Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 14 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $2,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 14 ends on January 31st. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.

Your Life in Your Pocket by John T.

A significant part of being prepared and being able to weather a crisis is having information. Remember, those in charge now will make it their first priority after TSHTF to return to the status quo. Banks and mortgage companies will do everything possible to continue banking and lending. Landlords will do whatever it takes to make sure they continue to collect rent from their tenants, and any police or military personnel you come into contact with will be very unhappy if you cannot prove who you are or otherwise deflect suspicion.
You can call having critical information available during and after a crisis “life continuity.” There are three aspects to it: collection, protection, and dispersion.

The first step is collection. Just as with other aspects of your survival plan, you’ll want to make a list of the information you want to collect and have available during and after a crisis. Such a list should include:
– medical information and records for all family members
– names, addresses, and contact numbers of relatives, doctors and insurance companies
– copies of wills, living trusts, powers of attorney, and other legal documents
– copies of insurance policies
– copies of birth certificates, wedding licenses, children’s school records, and college transcripts
– copies of property ownership documents, such as mortgage agreements and property deeds
– copies of driver licenses and passports
– e-books or scanned pages from knowledge materials you’ve collected
– as many family photos as you feel you need, but at a minimum make sure there is a clear “head shot” of everyone in your family that can be used by authorities if needed to conduct a search
– video taped walk-throughs of your house and property showing major purchases and valuables and the condition of any buildings
While some of the items above might seem like overkill, it is important to remember that you can never have enough supporting documentation if you ever need to prove your case or prove your identity. Imagine bugging out of your home and going to your retreat for three months, only to return to your home after the all clear to find it occupied by squatters. Will you be able to prove the house is yours? If your insurance company denies your claim, will you have the materials ready to counter their argument in your appeal?
Once you’ve collected the documents and photos, the next step is protection. At a minimum, you’ll want to have a fireproof box or safe to hold your documents. Even better, get a box or safe that is waterproof as well. For example, Sentry makes a small waterproof and fireproof lockbox for well under $100. You might even be able to pick one up for much less at a garage sale or flea market. Put your safe in an obscure location in your home, and use any supplied mounting hardware to mount the safe to the floor or wall to prevent thieves from simply lifting it up and walking away with it. Avoid any safe or lockbox that requires power to operate, such as batteries or a wall plug. This includes the fancy safes with biometric access mechanisms. You don’t need Fort Knox; you just need to be reasonably protected. If you can’t afford a lockbox or safe, at least put your document stash into a large Ziploc bag and put it somewhere safe. You could put it into a locking file cabinet or even put it into a five-gallon pail and bury it.

Dispersion is another key element to protecting your information stash. Make copies of everything and mail a set to your lawyer and a couple sets to trusted family members. Mailing a set to family outside of your region is an especially good idea. For example, if you live in the Midwest, you would want to send a copy to someone on the east coast or perhaps out west. Use a service with a tracking number that requires a signature so that you can be sure the documents arrive at their location. Even better is to scan everything into an electronic format. PDF is best, as it can be read on just about any computer. Take the electronic copies and write them to a CD or DVD, also known as “burning to disk” since the CD/DVD drive’s laser actually burns information into the disk. CD and DVD writers are very cheap nowadays, on the order of $20-$30 for a brand new unit and a few dollars for the disk media. Keep a couple copies along with your paper (hard) copies, and send out a DVD to your family members instead of a large pack of documents.

Some people also keep electronic copies of their important documents on USB keys. USB keys are also known as “thumb drives” because of their size. Any computer with a USB port can access a USB key as if it was a hard drive. Keep in mind, though, that a USB key is electronic and will be susceptible to anything that would damage electronics such as a magnetic field. While it might not seem like a good idea to keep important info on something that could end up damaged, the point is to analyze the trade-off between convenience and accessibility without hurting reliability. If you have hard copies of everything, then using something as convenient as a USB key might be an advantage. For example, you could hook the USB key to your belt and walk into a disaster relief shelter to use the computer there instead of walking around with a big pack of important papers.

