Basic Chainsaw Maintenance, by Grandpappy

I’ve been sharpening chainsaws for many years, and l’ve noticed that most owners don’t perform basic maintenance on their equipment. They don’t even know what maintenance they should perform after use, such as cleaning, oiling, and unclogging the chain’s lubrication holes. The file that comes with a manufacturer’s chainsaw kit is used to maintain the correct sharpening angle. Not all chains are sharpened to a 30° angle. For example, the Ripping Chaín used in some portable sawmills has a cutting angle of just 10°.


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:

“He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.”  – Isaiah 33: 15-17 (KJV)


Preparedness Notes for Friday — June 27, 2025

On June 27, 1709 in the Great Northern War: Peter the Great of Russia defeated Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava. Charles then went into exile in Bender, in the Ottoman Empire.  The painting above is titled The Battle of Poltava by Pierre-Denis Martin. — June 27th, 1893: Great stock crash on the New York Stock Exchange, known as the Panic of 1893. — Today is the birthday of the late Leroy James Sullivan (born June 27, 1933 – September 22, 2024), an American firearms inventor. Jim Sullivan designed several “scaled-down” versions of larger firearms. He also …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at currencies and precious metals in times of war. (See the Precious Metals section and the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Gold spiked versus paper currencies early this week. On Monday, there was an intraday high of $3,417.60 per Troy ounce. But on Tuesday, after an announced (but fragile) ceasefire, spot gold …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — June 26, 2025

On June 26, 1794 the Battle of Fleurus was a major victory by forces of the First French Republic under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan over the Coalition Army (Great Britain, Hanover, Dutch Republic, and Habsburgs). It marked the first use of a military reconnaissance balloon. — June 26th is the birthday of Marine Corps Lt. General Chesty Puller (born 1898, died October 11, 1971). Perhaps America’s finest-ever maverick officer, Puller was part of what I call the Even Greater Generation. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 119 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, we look at a possible asteroid strike on Earth’s Moon. A Possible Asteroid Strike on Earth’s Moon in 2032? SurvivalBlog reader C.B. sent this: Earth’s satellites at risk if …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — June 25, 2025

On June 25th, 1530, German Protestant princes forced Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (pictured) to hear their Confession of Faith — a statement of Lutheran theology, now known as The Augsburg Confession. — On June 25th, 1798, the US Congress passed the Alien Act, allowing the president to deport dangerous aliens. — June 25th, 1876: Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The Battle of Little Bighorn–also called Custer’s Last Stand – marked the most …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — A news link posted at our friend Commander Zero’s Notes From The Bunker blog: Shooter killed by staffers at Michigan church, police say; at least 1 person wounded. And here is some follow-up from the anti-gun PBS: Gunman killed after shooting into Michigan church, where his mother is a member. JWR’s Comments: …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — June 24, 2025

On June 24, 1374, a sudden outbreak of St. John’s Dance caused people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapsed from exhaustion. There is now conjecture that this strange outbreak was caused by rye bread contaminated with ergot fungus — a mycotoxin. — June 24th is the birthday of rifle-toting abolitionist pastor Henry Ward Beecher. (Born 1813, died March 8, 1887.) He and his adherents from his church smuggled so many Sharps rifles to Bleeding Kansas that the Sharps rifles picked up the nickname Beecher’s Bibles. The Infogalactic …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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 located in the American Redoubt region that are of interest to preppers and survivalists. Today, an update on a 2024 Sandpoint, Idaho arson attack. Idaho Idaho Arsonist Gets 15 Years for Torching Lawmaker’s Business. Here is an excerpt: “On July 4, 2024, the Army Surplus store in Sandpoint, owned by State Rep. Cornel Rasor (R – Westmond), was burned to …