CRKT M40-03 Knife, by Pat Cascio

I couldn’t tell you, dear readers, just how many knives have passed through my hands in the last 28 years, as a writer. However, I’m sure it has been several thousand knives. And, I can only write about a very few of them. So, I’m very particular about which knives I choose to test and write about – and it is only the best of the best, for the most part. But every now and then, I’ll get a knife that is so poorly made, that I feel the need to let folks know about it – and to steer clear of it. This article is not one of those instances.

I’ve been writing about Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT) products since they first got off the ground, with the Apache folder, and I wish they would bring that folder back, with some better materials – I really liked it. I wish that I still owned that one – however, someone stole it off a table I had at a gun show some years back, and I never replaced it, before it was discontinued but CRKT. When working a table at a gun show, all alone, it is impossible to keep your eye on everything, especially when you are discussing a knife or gun potential purchase with another customer. The sad thing is, the Apache sitting on the table wasn’t even for sale – I had been using it, and set it down on a table, instead of putting it back in my pocket.

CRKT is well-known for doing collaborations with knife makers and designers, I should know, they produced my OC-3 fixed blade double-edge fighting knife for several years. I can design knives, but for the life of me, I can’t make them, and that is where custom knife maker, Brian Wagner, came on the scene and he took my rough drawings and produced the OC-3 exactly as I envisioned it – on the first try. I don’t believe any other major knife company is doing nearly as many collaborations as CRKT is doing, and I’ve turned them on to a couple outstanding custom knife makers and their designs, and they did a collaboration together.

A Carson Design

The M40-03 was designed by the late custom knifemaker and designer, Kit Carson. If you don’t know the name, do a Google search. Sad to say, Carson, passed away a few years back. However, CRKT is still producing many of his outstanding designs. The M40-03, and this design was discovered in a knife collection – don’t know who’s collection – but CRKT decided to produce this folder, and it is on outstanding EDC (Every Day Cary) folded. It has the Kit Carson “flair” to it, no mistaking his design talent.Continue reading“CRKT M40-03 Knife, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Braised Leg of Lamb

The following recipe for Braised Leg of Lamb is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book is one of the many bonus items included in the latest edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. The second production run of the 15th Anniversary Edition (2005-2020) USB stick should be available for ordering in late May.

Ingredients
  • 1 leg lamb
  • Cracker-crum stuffing
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 turnip
  • 1/2 bay leaf
  • 1 sprig each of thyme and parsley
  • 1/4 cup drippings
  • 3 cups hot water
  • r/ teaspoon salt
  • 12 peppercorns
Directions
  1. Have the leg of lamb boned.
  2. Wipe.
  3. Stuff with cracker-crum stuffing
  4. Sew and place in a deep pan.
  5. Cook the sliced onion, the diced carrot and turnip, bay leaf, thyme, and parsley in the drippings for a few minutes.
  6. Add the hot water, salt and peppercorns, and pour the mixture over the meat.
  7. Cook slowly for three hours, with the dish covered except for the last half hour.
  8. Make a brown gravy out of the strained broth in which the meat has been cooked.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at Bill Hwang (pictured) and the huge Archegos margin call debacle. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

Back in 2016, I advised SurvivalBlog readers to buy Rhodium. It was then at about $670 per ounce.  I just checked, and it is presently selling for $25,000 per ounce. Not a bad return on investment!

o  o  o

Why Is Silver Outperforming Gold?

o  o  o

Congressman Mooney Introduces Bill To End Federal Taxes On Gold And Silver.

Economy & Finance:

How The Archegos Affair Could Look More Like 2008 than 1998: What Investors Should Watch

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Pierre Briançon: These banking giants are headed to major losses after Archegos debacle.

o  o  o

At Zero Hedge: Archegos? Argh, Chaos More Like.

o  o  o

According to ValueWalk, Bill Hwang had some previous troubles: Bill Hwang — Tiger Asia

o  o  o

Archegos Implosion is a Sign of Massive Stock Market Leverage that Stays Hidden until it Blows Up and Hits the Banks. An excerpt:

“The implosion of an undisclosed hedge fund, now widely reported to be Archegos Capital Management, is hitting the stocks of banks that served as prime brokers to the fund. The highly leveraged derivative positions, based on stocks, had blown up spectacularly. Banks get into these risky leveraged deals because they generate enormous amounts of profit – until they blow up and banks get hit as counterparties.”

