Category: Traditional Skills/Fieldcraft

Four Letters Re: Wattle and Daub Construction

Jim: Here are some more links to YouTube.com videos that I forgot to include with my previous note on wattle and daub construction. The links below include construction of a debris shelter, a good instruction on how to construct a clay and stone fire place with chimney.  When constructing a clay chimney without stones you need to build up about two feet and stop and let it dry, continue the next day with another two feet, etc, until you have a height that you prefer.  In log cabin construction in the old days they used to build chimneys of smaller …


Three Letters Re: Trapping Options for the Non-Trapper

J.W.R.: Greeting from a long time reader in Southeast Texas. Regarding the article “Trapping Options for the Non-Trapper” by Pat in Oregon: When I was a child some 60 years ago, my neighbor had a problem with pigeons eating the chicken feed.  She solved the problem with large rat traps, which you can still get in any hardware store.   She baited the traps with the feed and placed them on the fence posts.  She also attaching about two feet of string to the trap and tied it to a nail in the post.  This kept the pigeon from taking …


Trapping Options for the Non-Trapper, by Pat in Oregon

Most folks are familiar to some extent with animal trapping but have little experience.  In a TEOTWAWKI world I suggest there are several advantages that trapping will offer almost everyone.  With minimal equipment and some basic experience trapping can offer security, food, and economic opportunities.  Before taking any action please familiarize yourself with your local laws and requirements related to fur-bearing animals and trapping.   I trapped coyotes and bobcat back in my college days with a good friend.  It was a great time but required considerable equipment, preparation, effort, and skill.  Today I still do a lot of trapping, …


An Army Veteran’s Thoughts on Camouflage, by H.R.

In case of TEOTWAWKI, being successful in the art of camouflaging will be a serious matter. It will be necessary for many aspects of life to include; movement, reconnaissance, and ambush. Camouflaging is a multi-tiered animal, including camouflaging your skin, your clothing, your gear, and your weapon. I spent six years in the army as an Infantryman. As a result I personally have spent 26 months of my life in Iraq, and I have been on well over 500 combat patrols: to include raids and ambushes of all kinds. Camouflaging of your outfit or uniform begins with the construction of …


Letter Re: The Sling Shot Channel

Sir: I think you might enjoy Jörg Sprave’s slingshot channel on Youtube.com. His videos on his home made slingshot weapons, I mean he is something else!!  he has a slingshot rifle with scope, a pump action repeating slingshot sort a rifle or pistol device, one that shoots machetes (yikes!!!) and a cannon slingshot, etc, etc, etc.  I like the pump action job.  He even has a tutorial video on how he makes it.  He shoots .50 caliber lead balls and I think it is comparable  to  a firearm for knock down power and penetration.  he tests it on ballistics jell …


Four Letters Re: Homemade Powder Solvent For Gun Cleaning

JWR: There is a great reference for barrel cleaning and break-in procedures that is available free on web, courtesy of Krieger–a well known barrel maker. It is a reference worth printing out. – J. McW. Jim, Just a quick note on the letter about home made gun solvent. He mentions that “All of these solvents comes in colored glass to keep out sunlight.” He goes on to mention hard liquor bottles as a possibility. My problem with them is their size. You can get the “pocket flask” but most often you see 750 ML and 1.5L bottles. Common old beer …


Letter Re: How to Butcher a Squirrel

Dear Sir, I write to correct a glaring omission in the now-archived SurvivalBlog article "How to Butcher a Squirrel", by B.T.: There was no mention of scraping the "Vel" from inside the skin as this is the only fat available on a squirrel or rabbit.   Eating only lean meat protein can take a lot of energy to digest and if under cooked it may result in it taking more energy to digest it than you get from it so you deplete your reserves instead of adding to them.   Without this fat you have wasted the energy held within. Many …


Some Seed Saving Advice, by Lydia S.