If you choose to make electronic copies of your information, you will want to encrypt everything and make sure to use innocent-sounding labels. Imagine sending a DVD labeled “Our Family’s Important Information” to someone on the other side of the country. If that DVD were to fall into the wrong hands, those people would have everything they needed to steal your identity. Instead, label the CD or DVD something like “Our Family Vacation 2006” where “2006” is the year that the DVD was made. That way you will know which is the most recent.

Encrypting your information sounds difficult, but it is actually pretty easy. The only downside is that you will need a computer to decrypt the information once it is encrypted. There are numerous free and open encryption programs available at no charge. My favorite is called TrueCrypt. How it works is beyond the scope of this article, but it is safe to say that if you encrypt your information with TrueCrypt, it would take all the computers in the world several hundreds of years to crack it. TrueCrypt runs on Windows computers only, but similar applications are available for Mac OS X and Linux.
If you are technically savvy and really want to take your USB key to the next level, you can install a complete operating system onto the USB key itself. An example would be PenDrive Linux or Damn Small Linux. Damn Small Linux is only 50 MB in size! With the OS right on your USB key, you could keep all your information encrypted and never have to worry about what type of computer you would need to decrypt and view your information.

Many people focus on the tangible aspects of being prepared. Beans, bandages and bullets are important, but so are intangibles like information. With a small amount of effort and little to no expenses, you can make sure all the information your family might need to survive, regroup, and move on is protected and in an easily-accessible and safe location.

Letter Re: Solar Ovens

Hi,
I have been reading your blog for a few days now and I am shocked to find that you have never mentioned solar cooking. Seems that everyone that would be reading your site would be interested in something like this. It requires no fuel, produces no smoke, requires very little attending-to while cooking (frees you to do other things rather than cook for a few hours) they are small and easily stored. pretty much everything that one would want in a cooking device. they even work when its not really sunny out. I would think that refueling a retreat in a disaster scenario would be impossible or extremely expensive relying on propane or any combustible fuel for extended retreats seems like a bad decision.
SolarCooking.org
there is more info than you can read in the next few days there..
here are a few commercial products, although its really simple and very inexpensive to build your own.
Solarcooking.ca
SolarSizzler.com
Solarcookers.org
This site has some great water pasteurizers, pasteurization indicators (that are reusable) that use no fuel at all.
Obviously it is good to have a backup cooking plan (fuel) but this eliminates significant expense, storage, weight, and danger from storing and just having large amounts of fuel on hand (theft and fire dangers)

Also I have never seen any mention of Lifestraws. they are small inexpensive lightweight water filters that filter about 180 gallons of water. You can hang them around your neck.The new version (Lifestraw 2) does not have an iodine aftertaste.

I cant seem to find anywhere that sells the new version yet, but it looks to be very good. – Thomas

JWR Replies: Thanks for your mention of solar ovens. We presently have wintery weather here, but I’m sure that our readers in Australia could set up their solar ovens about now. You are correct that we haven’t given them much more than passing mention. They are quite useful, especially for those living below 40 Degree Latitude, but even then, there are seasonal and terrain limitations. (They are not very useful if you live in a canyon.) Here at the ranch we have a compact (collapsing) solar oven., but for serious solar cookery at home or a permanent retreat, my brother recommends the Global Solar Oven. (He built one that was very similar, from a kit (sadly, no longer available), and it works amazingly well.) I also recommend the book “Cooking With The Sun.”

For use in the field, I much prefer higher-volume filters, such as the Katadyn Pocket Filter (which has a service life of up to13,000 gallons). In my experience, LifeStraws should be considered “novelties” rather than useful tools. They are not practical for filtering any volume greater than emergency drinking water, they clog easily (mine did after less than about 70 gallons), and the service life cost “per gallon” is actually more than twice as much as buying a high volume compact filter.