JWR’s Comment:  Yep, some more derivatives counterparty risk for you to catalog…

o  o  o

Is Hyperinflation Really A Threat?

o  o  o

Another at Wolf Street: The Explosive Surge of Mortgages for “Second Homes”: Housing Bubble Math

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Of course, states will be reluctant to invoke nullification but the alternative would be to watch our constitutional rights be trashed by leftists.  The MAGA movement in the Red States needs to became active in urging legislators and governors to start reclaiming their constitutional powers and begin nullifying illegal Federal law.

Once states are engaged in nullifying federal laws, I believe we will witness what I call the ‘great migration” in which conservatives will leave blue states to live in red states and vice-versa.  And yes, this could lead to a peaceful balkanization of America in which the Red states become redder and the Blue states become bluer, but this is not our fault.” – Steve Baldwin, from It’s time for Red States to start nullifying federal law, at The American Thinker

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — April 4, 2021

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee.

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For those of you who celebrate Easter, we wish you a joyful Sunday, in sober consideration of Christ’s death and resurrection. He is risen indeed!

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Today’s feature article was too short for judging in Round 94 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

Round 94 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Food for Diabetic Preppers, by S.F. in Oregon

Prepping for diabetics presents a unique challenge. What I’m not discussing how to store insulin, as that has already been discussed at length inSurvivalBlog. Nor am I going to go into the oft-mentioned differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Rather, I’m just talking about food choices.

Rice, hard wheat, and noodles all have something in common. They have what is called a high ‘glycemic index’. That is the ‘octane’ of a given food. Glycemic index is the speed at which any given food will metabolize into sugar in the blood. People with blood sugar problems have compromised abilities to manage high blood sugar, so, for them low glycemic index foods are healthier.

We don’t have to concern ourselves with meat or oils, only those foods with carbohydrates. That is fruits, some nuts (like chestnuts), some beans (legumes), but mostly grains. Since grains make a large % of preppers stored food, this must be addressed.

If a person is a type 1 diabetic, until such time as we learn to regenerate the pancreas, they will need insulin to survive. In a grid-down situation, sourcing insulin may be a challenge, so it would be wise to make what you have last as long as possible. If you eat low glycemic foods, you can make your insulin stores last longer.

If a person is type 2 diabetic, they still make some insulin, so keeping their blood sugar down is more about avoiding long-term problems (non-healing wounds, amputations, kidney failure, heart disease, blindness…). Clearly still important.

So, first thing is to look through your stored food and see what the glycemic index is of what you’ve stored. Here’s one resource: https://glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php. There are others.

As a rule, grains have a high glycemic index. Fortunately, there is an exception to the rule… barley. Barley has a very low glycemic index. Barley has become my standard grain staple. I can cook it whole in soups, grind it fine and make pan breads or flake it and make porridges. As a porridge, it cooks in minutes, saving fuel. It mixes nicely with eggs or canned fish or, if you don’t have blood sugar issues, fruit.

Now for beans. As a rule, they have lower glycemic indices, but the best are lentils, chickpeas, and aduki/adzuki. Of the three, adzuki are the least likely to give your position away due to unexpected sounds and smells, so, there’s that. Remember, you can sprout all three and have fresh vegetables without needing soil or lights.

Also, the more you cook food, the higher the glycemic index goes. This is because it becomes more digestible.

Okay, but what about the foods you do have? There are 3 ways to lower the glycemic index of a given food.

1- Add oil to the food.
2- Eat it raw. By raw, I also mean, fermented.
3- Cool it at 40F for 24 hours.

If you mix food with oil, then the oil will slow down the absorption and thus lower the glycemic index. Here’s a link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26352188/

Just note that food cooked in oil does not have as strong an effect as oil added after the food has been cooked. Remember to mix the oil in. You’re looking to coat the starch with oil.

FWIW, I have been eating olive oil I’ve had in cool storage since 2012 and it’s still fine.

Second, eat it raw, or… fermented. Take a winter squash. Delicious, prolific and stores well. Growing grains is a lot of work. Growing squash, easy peasy, but high glycemic index. What you can do is grate the squash then ferment it for a few weeks. This will partially digest it for you, but not in the same way cooking does. This means that the normally high glycemic index of the squash will be lower.

The third technique is to cool starches for 24 hours after cooking them. It is called starch retrogradation, that it, it causes the starch to reassemble in ways that lower the glycemic index. For rice the effect was a reduction of glycemic index by ~15%.

Here’s the technical info for those interested: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26693746/

Well, there you have it. Here’s hoping you never need to use this information. – SF in Oregon

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Am I am not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord.

