Category: Fuel Storage & Distilling

State and Federal Lands–Poor Choices for Short Term Retreat Locales

I often have people ask me if state or Federally-managed forest land or BLM land would be a viable place to take temporary or long term shelter in the event of of a societal collapse. There might be exceptions, but my blanket assertion is no, that is a bad idea for even a temporary retreat locale. Here is my rationale: Access: Access is a huge issue. Public lands are intended for visits, not residence.Odds are that if you make camp on state or Federal land, men with badges and guns will arrive within a couple of weeks and forcibly send …


Letter Re: Observations on the Recent Missouri Ice Storm

Mr. Rawles, I live in Southwestern Missouri. Did you followed the ice storm that buried the Midwest? We got hit pretty hard. We get hit hard every four or five years. Which brings me to my point. I have never seen so many unprepared people in all my life. After day two of the ice storm power was out (for a month in a lot of places like Springfield). There were no gas cans to be found at any store. Batteries, disposable propane bottles, flashlights, milk, and meat were missing from the shelves of every store. Even Wally World [Wal-Mart] …


Blue Water Sailing as a Retreat Option?, by CMC

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Coming from a Southern family and having hunted as a child and adult, and having backpacked the Smokies, I would not want to depend on a mountain man scenario for survival during TEOTWAWKI. I want to walk a bit further with this. Most particularly consideration of a sailing vessel and the ocean as a way of survival. I seriously question the concept of mobility, particularly mobility at sea. I remember Sun Tzu said something to the effect that “when the army of maneuver meets the army of the fortress, the army of the fortress generally looses.” But I think that …


Letter Re: More Evidence of Peak Oil Decline–Preparing for Much Higher Gasoline Prices

Dear Jim and Family, Bad news from the largest oil field in Mexico. The Canterell field, formerly reported to decline at 2% last August, 6% in October, and 11% in December has been rated at 25% today. Oil production has dropped from 1.99 million barrels per day to 1.5 million barrels per day. This is a very bad thing. Most of that oil goes to the USA via NAFTA treaties. There are no fields to replace it, and since Mexico has 51% leftist leanings, no oil company will risk investing there (Pemex was formed from seized foreign oil investments, most …


Letter Re: How to Reply to “When the SHTF, I’m Going Over to Your House”, by Rolf in the Northwest

Jim, I liked Rolf’s idea for a reply to the “I’m coming to your house” comments. I like to say: “If you got in a car wreck, you wouldn’t expect my car insurance to cover it would you? No, of course not, that’s what you have your own car insurance for. If your house burned down, you wouldn’t expect my house insurance to cover it would you? No, of course not, that’s what you have your own house insurance for. So, how would it be any different in a disaster. Do you think my disaster insurance should cover you in …


Letter Re: Observations on the Recent Oklahoma Ice Storm

Jim: Well, I just got back online. I had to go up to the roof and thaw the wireless [Internet] antenna with a heat gun. It seems the ice grounds out the antenna. It was an easy fix with my heat gun for heat shrink tubing. More precipitation is on the way but colder. It will probably just be snow. We never lost power but were ready anyway. I have friends with no power and they have been without power for days and no idea when it will be back on. The further out you live, the less chance of …


Letter Re: Oilfield Production Decline Rates are Worse than Expected

Dear Jim and Family, I wish I could say Happy New Year, but i just learned some terrible news in the oil business. The big fields where most of the USA and world get their oil are declining at much faster rates than expected, and the companies are willing to admit to high numbers. In summary: Burgan field in Kuwait dropping at 11% per year. Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia (biggest in the world) dropping at 8%, which is 5.5% higher than expected. Cantarell field in Mexico (source of most US oil) is dropping at 14% rather than the 6% …


Letter Re: Can I Burn Off Road Diesel Fuel in a Modern Diesel Engine?

Jim I have experience with both off and on road diesels mechanical and electronic control. Normally off road fuel is ok to run in all mechanically fuel injected engines from a performance standpoint. (But legality is another matter.) However, both Stanidyne and Delphi produce an electromechanical pump for some on road applications that use an electric eye to read timing. These types of fuel systems cannot be run on dyed fuel. I repeat cannot be run on off road fuel. Second and of primary importance is fuel quality all electronic fuel injection systems are very sensitive to fuel contamination and …


Letter Re: Can I Burn Off Road Diesel Fuel in a Modern Diesel Engine?

