Author Archives: SurvivalBlog Contributor

Letter: Heating Oil and Kerosene Uses

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heating Oil

Hello Jim:

I wanted to write a note about an idea for heating. We use a Nestor-Martin as well as a napoleon oil stove to heat. These are very, very efficient. They burn one and a half to three gallons maximum per day and can heat a 2000 square-foot home. They require no electricity in their gravity fed from oil tank. I’ve heated with wood most of my life. (There is nothing like a wood fire.)

To give you an example of how much the world has changed, in the late 70s and 80s as a Boy Scout our troop raised most of our funds from going in the woods felling trees and selling firewood. Nowadays, the Scouts have been watered down to car washes and cupcakes sales. We had professional woodsmen guiding and overseeing us to minimize the danger, but the danger was there nonetheless. We also did paper … Continue reading →



Letter: Kitchen Water Filter Advice

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5 Comments
Water Filter

Hi,
I listened to JWR on yet another interview (making the rounds) and wanted to know if you (or Hugh) would be able to suggest a water filter I could use for my kitchen sink.  I live in an apartment. Management informed me that a Water-Filtration System (as in reverse osmosis) is not allowed.

Is there anything, not super duper pricey, that I could attach to my faucet? Thanks! – T.N.

HJL’s Comment:

Many of our readers use a Berkey water filter. You can get these for under $300 from many of our advertisers. The advantage of the berkey type system is that it is gravity fed so you don’t have to have power. On the Latimer homestead, we use a Multipure Aquaversa system which can generally be had for about the same as a Berkey. The Multipure does require pressurized water. It’s a solid … Continue reading →


Killing the “HAKA”, by The Recovering Feminist

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Haka

Pushing Too Far

Have you ever wondered why God spared Job’s wife?

Have you nagged?

Ladies, can I ask you a few personal questions? It’s a question about nagging. Have you ever nagged a man so much that you pushed him too far? Basically, have you nagged him to the point where you regretted it? I’m not going to discuss the topic of abusive male aggression here or domestic violence. On the contrary, I’m hinting at the reality of how we, as women, have the innate ability to nag men. We all know how to do it. Some are more gifted than others. Have you wanted something very much and your way of asking (nagging) backfired? You pushed too hard. You were harsh, rude, demanding, and bitter about it. Have you ever done this to a man? If you answered “no”, then I highly suspect you are lying. If you … Continue reading →


Letter Re: The Practical Application of Tactical Gear, Load and Weight Considerations

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1 Comment
Tactical Gear

Hugh,

I’ve been reading the MAX V articles about practical application of tactical gear, et cetera. This spurred me to add my .02 cents. During a 2014 deployment to Kandahar with the Air Force Reserve, I had an ankle injury that wasn’t serious enough to send me home but serious enough to slow me down for my entire tour. I had brought with me a Tactical Tailor H-harness and belt set, which I set up to wear under my armor. (Once the armor was on, I never felt it.) I kept one magazine pouch and a small admin pouch, used for power bars and band-ades, on the armor. Everything else was on the H-harness/belt.

Loading up the carrier with ammo pouches and extra crap looked high-speed for the younger troops, but I felt was additional weight to try to get on and off in a hurry. Also, … Continue reading →


Guest Article: The Practical Application of Tactical Gear, Load and Weight Considerations- Part 2, by Max

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Tactical Gear

The intent of this continued post is to tie in the related, practical application concepts of tactical gear, fitness, teamwork, logistics, and tactical loading, in order to present a realistic and logical way to approach the subject. There are a number of related factors at play here. Part 1 covered the mission, logistics, tactical load, physical conditioning, transport, and ballistic plates along with a note urging people to avoid heavy steel plates.

Team

In order to be able to conduct any sort of patrolling/security operation, you are going to need a team. This means numbers of trained personnel. You cannot have that QRF if you do not have the trained bodies to man the operations center and the QRF team, while also running a security rotation on your home base. Thus, it goes without saying that you need trained people, in sufficient numbers, to provide an effective tactical team.

Combat … Continue reading →


Letter: Debt After SHTF

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62 Comments
debt after shtf

Hugh,

I’m looking for some justification of some prepper advice I’ve seen. More than a few articles recommend getting out of debt now before SHTF. I say, “Why?”. In the event of TEOTWAWKI the banks will be shut down anyway. Who’s going to process the repo paperwork? Who’s going to come enforce the repo? The local Sheriff is going to have more important things on his plate. That is assuming that he’s even still performing the duties of LEO. On top of that, I’d be willing to bet that when things started to get “back to normal” past debts will be forgiven in the interest of rebuilding the basic organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise. Just some thoughts… – D

HJL’s Reply:

You shouldn’t need any more advice than “It’s the right thing to do”. Getting out of debt should be … Continue reading →


Guest Article: The Practical Application of Tactical Gear, Load and Weight Considerations- Part 1, by Max

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14 Comments
Tactical Gear

The intent of this post is to tie in the related, practical application concepts of tactical gear, fitness, teamwork, logistics, and tactical loading, in order to present a realistic and logical way to approach the subject. There are a number of related factors at play here.