If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.

Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,

Have we not power to eat and to drink?

Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?

Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?

Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?

Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?

For it is written in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?

Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?

If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.

Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?

Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.

For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!

For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.

What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.

For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” – 1 Corinthians 9 (KJV)

 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — April 3, 2021

This is the birthday of Washington Irving, an American author, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for short stories like Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but he also wrote several biographies and served as the US Ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846.

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Congratulations to our readers in Iowa!  As a result of your grassroots lobbying efforts, Iowa just became the 19th State to re-assert Constitutional Carry. (Permitless concealed carry.)  That law will take effect on July 1st, 2021.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 94 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 94 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

My Perspective on Bug-Out Field Gear, by H.H.

You can throw a couple of items in a backpack and say “I’m prepared”, but are you really? For everything you do to prepare, think through all the things that can go wrong. My wife says I’m too pessimistic, but being an engineer, I’ve been trained to think about what can go wrong. You don’t want the plane to fall out of the sky or the bridge to collapse.

The first rule is always have more than one way of doing something. I had heard (maybe attributed to Army Rangers or SEALs) “Two is one and one is none.” If you have one of something, let’s say a knife, and it breaks, now you have none. If you have two cans of food and one of them is bulging because the food spoiled, now you have none. Always have two of something or two ways of accomplishing the same thing.

So what do we need to survive? There are lots of lists on the Internet, but the basic four have been shelter, fire, water, and food. Some authors have five things and the order will vary. I used to say water, fire, shelter, and food. Since 2020, with COVID-19 and the forest fires in California, I now have five things, with the first being air.

For air, you need a mask of some kind. Get at least one N-95 mask per person. As a backup, you can get a bandana or a shemagh. They won’t eliminate all the pollutants but will give you some relief. Some have polyester in them, but 100% cotton is better because you can make char cloth and use it for starting fires. Bandanas can be cut into strips and used as cordage or to mark a trail. Liberty Mountain has a nice survival bandana with lots of survival tips printed on it. Depending on the region you are going to, you can get map bandanas, especially the National Parks.

Water

After air, the most important thing you need is water. If you shelter at home, the Cadillac water filter is the Berkey Water Filter System. It’s expensive to start, but the filters last for 6,000 gallons, making the cost about five cents per gallon. If you are just starting off, you can get a Britta pitcher for less than $20, but the cost per gallon is over twelve cents per gallon. For your backpack or Bug Out Bag (BOB), there are a variety of filter straws. A name-brand straw, such as Life Straw, will be about $15 and filter about 800 gallons. They say it removes bacteria such as e-coli and salmonella as well as protozoa such as giardia (“beaver fever”). There are cheaper straws on Amazon that can filter about 150 gallons for $5. So again, the low-cost solutions can get you going, but the larger, more expensive solutions are actually cheaper per use. Iodine tablets are also used for purifying water and take up very little space. Besides filtering, you can also boil water if you have a metal cup and a fire.Continue reading“My Perspective on Bug-Out Field Gear, by H.H.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

It is great to be back at the ranch! I was surprised to see that the snow coverage is now down just to patches in some shady spots.  It looks like we are having an early spring this year.

Sales at Elk Creek Company have been very brisk. With the help of Miss Eloise, we got nine boxes packed, labeled, and shipped on Friday.  Another four boxes will be ready to mail out on Monday morning.  Take note that a U.S. Senate vote on the Federal “Universal Background Checks” bill — actually criminalizing private party transfers — is looming.  It already passed in the House. So everyone seems anxious to buy a couple of guns that will be Federally exempt under that pending legislation. This means either pre-1899 manufactured cartridge guns or shootable percussion revolvers. I sell carefully selected examples of both. These guns truly will be the last bastion of gun sales privacy in America. Please note that my inventory replacement costs are going up sharply, so this may be your last chance to grab a pre-1899 gun at a reasonable price.

If you have any questions about any of our listed items, the fairly memorable phone number for Elk Creek Company is:  (308) 270-2535. (We chose that as a sort of inside joke, for shooters.)

On Monday afternoon, I’ll be very busy working my way through Lily’s “Honey Do” list. A couple of projects in the hen house are at the top of her list. I’ll have more to report on that, next week. Now, over to  Lily…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.

They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.

Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.

We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.

According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.

Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.” – Psalm 48

(KJV)

 

Preparedness Notes for Friday — April 2, 2021

Today is the birthday of Sergei Ivanovich Mosin (Apr 2, 1849 – February 8, 1902) was a Russian military officer, engineer, and a designer of the Mosin–Nagant rifle.

