Category: Traditional Skills/Fieldcraft

Get Informed, by Todd X.

I still remember the conversation.  I was a freshman in high school, but I had the idea of  taking auto mechanics during summer school.  Dad told me that he would always pay for me to take a class because in the end, knowledge can never be taken away from you.  I didn’t take the class. I can’t remember why.  But his statement and philosophy has stayed with me forever.  Although it sounds cheesy, I consider myself a lifelong learner.  So, when I entered the world of prepping, I combined my love of learning with what I know of technology and …


Letter Re: The Information Snowball

Mr. Rawles, Thank you for your blog site. Sorry to add to the “snowball” burden but when building a library make sure the paper used is not acid-based or in a few years it will all turn to dust. Use alkaline paper or “Archival” paper only. This will make the information available for many generations. See the Wikipedia article discussing the matter. Numerous companies sell their alkaline and archival paper on-line and it is available in larger office stores. Also a chemical test pen is available that will test whether a given sheet of paper is acid or alkaline is …


The Information Snowball, by Scott T.

My wife and I have just recently started prepping (about a year now) and were amazed to find out how little we knew, in regards to living a self sustaining lifestyle/homesteading.  We had recently moved from our big house in the suburbs where farm animals weren’t allowed, to a secluded 5 acre parcel just outside of a small rural town. We, in this troubled time are in the midst of trying to build a cabin (cash as we go) while preparing for The End Of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAWKI).  We started storing food while learning to garden …


Some Experience With Wilderness Campfires, by N.P.

I recently attended a “survival camp” with my son’s Boy Scout troop and was surprised how many of the boys were unable to get a good fire started.  Today’s emphasis of “don’t play with matches” even seems to have most kids scared of fire.  A fire provides warmth, the ability to cook, and even a setting to bring the day to a close.  Building a sustainable fire quickly and comfortably is a survival skill that everyone should know.  Some preparation is required, however to be able to start and keep a fire burning.  Everyone’s kit should include some type of …


Lessons From a Mini Orchard and Foraged Fruit–Using Free Food to Prep, by Sally M.

My husband and I moved cross-country to The American Redoubt this past spring with our two young sons.  We had never even visited this area, but our research over two years caused us to fall in love with an area we had never seen in person.  My husband flew out on his own about a month before our move and found us a rental house on a couple acres within our budget.  He thought he saw fruit trees at the time and took pictures to show me, but we couldn’t tell for sure. Our transition was very tiring and tedious, …


Letter Re: Air Wells, Fog Fences, and Dew Ponds–Harvesting Atmospheric Water

Sir I am providing a link to a web page on “Air Wells”–the history of harvesting  atmospheric water, in the form of water vapor, dew ,and fog.  I know this was done in ancient times, and when I was in Europe I went on several tours of old castles, etc.  At one of these sites I saw a odd building on the grounds, and asked what that was used for.  It was used to collect water from the dew in the mornings, there was a cistern inside, and the water dripped from the tile walls and collected in the cistern.  …


Letter Re: Lists of Practical Skills

JWR – I cannot thank you enough for all you do. Thanks to your “List of Lists” and articles I am well on my way…. above the 80% so to speak.  As everyone is, I am limited by finances. So while I pursue the items I need I also wanted to pursue skills. That is the most important anyway. So I was searching the site for a list of practical skills. Skills many times can be practiced without money or with existing gear.  Is there a list of skills on the site? And if not, then what articles would you …


Two Letters Re: Uses of Thermoses and Hot Water Bottles

Sir: Stanley no longer sells replacement gaskets for their older thermoses, but a large industrial O-ring will suffice. Find a hardware store with a large selection of O-rings and you’re good to go. In fact you can often find old Stanleys very cheaply at thrift stores or garage sales simply because they no longer have a good seal. – DB in Oregon   James, Just a quick note with some info that might help. One liter liter/quart Lexan Nalgene bottles (an presumably other brands, though I haven’t tried them) make great Hot Water Bottles when filled with boiling water and …


Prepping For Death, by J.D.A.

