Category: Traditional Skills/Fieldcraft

You’re Not (Yet) Prepared, by Ted B.

You saw the warning signs years ago and decided to be the ant, not the grasshopper. You found and purchased the home on land that is now your residence as well as your retreat.  You’ve gathered the materials to survive, perhaps even thrive, during the coming storms of political upheaval, food shortages, social disorder and economic distress.  You took courses on weapons use and feel confident in your ability to defend home and kin with any of the weapons in your personal armory.  You assembled canning materials and learned how to use them.  You consume, replenish and rotate those foods …


Two Letters Re: Do it Yourself Low Temperature Casting

James J.W.G. has a great idea with the zinc pennies. When I need to fabricate a part I usually look under the hood of a junked car for something to melt, many easily-cast metals are under the hood requiring only a blown charcoal forge and covered dry steel pot. The Multimachine web site pointed me to a great source of high very quality casting aluminum: the overhead cam cylinder head from a motor that does not use separate cam bushings. Just ask a mechanic that you trust. Here in Israel there are also easily found junked brass plumbing fittings often …


Letter Re: A Nation of Improvisers–More About Everyday Life in Communist Cuba

First our prayers are with your family in these dire times. The first thing about surviving in Cuba was that we did not see it as “surviving”, it was more like living, we did not know anything else, as the media in Cuba is tightly controlled. I remember as a child we did not have glue so we made glue out of Styrofoam and gasoline, just mix them up in a glass container that you could close to preserve and that’s it (if you go a little crazy on the gas it would be too liquid and take forever to …


Letter Re: A Practical Use for Post-1982 US Zinc Pennies

Sir: I just discovered your site this afternoon and look forward to perusing it in depth. I noted your response to the question about hoarding dimes and your reference to the metal content dollar value. Let me pass on a tip: hoard up a several pounds of pennies. Here’s why. As you know, pennies are roughly 97% zinc and 3% copper. To that mixture, one may add a few aluminum cans and minor amount of copper wire to bring the mix to 93% zinc, 3% copper, and 4% aluminum. This alloy melts at relatively low temperatures and is called “Zamak”. …


Letter Re: Old Boy Scout and Girl Scout Handbooks are Available Online

Mr. Rawles, I loved seeing the recent mention of the older Boy Scout Handbook on your site. I know I have been writing you back and forth for ten years or so now and I can’ t ever remember mentioning my Boy Scout history and the materials I have collected from the various Boy Scout books over the years. First off I am an Eagle as are both my brothers, as is my father and all of his brothers, and as was my grandfather and all of his brothers who were young enough to participate in scouting (his older brothers …


Letter Re: Old Boy Scout and Girl Scout Handbooks are Available Online

Sir, For those who don’t have an “old” copy of the Boy Scout Handbook, the 1911 edition is available from Project Gutenberg in a variety of electronic formats. Also, they have the Girl Scout Handbook, 1920 edition. There is some overlap with the Boy Scouts handbook, but also much that is unique, especially in regard to care of the home, growing a garden, storing food, outdoor and indoor cooking, and a good section on first aid and home health care. Regards, – Andrew H. JWR Replies: For any families with teenagers, or pre-teens, I recommend getting hard copies of these …


Two Letters Re: Construction Without Electricity

Jim: The recent Construction Without Electricity article reminded me of a stint spent with the Amish here in southwestern Missouri. I worked making buggy wheels, but one of my duties was to ride a stationary bike which powered a one cylinder compressor so they could spray paint the buggies. The buggy shop owner wanted to run a compressor off his windmill to a pressure tank but the community said that was going too far. With that kind of set up you could run all kinds of air tools. It smacked of being “too modern”. So I rode the bike. – …


Basic Survival Skills for Children, by M.L.