This is the birthday of Émile François Zola, a novelist and essayist. He is most often remembered as the author of “J’accuse” (I Accuse!), his lengthy open letter to president Félix Faure, which accused the French government of anti-semitism.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 94 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 94 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

U.S. Military Field Phones, by Ken in Michigan

If you are looking for a secure communication system for your farm, ranch, or retreat, then look into a military phone system. You can create an ideal communication system, any size, from two positions overnight to multiple positions in a large permanent retreat.

Military Field Phones (“MFPs”) do not require external power. They are designed to operate in adverse conditions and most importantly, do not emit any electronic signal. MFPs cannot be overheard by radio scanners or radio direction finders. MFPs keep your location undetected by electronic surveillance, unlike today’s radio communications that can be overheard and DF-located using today’s technology. Radios are also subject to interference, intentional or unintentional, friendly enemy or atmospheric. The only disadvantage in using a MFP is the requirement of the use of hard wire. A two-wire cable is used to connect the phones. This is “old-school,” otherwise known as POTS (plain old telephone system).

A little history is needed to fully understand the MFP: The first US MFP system was developed in 1910. In WW1, the EE3 phone was used with good success. In 1932, the MFP was improved and was standardized with the EE8 phone and the BD71 and BD72 switchboards connected using WD-1 wire, which aided in better communication. In the beginning of WW2, the EE8 phones had leather cases. The leather cases were replaced with a hard canvas case in 1944 (the leather did not hold up as well in the South Pacific during the Vietnam War; the canvas just rotted away). In 1967, the hard canvas case was replaced with a nylon case.

During the Vietnam War, the equipment improved with the TA-1 PT, TA-43 PT and TA-312 PT phones. The phones were connected with the SB-22 switchboard and had improved wire (WD-1A).

All of the MFP equipment is interchangeable and compatible. The 1930’s equipment can be used with all of the 1960 and 1970’s equipment. The plus is the MFP can be used with foreign nations phone equipment as well. I currently have four German phones in my inventory. I cannot personally guarantee that the Russia and Warsaw Pact’s will work with our simplex analog phone system.

Here are some of the basics of how the phone system works:

– Each phone contains a hand crank generator that produces 90-100 volts AC at approximately 20 Hz (which signals the receiving phone to answer the call). This generator is strictly for signaling and has nothing to do with voice communications.
– Communication is a “push to talk” button, just like any 2-way radio system. The system has a carbon microphone and uses 2 D-Cell batteries (referred to as BA-30 in the manual). The 2 D-Cell batteries give, in series, three volts of DC to amplify the voice communication.

The most basic system would be to connect two phones together. No switchboard necessary and polarity is not a problem. Several phones can be connected this way, but all phones would ring at the same time. It would be possible to work out a code: 1 crank to answer phone #1 and 2 cranks to answer phone #2, etc. There would be a limited number of phones to be connected this way. For most users, we would use a simple wiring system called the Platoon Hot Loop. This puts all the phones in a series, with no switchboard. Simply connect the first phone with the wire, pair one wire on each terminal on both terminals at the 2nd and any other intermediate phone (simply split the cable and only cut one wire). Terminate the two cut ends on the next phone leaving one wire uncut. The last phone is where you connect the two wires to the two terminals for connection, just like the first phone. This places all the phones in a loop in series. Polarity of the connection does not matter using this system. I found this in an article regarding TA-1 phones, but I do not see why it would not work on other field phones.Continue reading“U.S. Military Field Phones, by Ken in Michigan”

Economics & Investing For Preppers: The Biden-Harris Years

Introductory Notes: Today’s column is a special edition. In lieu of our usual economics and investing news items and commentary, today I’m posting my analysis of the Biden-Harris administration’s policies and plans. In particular, I’ll be covering their planned economic, domestic surveillance, Second Amendment, and environmental policies, and their impact on commerce, interest rates, currencies, and economic liberty in the United States. The following analysis reflects my personal views. Your views may differ. If you dislike rants, then skip reading this.

To begin, I should clarify that I’ll be referring to the Biden-Harris administration with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as full partners in crime. Don’t mistake Kamala Harris as a mere protégé, sidekick, Race Token, or a pretty stage prop. In fact, it might be Joe Biden who is the stage prop. Harris is already making key policy decisions and is sharing the reins of power. There is considerable evidence that Barack Obama is exerting a lot of influence, with Susan Rice acting as his conduit. Currently, the White House has more palace intrigue than a whole season of Game of Thrones. Perhaps we should be calling it the Obama-Harris administration.