Four Letters Re: A Tactical Hack for R.C. Model Cars

Jim-
[Regarding Hawaiian K’s letter]: Just want to offer a caution to anyone who might experiment with a firearm mounted on a radio controlled vehicle of any type: While modern Radio Controlled (RC) stuff is generally very reliable, there are many scenarios in which a partial failure of batteries, transmitter, receiver, servo, radio interference, unintentional collision with an object, or simple human error could cause the mounted firearm to discharge unintentionally. If any of your readers intends to experiment with such a setup, I hope it will be under very tightly controlled circumstances. Regards, – Rich S.

 

James:
The BATFE would consider the contraption described a machine gun if it is capable of firing multiple rounds at the press of one button on the laptop. If you are not law enforcement or military or a Class 3 dealer manufacturing a sample you can not legally manufacture/register one and you are opening yourself to a 12 year mandatory sentence for every single count (the BATFE will probably charge you with one count for every RC car, servo and firearm you have since they are components of the illegal device).

If you have a design that uses only a single shot fire arm you can submit it to the BATFE for approval as a gadget gun or “Any Other Weapon” (AOW) [catch-all Federal firearms category]–think briefcase guns, wallet guns, cane guns, et cetera. Once approved you follow the normal Class 3 toy transfer procedures.

There are many companies who have done a lot of research and development on this for SWAT teams, hostage negotiation robots, bomb defusing robots etc. Many are armed with water cannons, shotguns and in some cases pistols.

It may be legal to mount a 37mm tear gas launcher loaded with CS or CN rounds and greet the unwelcome visitors without filing out any paperwork. Check your local and state laws. Always check regulations, with the BATFE and a knowledgeable gunsmith before attempting to construct anything. [JWR Adds: Advice from the BATFE Firearms Branch or field offices is not legally binding. If they give you any guidance, be sure to ask for it in writing.]
How prepared would you and your family be for TEOTWAWKI sitting in a jail cell with $80,000+ in legal bills, and reduced income (while you are in jail)? – Steveninpa

 

Jim;

Hawaiian K’s short article on Tactical Hacks of his friend brought to mind some of the ingenious adaptations of common items our troops in Iraq have come up with to help keep the troopers safe. A friend of our family was in Iraq awhile back emailed a video to his dad. As we watched the video it was amazing to see and hear the members of his squad work through a situation that just screamed IED. There was a donkey cart and a nearby donkey just standing on a dirt road. The soldiers had correctly recognized the threat potential and wasn’t going to approach the cart and donkey but still had to figure a way to neutralize the threat. One of the members pulled out of a Humvee a remote controlled toy race car his parents sent for amusement when off duty. In true American Ingenuity fashion he removed the race car body, taped a brick of C4 complete with detonator and a very l-o-n-g fuse and proceeded to maneuver the toy car over the rocky and rutted dirt road and parked it under the cart. When the charge went off they got the secondary explosion they expected. Before approaching the debris they waited a long while for another charge to go off. The insurgents would have heard the first explosion and would wait to set off another IED when they considered time enough had passed for rescuers to arrive to help those caught in the initial blast. With no additional explosions a bomb disposal team carefully went down to what was left of the donkey cart. There they found two artillery shells buried on the side of the road. They couldn’t be detonated because the exploding toy car was at ground level and had severed the wiring leading to the artillery shells.

Oh, by the way, the donkey was okay because when the toy car came toward the cart the donkey shied away from the approaching modified toy because the donkey hadn’t been harnessed; it just appeared to be so. One of the solders said in a chuckle, “That donkey is mad, he just lost his lunch.” Ah, the ingenuity of the American soldier. The cost of off the shelf electronics is dropping as the quality goes up. Already remote controlled helicopters and planes with low light or zero lux light cameras are available or can be cobbled together quite effectively. The technology genie is out of the bottle and as much as some politicians would like to limit certain technologies access to the general public; the genie can not be stuffed back into the bottle of government control and exclusivity. Live well, The Rabid One
.