Children play a part in many of our lives. Protecting them becomes an important issue in daily life as well as in an end of the world as you know it moment. However, what happens when adults can’t be there to protect them? What happens when they may need to protect us?             Our government and even many schools across the country, as well as parents and other adults, often do not see the potential in children. I am not talking about the educated potential one might find in the youth of a suburban school, but the potential to rise …


Camouflage: The Art of the “Liar”, by T.W.P.

Human Perception – from an artist’s point of view. Have you ever sat down and watched a movie? Sure you have. But did you ever stop to realize that everything you were watching was a lie? Most likely not, even though you do understand that intellectually. Most movies cash in on the concept of “suspension of disbelief” which means “you know that what you are watching is not real or true, but you are willing to pretend, accept that it is real or true, for sake of entertainment.” It is an implied contract between you, and the makers of that …


What Divides You from The Sheeple? Plenty!

Nearly every week, I get at least one frantic e-mail from a new SurvivalBlog reader, stating that they feel woefully under-prepared. The gist of these e-mails is: “I’m behind the power curve! How can I possibly get prepared in time?” Fear not! Just by reading SurvivalBlog and taking some small, gradual steps at preparedness, you are miles ahead of your sheeple neighbors. And even with just modest preparedness measures, you have already substantially increased your chances of surviving most scenarios. As I see it, here are your advantages: Awareness Most people are clueless. They have a naive Pollyanna outlook. But …


Inexpensive Hand Reloading Tools–Part of Budget Preparedness, by D.A.S.

“Everything in life is a trade-off.”  There’s wisdom in that and anyone who wants to be prepared has to make the best trade-offs for functionality and their budget.  Most people who prepare for emergency scenarios, whether it be civil unrest, terrorist attack, EMP, or whatever, include a firearm in their plans. A firearm provides protection and a way to harvest game that is second-to-none.  But firearms require cartridges and there’s the rub.  Unless your last name is Gates, Walton, or Rockefeller, you can’t afford to have 10,000 rounds of ammunition just setting around.  If you have regular job and are …


Construction Without Electricity, by Curtis M.

I watched the second episode of the [reality television show] The Colony, [that is currently airing on The Discovery Channel]. I found one part of it especially idiotic. They had a bank of automobile batteries for electrical power [to power an AC inverter.]s They did not have a way to charge the batteries yet, and they were still using a circular saw and a Sawzall to construct different things, among them was using a Sawzall to cut tread out of tires for shoes. They were building some thing out of plywood and they were cutting the plywood with the circular …


Letter Re: Grid Beam Construction

Hi Jim, Memsahib, “Gridbeam” is a building system that’s been getting some attention recently among do-it-yourselfers. I’ve seen references to it on Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools and the Makezine web site. Gridbeam is described as a sort of “Erector Set system for adults”. It’s simply a length of squared wood, aluminum or steel with precisely drilled holes [at regular intervals] along its length. Holes are drilled in both directions so that they intersect in the beam’s middle. Sections are simply cut to desired length and pieced together. Additional pieces can be designed and added on to connect pieces at different …


Preparedness Beginnings, by “Two Dogs”

I am a retired Marine Corps officer and Naval Aviator (jets and helicopters), commercial airplane and helicopter pilot, and most recently, an aircraft operations manager for a Federal agency. I graduated from numerous military schools, including the U.S. Army Airborne (“jump”) School, U.S. Navy Divers School, Army helicopter, and Navy advanced jet schools. In addition, I have attended military “survival” courses whose primary focus was generally short-term survival off the land, escape from capture, and recovery from remote areas.  Like most Marine officers, I attended The Basic School, an 8-month school (only five during the Vietnam era – my case), …


Incubating and Hatching Eggs for Self Reliance, by Jason C.

I recently decided to try to add to my skill set by doing something I had not tried before. Raising birds from eggs. I have included raising animals as part of my long term survival plan for TEOTWAWKI. And in my usual fashion I needed to try it first to feel comfortable in listing it as a skill to be used if the situation arose. There are many reasons that would require the need to hatch birds from eggs. Even if you have your flock already, what would happen if they were to become sick and die leaving you with …