The scope of power and influence of Kamala Harris will only grow, over time. And I suspect that Biden will be shuffled off stage within his first year in office, on some medical pretext. Given his rapid physical decline and mental decline, that seems almost inevitable.

Joe Biden has rightfully been labeled a socialist. But Kamala Harris is a much more rabid collectivist than Biden. Her politics and approach to governance are more accurately described as Maoist. I jokingly refer to her as Commie-La-La or as The Camel’s Nose. Despite my jests, I don’t trivialize the looming threat that she poses to our freedom. Kamala Harris is far more cunning and ruthless than Creepy Joe ever was. So… Beware!

Also, please don’t underestimate the speed at which the Biden-Harris administration is moving.  They started off with a bang, unleashing more than 80 executive orders in their first couple of weeks. Most of these reversed the Trump administration’s core policies. I don’t expect them to slow down. They will push their socialist agenda as hard and fast as they can. Alarmingly, the left wing of the Democrat Party now controls the House, the Senate, and the White House. This is roughly the same situation as 1992-to-1994. And we all remember that as the time period when the 1994 Assault Weapons and Magazine Ban bill was enacted.

The only thing that could slow down a legislated socialist revolution is the U.S. Senate’s current Filibuster rule. The left wing of the Democrat Party is doing their utmost to do away with Filibustering.  But more moderate Democrats realize that this change could be used against them, the next time the political winds shift, and they lose control of congress.

Here are my assessments:

Government Spending, Debt & Defecit:

Though Federal spending was already out of control during the Trump Administration, it is safe to predict that it will be astronomical under Biden-Harris. Look at this chart released by the St. Louis branch of the Federal Reserve:  M1 Money Stock. That doesn’t include the recently-aproved $1.9 Trillion spending bill. And what will it look like if the Biden-Harris administration ramrods through their planned $2 Trillion in infrastructure spending, and $3 Trillion in “Green Energy” spending.  It might also be safe to assume that there will be additional Trillions in bailouts and “COVID-19 stimulus.”

The U.S. National Debt was around $28 Trillion, when I last checked. And the budget deficit for 2021 surpassed $1 trillion in just first few months of this year. (To put that in perspective, it took the first 200 years of U.S. government to gradually accumulate the first $1 trillion of National Debt.) But ask your average man on the street about this, and he will be either bewildered or oblivious. In fact, most American citizens don’t even understand the difference between the debt and the deficit.  All that they seem to care about is the size of their income tax return check and the size and frequency of their stimulus checks.

My prediction is that with the connivance of congress, the Biden-Harris administration will increase the National Debt to at least $34 Trillion by 2022.

As you watch the new administration roll out its agenda, I suggest that you apply the test of asking:  Is what they are doing increasing or decreasing individual liberty, and by extension, are they building up or tearing down free markets, private property, and sound money? If we find that they are tearing them down, then we need to withdraw our consent to be governed by them.  And we can only do so if we continue to be armed, because ultimately that factor defines whether a state holds a monopoly of force. It should come as no surprise that one of the key policy objectives of the Biden-Harris administration is civilian disarmament (“gun control”), which would give the state a monopoly of force.

Precious Metals:

The Biden-Harris team is strongly in the fiat money camp. Having a currency pegged to precious metals would limit their spending, so they’d be dead set against it. Ditto for an audit of the gold holdings at Fort Knox.

The new administration’s environmental policies have not yet directly addressed mining. But I suspect that they will be quite similar to their stated oil drilling and oil transport policies, namely: Anti-business, anti-extraction, deleterious to efficient transport, and ultra-environmentalist. If Kamala Harris ever took an aerial tour of the Carlin Trend mining region in Nevada, she’d have a heart attack.

My prediction is that the Biden-Harris administration will be strongly anti-precious metals, in all aspects, namely: Mining, ore hauling, heap-leaching/concentrating, refining, private ownership, border crossing, and tax reporting.

National Economy:

The Biden-Harris team is already busy wrecking the economy. By continuing mask mandates, social distancing, “phased re-openings”, mandatory vaccination, and other COVID-19 policies, they are destroying small businesses and degrading the deployability of our military. Meanwhile, the tech giants are gaining market share. For them, COVID-19 has been a “win-win”, and Biden will be contributing to their success.

Interest Rates:

My prediction is that the Biden-Harris administration’s policies and will lead to higher interest rates. This will clamp down the economy.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers: The Biden-Harris Years”