preventatives. One common use is to coat and protect steel firearms. Compared to bluing, it has …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward …