Letter Re: Advice on Police Department Trade-In Guns

Sir:
What are your thoughts on the firearms that the various police department (PD) are trading in? From what I’m able to determine the service life of a firearm is just 6 years with police departments after that the firearms are either traded in to be sold to you and me or are destroyed. right now I’m seeing a lot of former police firearms hitting the market the S&W Model 10, 64, 5906, 4043, 4566, Sigma, Glock 22, Ruger P89, every brand of riotgun from the bigger names, and the Ruger Mini-14 GB. all for very reasonable prices, the pistols are running in the $200-to-350 range, as are the shotguns. If you don’t mind the holster wear these look like good deals. Do you see any problems with them? Some of them have NYPD, MDPD, some even having badges engraved on the slides? I’m guessing that if you get caught with one of those after a Katrina-like event you going to have some explaining to do. Signed, – Dan N.

JWR Replies: Yes, I generally recommend buying police trade in guns, if the price is right. In addition to basics like bore condition and general mechanical condition of all guns, and the specific inspection points for handguns, here are a couple of provisos:

1.) Be careful to check for sloppy cylinders on revolvers. (Some poorly-trained owners have a bad habit of flipping open the cylinders of their revolvers.)

2.) Watch out for rust or pitting on the backstraps and/or under the grips of blued handguns. (Some officers tend to rest their sweaty palms on their grip backstraps when they walk.)

If you get a blued gun that has significantly loss of bluing, you can have it refinished. Say you are getting a gun that would normally cost $600 new, for just $300. That leaves a big budget for refinishing. These days, I generally recommend the exotic finished such as as NP3 or METACOL. This will leave them better than new, since they’ll have a more durable finish that their original bluing or parkerizing. There are now a wide range of exotic materials such as Teflon and Zylan are frequently used as “after-market” gun finishes. The Robar Company uses a nickel/Teflon composite that they call NP3. My personal favorite exotic finish is called METACOL (for METAl COLor), which is offered in a wide variety of colors by Arizona Response Systems. Exotic material finishes offer rust protection that is exceeded only by stainless steel. They are quite durable. Parenthetically, for anyone that that dislikes the highly reflective surface of stainless steel, or if you buy a trade-in gun with lots of scratches, it too can be coated with one of the exotic materials such as green Teflon, with a non-reflective matte texture.

Most of the trade-in Mini-14 GBs on the market are ex-Department of Corrections (prison guard) guns. If you can get ones that still have most of their bluing, I do recommend them. (Replacements for battered stocks are cheap and plentiful, so don’t pay much attention to the stock. Instead, look at the bore and the bluing. And again, if you buy it “right”, then some of your savings can be budgeted for refinishing.

As for guns with departmental markings, be sure to save your receipts! In the case of a rifle or shotgun, you can leave a photocopy of your purchase receipt under the buttplate, so you’ll always have it handy.

One final note: Keep in mind that the appearance of gun is not crucial. Preparedness is not a beauty contest. Mechanical condition and bore condition are the essential things. In a pinch, and in just a few minutes, you can tone down a rifle or shotgun’s shiny finish with flat brown or green spray paint. If you let pristine appearance be a determining factor, it will actually be to he detriment of your preparedness. Here, I should mention that I have a friend that has a large collection of pre-1964 production Winchester Model 70 bolt action rifles. He would never dream of cutting a stock to install a recoil pad, threading a muzzle to install a flash hider, or camouflage painting one of his rifles. From a practical standpoint, it is probably better to start with used, slightly dinged-up guns. Not only will you save money, but you won’t have any reluctance when it comes time to modify your guns to suit your practical and tactical needs.

Letter Re: Thermos Cooking and Grass Control

JWR,
While digging through a web page associated with Grandpappy’s SurvivalBlog article on making home-made-soap, I found some other interesting information. In particular I was reading about survival cooking on the run in this online short story.

So I did a search on “Thermos cooking” and found that Kurt Saxon has published an online article about this topic. (I had looked at his front page before but hadn’t dug much further.)

This may be a valuable item for a Bug-Out Bag (BOB) or a get-home-bag. Plus the aforementioned short story while maybe not written too well is chock full of survival goodness, [so it has an instructional aspect] much like “Patriots”!

Oh, and I have a question for you and others. How do you deal with grass, weeds, etc. that can occlude your line-of-sight, fire sectors, etc.? Cut grass would definitely indicate an active presence in a retreat but un-kempt areas could allow concealment for assaulting forces. Was there something in “Patriots” about this? I often thought about it while reading [David Crawford’s] “Lights Out” since they developed a distinct fenced perimeter. Just curious. I’m not sure how I’d handle it so I would love some input on it. My apologies if it’s buried in your archives and I haven’t found it. – Tanker

JWR Replies: Thanks for your input on Thermos cooking.

Regarding grass and weed control, my answer is short and sweet: sheep. Some of the smallest breeds (such as miniature Shetlands and Miniature Cheviots) can be contained with a fence only 20 inches high, so you can construct unobtrusive fencing. If you leave galvanized woven wire out in the weather for a couple of years it loses its reflective sheen. Steel “T” fence posts can be painted with botches of flat green and brown spray paint. Remember that pasture fences do not need to be constructed in straight lines. Low fences with these features are difficult to detect from a distance. Electric fences can be even less obtrusive. For Grid Down preparedness, you would of course install a photovoltaic (solar) fence charger, such as the Parmak brand. Be sure to follow the fence charger installation instructions carefully, especially those regarding grounding rods.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Inyokern mentioned: Trouble in southern Mexico continues with EPR blowing up a number of oil and gas pipelines.

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Quaesiveris sent us the link to this WorldNetDaily article: Warning says Iranian SCUD could do $771 billion damage–U.S. Rep.: ‘Rogue regimes, terrorists know about EMP, are working to acquire weapon’

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Reader RBS sent us two interesting links: From Bits of News: Economy in Bigger Trouble than Reported and from the BBC: US home woes ‘near-perfect storm’

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The WRSA has another high power rifle shooting clinic scheduled. This one is in Yakima, Washington, September 22-23.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"As every individual, therefore, endeavours as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it." – Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Note from JWR:

Today is a sad date in American history. Unfortunately, Islamic extremism isn’t likely to go away anytime soon, so there could be many more such red letter days. Just be prepared, regardless of what the terrorists throw at us.

“Zeroing In” Your Bugout Bag, by SF in Hawaii

Last week my wife told me that another couple had gotten reservations at the cabins at Haleakela State Park for the Labor Day Weekend. We would hike across the crater floor, then down the Kaupo Gap. These are hard to come by and since we were invited, I felt we had to go. Great, a chance to try out my bug out bag. I gave my feet a liberal and prophylactic spraying of anti-fungal medication (a ritual I would end up doing every morning on that trip) and put on my Bug-Out Bag (BOB). Before we left, I unscrewed the aluminum pole from a mop, checked to make sure my backup knife would fit on it and now I had myself both a strong and lightweight walking stick as well as a spear in case a wild boar came too close. The BOB weighed in at 55 pounds. I’m 160 and with the backpack I was using it felt like a manageable weight. On the way there, the steering and brakes on the car went out. I hit the emergency brake and slowed down. The engine just turned off. Since it had power steering and brakes, when the car turned off, they went off too. Strange for a reasonably new car. It started up again so I figured EMP was ruled out. We drove up to about 10,000 feet, got our gear on and started hiking. It was a steep decline into the volcanic caldera/crater and within about 10 minutes I noticed a hot feeling in the heels of my feet. You see, as a sufferer of athletes foot, I tend to keep my shoes loose. Bad idea. Loose shoes make blisters. I stopped and got out the moleskins but I didn’t have a pair of scissors. Let me say for the record, a knife is not a pair of scissors. These are separate tools. There I was with my BAK (Big A** knife) trying to cut moleskin pieces. Not only was it the wrong tool for the job, but one slip and it would be a bloody mess.
To take the pressure off my heels, I walked native style (toe to heel) and this helped.
We hiked for the rest of the day through what can only be described at the surface of Mars and finally arrived at the first cabin. The manual pedometer gave me some lousy data. It was set for a 2 foot step/4 foot stride length but I forgot to take into consideration that stride changes with inclines and declines. When I got there I tried out my Zipstove for the first time. At first glance, it looked like something made in a high school metal shop class, and it’s a lot heavier than other stoves, but then again, I didn’t need to pack any fuel. It has a battery operated fan built in and get fires hot real fast. I hit my sparker into a cotton ball with some vaseline rubbed in and presto. I dropped the little ball of fire into the stove, and added a few twigs and turned on the fan. Wow. The stove worked great. In a minute or two dinner was on it’s way. I’ll be investing in their titanium version and perhaps I can swap out their metal fan for a plastic one to drop the weight. I was cooking in a titanium Titan pot and I was concerned that due to the rapid heat transfer of titanium I’d burn the food but it never happened. Another nice thing about cooking with titanium is that as fast as it heats up, it cools down too and less than a minute after taking it off the fire, the top was cool enough grab and move around. We sat around when the lights went out, lit some candles and played Hearts for a few hours. (Make note to get Hoyle’s Encyclopedia of Card games.) Before I went to bed I inspected my feet. Yup. Two huge blisters, one on each foot. These were the biggest blisters I’d ever had. Each one covered my entire heel. I also had burns on the backs of my hands. I was wearing nylon pants and a long sleeve shirt to keep out of the sun, and because we all know ‘cotton kills.’ I also had a cloth over my head which I kept in place by wearing a pair of sunglasses which had a retaining strap on them to keep from getting lost during activity. The strap around the back of my head kept the rag in place nicely and with the exception of a spot on my nose, I escaped the searing rays of Hawaii at 10,000 feet. What I didn’t think to cover was the backs of my hands. The were bright red and angry when I saw them. I cut squared of cloth off my head rag and placed on the backs of each hand. I held them in place (mostly) with rubber bands around my wrists. They kept me from getting burned any worse, but it was a constant annoyance repositioning them for the rest of the trip. (Make note, put tactical gloves in BOB).
The next morning after having some oatmeal, I packed up. I put on another pair of socks and this was helpful as with less wiggle room, my feet didn’t slip around so much and maybe I wouldn’t make any new blisters. My wife suggested that in her experience (She hiked the Thorong La Pass. I lance the blisters. (Make note to bring needle in first aid kit) I left the blisters alone. Personal preference. The other fellow on the trip I noticed had the soles of one of his shoes come off. He was wrapping cord around them to hold them together when I suggested he use the awl tool on his swiss army knife to stitch them back on his shoe. He liked this idea and it worked. (Make note, find that Speedy Stitcher and add it to my BOB.)
The second day was excruciatingly painful. I can’t recall the last time I was in that much pain for that long a period. I now had pain along the entire bottom surface of my foot. There was no comfortable way to walk. I was very grateful for the walking stick! Sure I could have make one from wood on the trail, but it would have been much heavier and bulkier to be as strong as the cheap aluminum tube.
After hours of promising myself I would never go hiking again, we arrived at the second cabin. At this point the fellow’s second shoe fell apart. Keep in mind that both shoes were in good condition before we left. His wife was also having shoe trouble but she overcame it with a safety pin. (Make note, safety pins.) More cards and dinner and now the other people were complaining. No one else had a good external frame pack and their hips and backs were sore. For me, it was just my feet. Even though my pack outweighed anyone else’s there by a factor of 2, it was a good pack and now showing itself to be worth the high cost.
The third day we had to hike down from over 6,000′ to 1,000′. We’d already gone from 10,000′ to 6,000 the previous two days and left the Martian landscape. We were now in fog enshrouded hills and rain forests. The next 5,000′ would be a 30 degree incline though rain forests and meadows. I filled up my 4 steel water bottles with filtered water from my Katadyn and told my wife that with the condition of my feet, I wanted to leave a hour and a half before the rest of the group as I’d be going slow. I also wanted to hike in the morning to stay out of the heat . She finally agreed and we slushed though thigh high wet grass and we were both soaked in short order. It was about five minutes into the hike that I learned that not only were my hiking shoes too big, but they weren’t waterproof nor even water resistant. The cool dewy water was sloshing around in by boots for hours. It wasn’t just an annoyance either. When I took the map I got from the Ranger station out of my pocket, it was soaked and the pages were sticking together. Oh, did I mention that the trail I was taking was right along a crease on the map and due to the water damage it was totally illegible? (Make note, put Zip lock bags in BOB).
Although she didn’t say anything, I know she was pissed. Cold, wet and pissed but when she realized how hard the hike was getting, she looked at me. “I’ll just say it once and get it over with. I told you so.” She thanked me. We smiled and moved on. That extra time was great to have. I used an altimeter to guesstimate where we were on the map. I didn’t bring my topos with me, but it was a great psychological benefit to know how much longer you had to go.
My wife started complaining about her left knee under when we stopped at an old growth Koa tree. We snacked on ostrich filets (kept at 150 degrees in the oven overnight), peanuts and some chocolate. She wanted a Koa walking stick. “But that’s a heavier wood and look, no straight branches here darling.” Well, she wanted one anyway so I hacked her a walking stick, put a point on the bottom and cut away the bark where her hand would grip it. At about 4,000 feet I saw my wife walking backwards for a few seconds. I tried it and it was great. Although it was riskier, I couldn’t walk forwards anymore. Aside from the fact that my blisters were hurting, I now had somehow developed a pain in my left knee too. It only hurt when I walked forward, or sideways (yes I tried that too) so my wife and I walked backwards down the rocky and treacherous declines for miles. The trails were covered with golf ball and base ball sized spherical lava rocks that acted like ball bearings. It was hard going and nerve racking. I made us both drink like fishes and soon I was dripping with sweat and she was peeing like a racehorse. Every time my mouth got dry I drank and so did she. I wasn’t thirsty but I drank anyhow. Then the water stopped feeling good to drink. Dang, with all this drinking and sweating I was beginning to going hyponatremic. (Make note, put ORS packets in BOB). On the milder inclines I tried walking while dragging my left leg behind me to avoid having to bend it. It was slow going and again, my wife thanked me for getting us out early. We came across some ambiguous fork in the road and she lost it for a bit. I said that I thought both trails would probably work and let her pick the route. She picked and then got nervous. “What if it’s the wrong one?” She was starting to lose it again. “This trail is the correct trail.” I said forcefully and with more confidence that I really had about her choice. She seemed okay with that and we kept going.
We used the last of the water that everyone said I was crazy to bring just minutes before reaching the rendezvous point. One of the women in the group I later found out had a near nervous breakdown as she never knew how much farther she had to go. That altimeter kept my wife and I sane.
I’m finally home and writing this out before I forget. The blisters will probably heal in a week the knee, who knows. (Make note, put ace bandages and maybe even knee and ankle supports in BOB). I’ll be walking with a cane for a bit but no permanent damage, I don’t think. I will now have a dedicated foot first aid section for my BOB. Consider giving your BOB a test run. You may find things you want in it you don’t have now and some things you can do without. I think of my BOB like a gun now. If it’s all shiny and new but not zeroed in, you may be in for some nasty surprises. – SF in Hawaii

Letter Re: Advice on Compact Solar-Powered Refrigerators for Insulin

Sir:
I am a Type 2 diabetic. I think that diabetics like me, and even more so Type 1s (those with onset in childhood) will be at particular risk in the event of a catastrophe, whether it is localized, national, or global. What is your recommendation for a method to keep insulin refrigerated in a long term so-called “Grid Down” situation? A solar powered fridge? Thanks, – Ron in Alabama

JWR Replies: I recommend the Engel brand 12 VDC refrigerators sold by Safecastle. A modest-size photovoltaic power system, such as the 520 watt 4-panel packaged “cabin” system produced by Ready Made Resources would provide plenty of power to run a compact Engel DC refrigerator (such as Engel’s 22 quart capacity MT27) plus a flashlight battery charging tray and a couple of small lights.OBTW, for some other useful suggestions on insulation, including oral insulin, just type the word “insulin” in the Search Posts on SurvivalBlog window, near the top of the right hand bar.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Russell mentioned that The History Channel has started a news series: Mega Disasters.

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Kyle D. pointed us to this piece: The Western War Against Barbed Wire

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Reader Jon D. recommends the 1997 Reader’s Digest book: Back to Basics–How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills. (ISBN 0-89577-086-5). Jon notes: “Over 450 pages packed with diagrams and knowledge covering everything from building an outhouse to candle making.” Even though it is out of print, used copies can often be found through Amazon.com or on dreaded eBay.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“For six years, the Bush administration has kept America safe from another terrorist attack, allowing the Democrats to claim that the war on terrorism is a fraud, a “bumper sticker,” a sneaky ploy by a power-mad president to create an apocryphal enemy so he could spy on innocent librarians in Wisconsin. And that’s the view of the moderate Democrats. The rest of them think Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks.” – Ann Coulter

Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 12 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. I will again be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. Round 12 ends on September 30th. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.

Converting Diesel Vehicles to Run on Waste Vegetable Oil, by Polar Bear

When Rudolph Diesel invented his internal combustion engine, he used refined peanut oil as fuel. The reasoning behind it was that farmers could essentially grow their own fuel for their tractors. Diesel cars have been widely manufactured and used all over Europe, but never really caught on in the United States. Diesel pickup trucks and Big Rigs are common in the US, and are renowned for their torque and towing abilities. These rigs run on “Dinodiesel”-typical diesel fuel refined from petroleum. You may have heard of the term “Biodiesel.” Biodiesel is a type of diesel fuel made by taking vegetable oil and adding Lye and Methanol to remove the glycerines and convert the “esters” in to “methyl-esters.” Dinodiesel has a lower gel point in cold weather than biodiesel. Fuel stations around the country have only recently began carrying biodiesel. Enough history and chemistry, this article is going to give you the basics of converting a standard pickup truck or car so it will run on Dinodiesel, Biodiesel, or Straight Vegetable Oil! As a motor fuel in a survival situation, or for daily use, Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) or Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) is hard to beat. It can be stored for years if a biocide stabilizer [such as Pri-D] is used, there is a potential fuel cache behind almost any restaurant, and while other folks are waiting in gas lines, you could easily check out at Costco and have them load a pallet of soybean oil in your truck!
Note: Most all diesel cars and trucks will run biodiesel without any conversion at all, but you must understand that biodiesel is a very powerful organic solvent. It will clean out old deposits and varnishes left in your fuel system by years of dinodiesel use, and may clog up your fuel filters shortly after you start using it (it is a good idea to carry spares!) Biodiesel also attacks natural rubber and breaks it down, so on cars and trucks older than about 1994, the fuel lines need to be replaced with synthetic lines, such as Viton® or Gates® 4800 marine grade series hoses. Now, without further adieu, let’s talk about conversions!
For the purposes of this article I will describe the conversion of a 1983 Ford F-250 extended cab with a non-turbo 6.9 liter diesel engine (my first conversion!) This particular truck has dual tanks (very important, but not 100% necessary.) I designated the mid ship fuel tank for the veggie oil tank for two reasons: 1- the veggie oil must be heated and we don’t want to lose heat in the long travel from tank to engine, and 2- the hose we need to run (Triple bypass hose or “3B” available from Golden Fuel Systems.) is expensive! Basically, we need to install a heating device in the front tank to thin the oil, add an additional filter with heated housing to run the veggie through, and splice in all of the lines. All of the fittings required (hose barbs clamps, etc) can be purchased at Home Depot or some other hardware store. A kit with complete instructions and all parts can be purchased from Golden Fuel Systems, Frybrid.com, Greasecar.com, Lovecraft Biofuels, or others, but I have found that the parts can be purchased individually for much less.
First, we need to purchase a transmission oil cooler. It doesn’t have to be enormous, 5”x10” will do, just remember that we will be cutting a hole in the fuel tank to put it in, and we do not want to interfere with the function of the fuel gauge float or the pickup. Now we drop the front fuel tank, and keeping in mind what we said about the float and pickup, cut a hole in the top of the tank the same size or just a bit bigger than the end of the transmission cooler. They are usually around an inch and a half thick, so you could cut a 1-1/2”x5” hole. I drilled a 1/2” hole and cut the rest out using a $7 pair of sheet metal nibblers from Harbor Freight Tools. Now that we have created a hole in the top of the fuel tank, a patch plate will need to be fabricated. I used aluminum, less than an eighth of an inch thick, and 1/2” bigger all around than the hole we cut in the tank, so for us it would be 2-/12”x6”. The plate needs to be fitted with hose barbs so the transmission cooler can be attached to it (one set of hose barbs sticking in the tank) and one set sticking out so the 3B hose can be attached to the other side. For clearance issues, I put those on a 90 degree elbow. The 3B hose is essentially 3 hoses bundled together, one 3/8” fuel line and two 1/2” coolant lines. Attach the transmission cooler to the hose barbs on the patch plate and insert the tranny cooler in to the tank, positioning it so it does not hit the fuel pickup or the gauge float. Then apply some high temperature RTV silicone sealant where the patch plate meets the steel of the tank and use self-tapping sheet metal screws to secure it in place. The metal shavings caused by the self-tapping screws can be removed from the interior of the tank with a magnet and a string. Now we must set aside the tank and mount the heated filter housing and filter.
There are many heated filter housings on the market today. Vormax®, Hotshot®, and Hothead® are just a few. Essentially, the heated housing is a machined block of aluminum with water jackets bored through it to allow for hot engine coolant to pass through. The filter merely screws on. Keeping the veggie oil hot is a key component to the system. Hot = thin and cold = thick sludge! The filter should be a Racor® filter with a water separator. This filter housing and filter should be mounted anywhere close to the tank, but it must be between the tank and the tank switching valve; otherwise it would take much longer to re-prime the system with dinodiesel fuel. Why do we have to switch? Because veggie oil is much more viscous than diesel fuel. That is why we heat it.

Essentially, the process of running your truck on Veggie Oil is this:
1. Start your truck on Dinodiesel (with the fuel tank selector switch set on the rear tank.)
2. Drive the truck. When the temperature reaches about 170 degrees, flip the switch to the front veggie tank.
3. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes for the veggie to replace the diesel in the fuel lines and filter. You will notice a slight drop in power and your engine will quiet down and run smoother.
4. Voila! You are now running on veggie! (Note: this may not be legal in some states! If you are getting your Veggie for free as waste from a restaurant then you are not paying fuel and road taxes on it! This upsets the Government for some reason, so be careful!)
5. Remember, you must flip the fuel tank selector switch back to the tank containing dinodiesel and allow the engine time to re-prime with that fuel before shutting it down. Depending on the outside air temp and how long you are going to let it sit before restarting, I have left mine for up to an hour. Veggie diesel that sits and cools in your injector pump and filters may “kill” your vehicle. It will be very hard to start!

Once the filter housing and filter are mounted and the 3B hoses run from the tank to the heated filter housing and then to the tank switch, the rest of the hose will replace the existing fuel line from the tank switch all the way up to the low pressure lift pump mounted on the engine. Just unplug the old fuel line and plug in the new one. Then take the two coolant lines and splice them, one each, in to the heater core lines running out of the firewall. Make sure you add coolant to the engine once it heats up so the new coolant lines you have installed can be fully primed. The last thing we need to do s install a heater band around the existing fuel filter. The fuel filter is the last area that we need to heat. A 12 VDC band heater that will heat up to about 160 degrees is plenty. Once again, available from Golden Fuel Systems. The front tank may now be used for veggie oil, biodiesel, or DinoDiesel, in any combinations or mixtures!

A Word on Harvesting Veggie Oil:
New, fresh oil is obviously the best. It does not need to be filtered or treated for storage. There is also no worry of having water contamination. Much less expensive (free actually, with permission from the restaurateur) is Waste Oil. This oil can be harvested in a number of ways. I use a 2” trash pump and store the oil in 55 gallon drums or 275 gallon tote [palletized] tanks. Do not use “creamy” or hydrogenated oils! Trans fats in hydrogenated or creamy shortenings are bad for your body and your engine! Only use transparent oil. It is best to pump it in to drums and let all of the little bits of food settle out, and then siphon off the top layer of oil for filtering. Your filters will last twice as long this way. I use a $25 one inch pump from Harbor Freight to push the oil through a 10 micron filter bag in a X-1 housing. These are available through FilterBag.com.
In a G.O.O.D. situation it will probably be too much to pack all of your harvesting and filtration stuff with you, so I recommend Golden fuel system’s ONESHOT filtration unit. It is small, runs on 12v and is totally self contained.
This article is meant to be a primer only. I strongly recommend purchasing some books on conversions and doing your research! (This is my obligatory disclaimer, I am not responsible for your success or failure, or mechanical ability.) The book “Sliding Home” by Ray Holan and “From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank” by Joshua Tickell are both awesome references. Well, I hope you are hooked and are going to give veggie oil a try. The two tank system takes a little getting used to, but you will smile every time you drive by a fuel station. It takes me only about one minute to siphon and filter 3 gallons of veggie oil. At today’s prices $3.15/gal in Portland, Oregon, I save around $9.45/minute or $567 an hour! If the two tank system is too much, Elsbett in Germany makes single tank conversion kits for Volkswagen Diesels (expensive-the kit for a 2002 Jetta was around EU1,200 Euros) and Lovecraft Biofuels makes a single tank conversion for Mercedes Benz Diesels for around $400.
Good luck in your conversions! Don’t be surprised if you start feeling the urge to stop at a fast food joint while running veggie oil- your exhaust will smell like French fries!

JWR Adds: For those of you that are not do-it-yourself tinkerers, I just heard that Ready Made Resources (one of SurvivalBlog’s first advertisers) now sells a home biodiesel making machine that can produce up to 330 gallons of biodiesel per day, at a cost of just 67 cents per gallon. This fuel can be used is standard (unmodified) diesel cars, trucks, and tractors, without the need to rig a separate fuel tank. Call Bob at Ready Made Resources 1(800) 627-3809 for details.

Letter Re: Doing Versus Studying–Wherever You Live

I agree 100% with Fanderal in his recent article on “Doing Versus Studying”. I grew up helping with gardening and canning as a boy in southern Indiana. There is a tremendous difference between having helped (“Hold the bucket, son.”) and picking up the knife and beginning the slaughter of a 300 pound hog. I have spent the last 20 years raising my family in suburbia and have very fond memories of growing up in the country. Memories are not a substitute for practical hands on experience. The Millennium bug got me thinking about “What If” while the 9/11 events were the wake up call (9/11 brought me to my knees before God at which time I asked for salvation) and the Katrina disaster became the “Get your rear in gear” motivator. I have begun a modest food storage program, renewed my routine purchase of guns & ammo as well as routine instruction to my family on all survival issues. We now plan to sell our McMansion and move to the country. This past spring my mother offered me 6 extra tomato plants she was not going to plant and thus began my experiment in gardening. I learned a lot from those 6 plants. I learned that those little plants get very big. I used large pots and placed them on my back deck (note to self: put them somewhere else next year). I learned that it takes a lot of water to grow plants in a drought (100 degree F. temps in Atlanta for more than 3 weeks this summer). I learned that birds like to eat tomatoes when they get ripe (loss of 1/3 of crop). I learned that blossom rot is not good (loss of 1/3 of crop). I learned that high winds will blow your plants over and not to place them on the deck rail (1 broken pot and 3 broken pot plates). I remembered how great those fresh homegrown tomatoes taste on your plate at suppertime or on a Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato sandwich at lunch and that their flavor far exceeds the bland offerings at the overpriced grocery. I learned that the 1/3 of the crop that was harvested was still a lot of tomatoes. I learned that I need to learn or relearn many skills that I once knew and that I should practice, practice, practice. – Yonah

Odds ‘n Sods:

Walt suggested this from the New York Times: Virus Suspected as Cause of U.S. Honeybee Deaths. The article begins: “New research suggests a virus may be causing the puzzling collapse of honey-bee colonies across the U.S. that has hurt commercial beekeepers and farmers who rely on these bees to pollinate crops. A team of scientists said it has found a strong association between a pathogen known as Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, or IAPV, and the deaths of billions of honey- bees in the U.S. The identification of the virus may even suggest a way to fixing the problem: breeding bees that are resistant to the bug, and then repopulating decimated hives with them.”

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Tom in Oregon sent us this article link about the ubiquitous CONEX container, from The Strategy Page: Tents Evolve Into Steel Boxes

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Thanks to J.M. for sending this: Is China quietly dumping US Treasuries?

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By way of Jim Sinclair’s MineSet, we read that Bloomberg warned us back in May: Credit-Default Swaps Spur Fastest Derivatives Growth. I still expect to see a global derivatives melt-down that will change the financial landscape in a way that will still be remembered centuries from now–on a par with Holland’s Tulip Mania of the 1630s or the South Sea Company investing fiasco, circa 1720.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will bum,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.”
– Rudyard Kipling, stanzas 9 and 10 of The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 12 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. I will again be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. Round 12 ends on September 30th. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.