Sir,
Just wanted to give you a heads up that this idea is probably not something you want showing up on google searches with your name attached to it. This is a terrible idea for all but the most skilled of individuals to attempt. I use RC equipment for remotely operating tests for work, and damn near everything can cause noise in their frequency range. As well, many of the systems can be very buggy and suddenly a servo you didn’t intend to move is just going off on its own. The necessary safety interlocks required to safely fire a gun remotely is significant. Mounting a camera and a gun to an RC truck is quite simple though, which will likely lead to terrible accidents that I would hate to see coming back to haunt one of my favorite sites. Please don’t post this letter to your blog, though you are welcome to summarize as you see fit (though I would just remove the article if it was me).
Keep up the great work! – Jeff S.

Odds ‘n Sods:

A reminder that BulletProofME.com’s special free shipping offer for SurvivalBlog readers, ends on Wednesday, December 12th

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Eric S. flagged this useful piece: Honey Beats Meds at Soothing Kids’ Cough

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The high bid is now at $250 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction, for six items: 1.) a Katadyn Pocket water filter, (with a $200 retail value) 2.) a Watersafe field water test kit ( a $27 retail value), both donated by Ready Made Resources, 3.) A copy of the latest edition of “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” by the late Carla Emery (a $32 retail value) 4.) an autographed copy of my novel“Patriots” (a $23 retail value), 5.) an autographed copy of my nonfiction book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” (a $25 retail value), and 6.) a SurvivalBlog Logo Contractor/Operator cap (a $13.50 retail value.) The auction ends on December 15th. Please send us your bid via e-mail.

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The recent huge storm in Washington state flooded a long stretch of Interstate-5. At one point the department of transportation set up a detour of several hundred miles–all the way east to Yakima–to get around the 20 mile closure.

Note from JWR:

Today we remember Pearl Harbor Day. On December 7, 1941 there were 2,896 Navy and Marine Corps casualties, and 68 civilian casualties in the Japanese attacks on Oahu, Hawaii.

Letter Re: A Tactical Hack for R.C. Model Cars

James;

A late acquaintance of mine was something of a hacker/genius. Prior to Y2K, he developed several cute but deadly machines based on radio-controlled toy cars that he’d picked up at garage sales. These were fitted with tiny wireless cameras and ingenious harnesses for the Glock [Model] 19. He showed me how they functioned in a field test which displayed a couple of them firing at targets at his command. It was a strange feeling to watch his laptop screen, line up a target with a joystick and then fire it quite precisely at the push of a button! The battery-powered motors of these devices were by no means silent, but it was easy to imagine that they would’ve been unexpected in a defensive situation and surprise is always strategically valuable.
It won’t be too long before survivalists will be able to combine off the shelf components with situational creativity in order to hack new mechanisms for the defense of their homesteads. Bad guys seeking to plunder remote residences may expect and plan for gunfire coming from that residence, but it’s highly unlikely that they’d ever expect an armed mini-helicopter equipped with night vision or or heat-activated targeting chasing them down: – Hawaiian K.

Two Letters Re: Storing Nails–Crucial for Preparedness

Jim:

[You had mentioned in yesterday’s post: “…one of my unfulfilled quests in life has been to find a small hardware store that is going out of business and getting to ask the owner: “How much for all of your fasteners?” (Hopefully, at or below their scrap metal value.) That would be quite a coup.”] FYI, never be shy! Several years ago the local Scotty’s [hardware chain store] was going out of business; after many weeks of slowly reducing the prices.On the final weekend I approached the “soon to be unemployed” manager and offered to buy all the remaining large screws and bolts for $300 cash including the bins. After listening to him whine about my low offer for five minutes he accepted. The only catch was that an employee had to ring everything up at the retail price first and then [write]a separate invoice for the “sale” price. I will make this a short ending. When everything was finished it took two trips in my 3/4 ton pickup truck to carry it all home and the retail price was over $12,000. Good deal for us. – Duane

 

Jim,
The note on nails made me think of a few things. I have bought nails by the 50 pound box in the past but the best bargains have been at rural auctions and estate auctions. Some retired men will buy things they might need then when they die another will buy the same item at auction. The thing might be sold 5 or 6 times over a 30 year period. The best deal I ever saw was about 10 years ago. It was air gun nails, a skid with 500 to 600 pounds sold for 8 or 10 dollars! An older guy bought it. Lots of hand tools sell cheap.