Currently I have a couple hundred tomato seeds in my supplies. For the moment, I am focusing on cv. “Raincross Rock” as that is saved seed for a variety I happen to be developing. If I continue to grow and save this variety each year, those few seeds pretty much means that my friends and family (and hopefully many generations into the future) will be assured of a bounty of tomatoes each year. Such is the promise of seed saving! However, not every plant in every place is a great candidate for seed saving. Plants have rules, too, and while …


Building a Fire in a Post-Collapse World, by Entropy

Recently (based on a suggestion by a SurvivalBlog reader) I began a Meetup Group for Emergency Preparedness.  One of the Meetup events that I’m soon to host is entitled “To Build a Fire”.  Hosting this Meetup which I originally conceived as simply a fire building class has forced me to think logically about tactical fire building in a WTSHTF scenario where you are forced to build a fire for survival purposes.  I’ve synthesized these ideas into this article. By “tactical” what I mean is “low observability” because technically no true definition of tactical perfectly fits this discussion.  However people should …


Letter Re: Is There Utility in Melting Silver for Ingots?

Mr Rawles:s Silver alloys cannot be refined by just melting and skimming the dross from the top–no precious metal alloy can.  Silver alloys usually contain copper as a hardener, some of the new sterling used in jewelry is alloyed with other metals to keep it from tarnishing.  Simply melting silver will not cause the copper to rise to the top and oxidize. Separating silver from copper requires nitric acid and should not be attempted at home.  I’m not sure how some of the other alloys are refined.  Furthermore a home chemist will never get scrap silver refined to .9999 or …


Keeping Honey Bees for Survival by The Bee Whisperer

Why Keep Honey Bees? Wandering into the woods and staying lost for months is something I love to do. I have been an survivalist for 24 years, and have been keeping bees for more than 10 of those years. With these experiences under my belt, I have begun to teach people how to be a survivalist, and one subject I focus on is the art of beekeeping. Before I tell you the benefits of having bees and some cheap ways to keep them, I suggest that you find a book about beekeeping to help you understand the terms I use …


An Overview of Handloading .45 ACP by Pat Cascio

I’ve had numerous requests from SurvivalBlog readers for some articles on reloading, and in particular, on how to reload. It is beyond the scope of any single article to teach anyone how to reload in several easy steps. There are many videos and reloading manuals available that can teach you, step-by-step, how to reload. There are also some on-line courses you can take to teach you how to reload. There isn’t anything magical about reloading, it’s really pretty simple and enjoyable – I’ve been reloading for more than 40 years now, and I personally find it a relaxing way to …


Prepping: It’s Not Just for TEOTWAWKI, by Choctaw Prepper

In this day and age of being able to go to a store and get practically anything you would ever need or want, the concept of preparing for a disaster escapes some individuals.  The time of “Victory Gardens” and canning your surplus vegetables and fruits have fallen by the way side in our current culture.  Our society sees people storing vast amounts of food and supplies as paranoid because they are simply not accustomed with the practice, nor do they see the need.  Most people cannot conceive the idea that they can be left without food or water, or that …


Letter Re: Lead: The Other Precious Metal

Dear Sir, First, before I get started, my thanks to you for this blog and your books. I’ve invested in metals: Gold, silver, check; “Real” copper pennies, nickels, check; Lead…what? lead? Yes, lead. To me, as a reloader and bullet caster for more than four decades cheap lead in the form of Linotype and wheel weights was taken for granted. But now, with the new regulatory push from the EPA, lead will soon no longer be used as the balance weights on our wheels. This will dry up the last major source of inexpensive used lead [that is in chunks …


Letter Re: The Little Things

This experience was thought-provoking, and many of D.M.L.’s ideas were interesting.  But there were two ideas that have not been tested or proven, so at this point they are only ideas.  First, J-B Weldwill not repair a cracked Briggs & Stratton two piece fuel tank.  They are made of black HDPE, and there is no proper glue for that.  I have personal experience with this.  HDPE is heat welded when two pieces must be joined.  You have to determine your Briggs & Stratton model number and order a replacement gas tank from Amazon.com.  I got mine for my Briggs & …