James In the letter from “John in Central New York State’, he says that most late model diesels with electronic ignitions won’t work with off road diesel fuel. Do you know why? Thanks, J.P. in Montana JWR Replies: I believe that John’s statement was not entirely correct. Most Diesel engines can run just fine on the off road fuel or even home heating oil (called “red diesel”, in England), but they cannot legally do so on public roads in the U.S. and the UK. The formulations of Home Heating Oil, “off road diesel”, and road taxed No. 2 Diesel fuel …


Letter Re: The James Kim Exposure Death Tragedy: Lessons to Be Learned

Mr. Rawles: I followed the search and rescue story [the tragic death of James Kim–stranded on a remote Oregon logging road] in the news recently and was struck with very emotional feelings about their ordeal. Apparently he and his family did the right things, but in the end bad luck and a lack of proper survival gear was disastrous. Putting myself into his shoes I feel that I too would have definitely tried to hike for help after a week of hunkering down and waiting for rescue. See the series of Google Earth images showing his path while trying to …


Bullet Casting: A (Relatively) Simple Introduction, by AVL

Bullet casting is likely one of the oldest activities regarding firearms. From the time humans graduated from using shaped rocks, casting was the method of choice for just about every projectile. While there are other methods that allow for more complex designs (swaging, see corbins.com) casting is still the best simple method for turning a lump of otherwise useless lead into a projectile that will put food on your table and protect your family. Safety It is important to note that casting is a dangerous process. Casting will expose you to toxic metals at high temperature. Safety is paramount. I …


Letter Re: Enlightened Survivalism Article in The Energy Bulletin

Jim, The comments in today’s SurvivalBlog concerning my ‘Enlightened Survivalism’ article that was posted on the Energy Bulletin that ‘this more likely qualifies as preaching to the choir’ is exactly why the article was not sent to yourself for posting on SurvivalBlog. I tried ‘preaching to the choir’ as you put it with my post to you ‘Considerations for Longer Term Survival’ that you posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2005. It would seem that many have still not really got to grips with its contents particularly: ‘What about food when the “Year’s Food Supply” is gone? What about your water …


Two Letters Re: Alcohol and Tobacco as Barter Items

Mr. Rawles: Thanks to Warhawke for his very well written article. There are two items conspicuous in their absence, tobacco and alcohol. I seem to remember reading somewhere, perhaps in the novel Lucifer’s Hammer, that people will always want to smoke and drink no matter how bad things are. I am wondering if you and/or Warhawke have any thoughts? Would it be prudent to stock an occasional can of Plowboy tobacco and some of the little airline bottles of booze? I’m very Interested in your thoughts. – Carl In Wisconsin Sir: Greetings and thanks for the great web site. In …


Two Letters Re: Military Surplus Gasoline Cans–Questions on Cleaning Procedures and Venting

Hi Jim, I’ve restored older cars as a hobby for about 24 years (Ford is my preference. I was delighted to see [late 1960s vintage] Broncos, F250s and Mustangs in your novel “Patriots”.) I have a suggestion for cleaning older gas cans that works very well for me. Most recently I dealt with a 50,000 mile 1969 Buick Riviera. [JWR Adds: Ah, the roar of a 454! I once owned a 1970 Buick Electra 225. What a ride.] The deceased prior owner had stored the car indoors since 1983. The gas tank was full of vile liquid that at one …


Three Letters Re: Military Surplus Gasoline Cans–Questions on Cleaning Procedures and Venting

Mr. Rawles The man who bought the military gas cans with the latches and no vent hole, sounds like he [might have] bought five gallon military water cans. That also could explain why he found unknown liquid instead of gasoline in the cans. Love your site. OBTW, I’m a Unimog survival vehicle owner. J.P. in Montana   Sir: Joe is probably referring to the German style fuel cans! They are a very well designed can that vents with a passage from the cans opening up though the handle to the humpbacked air chamber on the back of the can behind …