As for screws, a [hand-powered] drill called a brace will drive them very well and the drill bits (called auger bits) sell cheap because most people have no use for them. I’ve found several adjustable bits, also. One adjusts to 2 1/2″. There are adapters with a drill chuck so you can use regular drill bits, too. Another drill is brace with a plate on the top to lay your chest on so you can use upper body weight to put pressure on the drill bit.

My father built his house with all hand tools in 1953. No electricity was available on that dirt track until the house was finished. I was born in 1951 and saw a lot of screws installed and holes drilled with that Craftsman brace. I hope this helps some folks. – Frank from Indiana

Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

Advantages to Mid-Winter Real Estate Buying

One strategy in buying a survival retreat that I often mention to my consulting clients is making a scouting and/or buying trip in mid-winter. This has several advantages:.

1.) You see the effects of microclimates, first hand. Visiting a property in the summer and imagining what it looks like with snow on the ground is not realistic. You need to see for yourself, in mid-winter. (January is best, in the northern hemisphere.) If you ask the seller or the listing agent how much snow to expect, the answer will almost universally be “not much” or “it hardly even sticks”, even for properties on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The reverse side of a sunny ridge (northern facing, in the northern hemisphere) can be snowy in some regions for an extra three months of each year. Investigate the microclimates before you buy! In some instances just 500 feet of elevation difference, or a southern exposure can make a huge difference in your winter access, and the length of your summer gardening season

2.) You see the quality of maintenance of local roads. Some cities and counties have good snow plowing and sand, while others are horrible. Some roads–typically the school bus routes–get lots of attention, while others are neglected. You won’t know for certain until you see it first hand.

3.) You see the winter access of local roads. Even with good maintenance, some shaded canyon roads with just moderate grades turn into veritable toboggan runs in the winter. Again, you won’t know which ones until you see for yourself.

4.) You will likely be the only buyer in town. In the rural portions of most of the mountainous western states, the home buying season effectively ends at Thanksgiving and doesn’t start up again until early Spring. This gives a tremendous psychological advantage in bargaining for a property. After the first snow flies, sellers start to mumble to themselves and get a desperate look in their eyes. If the seller is “motivated”, they will take serious any offers received in the winter. The same offer that would have been laughed off in June will be seriously considered in January. Mid-winter is your chance to have a fairly “low ball’ offer accepted. Back when the real estate market was hot, this was a rarity. But these days it is becoming much more common.

5.) Mid-winter is your chance to have the seller agree to concessions. I can cite a couple of instances that I have heard from my consulting clients in recent years: A buyer from California made a February offer for a house on acreage, near Utah’s Wasatch Front. The property was listed with the house and shop on well water, on 40 acres, with an adjoining 20 acres with a 7 g.p.m. spring available separately, for an additional $175,000. (Land with springs are a rarity in most of Utah.) The property had been on the market for17 months, and the listed price had already been dropped once. The buyer put in an offer that was $20,000 less than the asking price of the house, for both properties. After just one counter-offer (that brought the price back up by $8,000), the deal was finalized.

Another client, from southern Nevada, made a January offer on a $1 million+ house with barn on considerable acreage near Lamoille (at the foot of the Ruby Mountains), in Northern Nevada. The buyer knew that the owner was retired and planned to move back to California to live near his adult children and grandchildren. He also knew that the house had been on the market for nine months. The buyer made an offer at the full asking price, but asked the seller to include: several major appliances including a chest freezer, two quad ATVs, two snowmobiles with trailer, a fairly new Ford tractor with several implements, three good saddle horses, eight cattle, a four-horse trailer, a hay trailer, a snow blower, a Troy-Bilt roto-tiller, two Husqvarna chainsaws, a barn full of hay, and several cords of firewood. The seller took three weeks to respond to the offer. He reluctantly agreed to all of the concessions, with the exception of just one of the horses.