Mission

We often utilize the military terminology of “METT-TC” in order to analyze our mission and thus apply it to the gear that we may carry. Factors such as weather, duration, and the specific mission that you are conducting play into considerations of what to carry. We must be realistic in what we plan and train for now, and thus pack for. Base it around what we think we realistically might be doing in a collapse situation. I put it to you that most people will be engaged in local defense and security patrolling. They may also deal with presence/ground domination activity (GDA). People will … Continue reading →


Understanding Water Filtration, by Old Soldier

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Water Filtration

The understanding of water filtration requires a look at various filtration methods as well as contaminants. Let’s take a look at these.

Water Filtration Methods

Carbon/Activated Carbon Filters

Activated carbon chemically bonds with and removes some contaminants in water filtered through it. Carbon filters vary greatly in effectiveness. Some just remove chlorine and improve taste and odor, while others remove a wide range of contaminants, including asbestos, lead, mercury, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, activated carbon cannot effectively remove common “inorganic” pollutants, such as arsenic, fluoride, hexavalent chromium, nitrate, and perchlorate. Generally, carbon filters come in two forms– carbon block and granulated activated carbon.

Carbon block filters contain pulverized activated carbon that is shaped into blocks under high pressure. They are typically more effective than granulated activated carbon filters, because they have more surface area. Their effectiveness depends in part on how quickly water flows through.

Granulated activated carbon … Continue reading →


Growing Potatoes From True Potato Seeds, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

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Potato Seeds

Take a quick look at this clever video (1:47) describing the advantages of growing potatoes from potato seed.

Advantages of Growing Potatoes From Seed

Using traditional cross-breeding techniques, a company in the Netherlands named Solynta (So-lynn’-ta) has developed a line of potatoes that reliably produce “true potato seed” (“TPS”). Most potato seeds have a lot of genetic diversity, which is not a bad thing for home gardeners. They produce potatoes with varying sizes and colors, so they’re unsuitable for commercial production.

Less than one ounce of their seed can be planted in place of 5,500 pounds of “seed tuber” potatoes that would otherwise need to be cut up into pieces and planted. The seeds are lightweight, compact, and will last in storage several years. I don’t know if they’ll survive freezing. But how hard could it be to protect a thimbleful of seeds that could … Continue reading →


Letter: Earthbag Shelter

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1 Comment
earthbag shelters

Regarding the Odds ‘n Sods entry last month: Owen Geiger has several earthbag shelter designs that are inexpensive but labor intensive and that are an option for radiation protection.

Examples



Letter Re: Excessive OPSEC

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3 Comments
SurvivalBlog

JWR,

A good friend of mine recently died unexpectedly from a massive heart attack and had excessive OPSEC. Let’s just say he was prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse but not prepared to die. He kept much of his information to himself, including the combinations to his gun safes, hidden keys, and buried caches among other things. This has created huge problems for his surviving family members. Since none of us are immune from death, proper planning should include passing on critical information in a secure manner. – JEH


USMC Mountain Survival Course- Part 2, by E.T.

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USMC Mountain Survival Course

Rabbits

On the evening of the first night of being in the instructional phase of our USMC Mountain Survival Course, we were handed a pet shop rabbit. The Marine Corps had bought a batch of larger farm raised rabbits, only to find out they carried the nasty Tularemia (rabbit fever). They discovered the disease after looking at the first rabbit’s liver, which was spotted white/yellow and/or swollen. They weren’t willing to accept the risk of disease transmission. So, they searched all the nearby pet shops and bought up all the pet bunnies they could find. Those bunnies were small and cute instead of large and fluffy and full of meat. Mine was black and white. I had always wanted a pet rabbit. Just the same, I didn’t bother naming him since he looked tasty.

Butchering a Rabbit

Using one as an example, the instructors showed how to kill, skin, and … Continue reading →


USMC Mountain Survival Course- Part 1, by E.T.

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USMC Mountain Survival Course

Preparations For Mountain Survival

I spent June of 2014 in Bridgeport, California at the USMC’s School of Mountain Warfare undergoing the grand reopening of their Mountain Survival Course. Over the span of 13 days, I lost 31 pounds while in training. Here’s my story and lessons learned.

I left an elevation of 3,300 feet in the mountains of North Carolina for Bridgeport, which is at 6,500 feet. The first morning we ran our PFT with less than 12 hours of acclimation to the new elevation. We were required to score a First Class PFT before continuing the course. We had one Marine fail to achieve first class score twice and was shipped back to his unit. That left 26 students with three instructors. Our class consisted of all NCO’s, with a 1st Lieutenant and a Captain thrown in. We were a handful of Scout/Snipers, a Polish Commando, a Headquarters guy … Continue reading →