Preparing for death is probably not the usual topic discussed on this board, but a recent illness in my family has put this issue squarely in my face.   It is my hope that all reading this blog will live many more years and will leave this earth either via the Rapture or natural causes at a ripe old age. That being said, death is something we have to consider in our plans.  I approach this topic from two angles: 1) losing a loved one in a non-Schumer situation, 2) losing a loved one in a Schumeresque situation.  I hope to …


Letter Re: Uses of Thermoses and Hot Water Bottles

Hi Jim, I have been a long time user of the Nissan & Stanley line of stainless steel thermoses, water bottles and coffee mugs and have a couple of things to add to BigSky’s article.  One pertains to TSA’s interest in them and the other is about over-the-fire uses.   I have carried the Nissan stainless steel coffee mug (16 oz.) everywhere for years, including airports.  Last Christmas there was a “threat alert” pertaining to bomb making material being carried in stainless steel thermoses.  Ever since then I have been pulled out of line for further inspection by the TSA because …


Uses of Thermoses and Hot Water Bottles, by BigSky

I have long believed that quality hot water bottles and steel vacuum thermos bottles and are very valuable survival tools. They are a wonderful intersection of high and low tech that can serve in a number of helpful roles. THERMOSES Fireless Cooking (retained-heat cooking) – I have cooked in WIDE-mouth thermoses many hundreds of times since the 1970s. There are a couple of other articles on this sight covering that fuel-saving application. I would amend the recommendation given re: Aladdin Stanley vacuum bottles, and I will cover that below. Using WIDE-mouth thermoses for “fireless cooking” is one very useful role …


Letter Re: Survival Aspects of Cartridge Reloading

Jim: In a recent article, Jerry M. mentioned: “One more thing worth mentioning is the small rifle and small pistol primers are the same size cups, same as the large rifle and large pistol primers are the same size. The cups on the pistol primers are a little thinner than the rifle, for obvious reasons, most rifle firing pins hit a lot harder than pistols do. I have used rifle primers in pistol rounds, and they seem to work fine. You might run into problems on S&W revolvers, using rifle primers, if you have the spring tension screw backed off …


Survival Aspects of Cartridge Reloading, by Jerry M.

Having spent my teenage years in my dad’s commercial reloading shop, circa 1955 to1958, I learned quite a bit about reloading ammunition. Back then we loaded mostly .30-06, .30-30 Winchester, .270 Winchester, .300 Savage, 250 Savage and other old calibers that were excellent deer and elk rifles. Long before the magnum mania came about, these rifles were killing big game, and doing it quite well. Many today find this unbelievable, but back when the silver certificates were money, and fiat currency was only a dream of the globalist bankers, you could buy a pound of DuPont 4895, a box of 100- .30 caliber JSP bullets, and …


Letter Re: It Takes a Brickmaker To Build a Village

Mr Rawles & Co., I recently found a project on the Kickstarter web site while browsing for good DIY options for brick making machines. The project seems right up any survivalist’s or prepper’s alley in that it involves designing cheap and durable machinery for use after the collapse of civilization, using mostly only scrap metal or other junk. If successful, the end result is going to be an open-source database (and various CDs) containing schematics and instructions for the construction of at least 50 machines and vehicles. These include brick makers, primitive CNC machine tools, tractors etc. (You get the …


Weekend Homesteaders, by R.M.H.

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This is the story of how two middle-aged city dwellers became weekend homesteaders, and how we bumbled our way through planning and building an off-grid survival cabin. Top to bottom, the project took about two years to complete, working only on weekends. We started out naïve but ambitious, and learned everything as we went along. Our off-the-grid plans actually began with an intriguing documentary. The program posed a series of questions: What would you do without power for two days? For two weeks? For two months? The show went on to explain how incredibly fragile the power grid is, and …