If you see a property listed on SurvivalRealty.com that interests you, don’t hesitate to go look at it in mid-winter. You may be glad that you did. – J.W.R.

Odds ‘n Sods:

“Boosters” mentioned that there is a Genesis Communications Network (GCN) shortwave/satellite/Internet radio program/podcast called “The Armchair Survivalist:” that airs on Saturdays from 5 to 6 pm Central time. It is also available as an “on demand” podcast. Boosters noted: “Listening to the archival loop today, the host [Kurt Wilson of Survival Enterprises] whom I am sure you know made mention of SurvivalBlog to a “Justin” who called into the program. SurvivalBlog readers might want to give it a listen. It is a nice addition to J.R. Moore’s Sunday RBN program. John also promotes you heavily with regard your books and web sites.”

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Perennial content contributor RBS suggested this useful primer about precious metals coin premiums at The Market Oracle: Why One Ounce of Gold (or Silver or Platinum) Can Cost More, or Less, Than Another…

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Home Foreclosures Hit All-Time High in Third Quarter

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Yesterday, December Seventh, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.
Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces – with the unbounding determination of our people – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December Seventh, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.” – Speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941

Note from JWR:

The high bid is now at $225 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction, for six items: 1.) a Katadyn Pocket water filter, (with a $200 retail value) 2.) a Watersafe field water test kit ( a $27 retail value), both donated by Ready Made Resources, 3.) A copy of the latest edition of “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” by the late Carla Emery (a $32 retail value) 4.) an autographed copy of my novel“Patriots” (a $23 retail value), 5.) an autographed copy of my nonfiction book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” (a $25 retail value), and 6.) a SurvivalBlog Logo Contractor/Operator cap (a $13.50 retail value.) The auction ends on December 15th. Please send us your bid via e-mail.

Letter Re: Storing Nails–Important for Preparedness

I was watching a show last night about the Lewis and Clark expedition and something really opened my eyes, Did you know that when the group left a fort or shelter they built they would burn it down when they left do salvage the nails they used. Apparently nails were worth their weight in gold since they were hand made one at a time. This got me to thinking that in the event of TEOTWAWKI or even a couple year collapse that people will still have to build things and repair their homes. So I wondered how many people thought of stockpiling nails or screws in bulk? In my mind nails would be the best option since it does not take more then a rock at worst to nail into wood and most everyone has a hammer. Screws would be a good choice if you had a power source to either run a drill or recharge a battery as most screws for building require a lot of torque to fasten. Home Depot and most improvement store sell these in bulk 40-50 pound plastic containers. In such an event you can be sure that not all lumber is going to be the perfect 2×4 size so I would error on the side of larger nails say 3 to 3 1/2 inch and maybe even get some larger ones [spikes] for fastening larger items. For general repair a good 2 to 2 1/2 inch nail would be fine. Not only would this be a great thing to have but it would also be a great barter item, like I said before everyone needs to build shelter or repair something and in the event of a collapse I doubt they will be able to run down to the local store and buy these things. Also the larger container you buy the cheaper it is per pound. We as contractors buy 100 pound crates and then break them down into smaller buckets to put in the work trailer. If you do decide to go with screws I recommend the torx bit style (star bit) as they do not strip out the bits or the heads like standard phillips, and stock up on replacement bits too. – Brian S.

JWR Replies: I strongly agree that it is important to stock up on nails, timber spikes (I’ve found that 8″ and 12″ are the most useful lengths), power screws (various lengths), and other large fasteners such as lag bolts. As my mentor Dr. Gary North wrote more than 30 years ago when writing about stocking up for hard times: “Nails: buy a barrel of them. Barrels: buy a barrel of them…”

OBTW, one of my unfulfilled quests in life has been to find a small hardware store that is going out of business and getting to ask the owner: “How much for all of your fasteners?” (Hopefully, at or below their scrap metal value.) That would be quite a coup.