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Tools for the Apocalypse

mindofspaz@gmail.com (Red) — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:14:13 -0400

I talk about a lot of things. So do a lot of people on other prepping websites. We talk about fire starting, shelter, bugging out, bugging in, food, water, firearms, hunting, morals and ethics and a whole bunch of 'what if' scenarios. What we never talk about is tools.

I was thinking about this. I own a house and I use tools all the time around the house. Pliers, hammers, screwdrivers, saws etc. and I never even think twice about it. It would stand to reason that you'd probably need tools of some sort if the world went to crap. Especially if the world went to crap. If you survive you're going to have to maintain the stuff you have, build other things you need out of the scrap that's left, and that takes tools.

So thinking about what I use in tools on a weekly basis, taking away power tools (have to assume if TSHTF there will be no power) and I came up with a list for portability and usefulness as follows:

Saws. Hacksaw, A wood saw or two, keyhole saw (small for fine cuts)
Wrenches: A small socket kit, channel lock, vise grip, pipe wrench, adjustable wrench, Allen wrenches
Pliers: various needle nose and flat nose, and wire strippers
Hammer: All steel construction, no wood handles to split
Plumbing: Pipe cutter, solder, flux, propane torce, teflon tape
Screwdrivers: Preferably a screwdriver set so you have all variants such as Robertson, Phillips, flat, torx, etc.
A small level
Utility knives
Consumables such as electrical tape, duct tape and assorted screws and nails

Or you could get one of those ready to go tool kits. I prefer making my own and I have a bunch of tools already. What you are going to want to do though is make a ready to go kit with some sort of tool caddy, or my personal favorite, a bucket organizer like this one:

Bucket tool organizers are great because buckets are also very useful and it comes with a carry handle. Buckets are also a dime a dozen, you break it or lose it just move your kit to another bucket.

So those are my basic tools for my to go bucket tool kit. Any suggestions for additions/subtractions to that?

When To Tacticool Part 2 - My Mistake.

mindofspaz@gmail.com (Red) — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:56:44 -0400

I'll admit it. I make mistakes. I know, right? I'll admit I made a mistake. That's what humans do. Make mistakes, because we are human. But if you make a mistake you have to own up to it. It always goes better if you own up to your mistakes.

Ok so not every mistake can be fixed by admission. So unless you are Hitler, things are always made better by owning up to your mistakes. I did make a mistake.

Do you remember my post When To Tacticool? If you haven't read it, read it. I'll wait. The point is, I made somewhat of a mistake with the Remington SurShot stock.

So yes, putting the stock on makes it easier to get up to your cheek and have the sights straight and aligned properly. It works great for that. The problem is where it sits. You see, it's really meant to be for hunting. When that animal comes you want to get that shotgun up and aligned without fumbling around and it does that just great. If you'll be taking a half dozen or dozen shots all day, it'll be just fine.

If you run 4 rounds of trap (100 shot shells) in a row, it's not so great.

I thought I'd take a picture of my bruise, but it's just not right. So, one of the reasons the Surshot stock does what it does well is that it raised the cheek part and lowered the stock part, so on a normal sized person or at least my size, it's now sitting lower than it should. It's on your upper chest instead of your shoulder.

So basically, the Surshot stock is for hunting, not for prolonged shooting. It's my loss and I'm out $100 for the experiment. Well, except when I do go hunting and I might put it back on. The point is, I thought I'd own up to the mistake and let you guys know if you plan on shooting clays, it's not the greatest stock.

What you want is something that will sit up on your shoulder to let your arm act as a piston to absorb the shock rather than channel it right into your body. Something like this Magpul SGA stock where you can adjust the length and buy other pieces to raise the cheek hight for you.

Not to worry. I'll continue to be honest and report my mistakes. Trial and error right? That way you won't make the same ones. Or something.

Be Frugal and Inventive.

mindofspaz@gmail.com (Red) — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:08:56 -0400

Do you remember my Opteka Solar Cell phone charger? It's a great device with a powerful built in battery and USB charging - it'll keep my smart phone charged and even better, one charge on the chargers battery will charge up one of my Motorola Talkabout walki talkies 6 full times. There is a problem with it though. It's completely flat with no mounting points on it to tie it off to my pack or anything else. So what was I to do?

I was to get creative. I did this:

I took a paracord bracelet and crazy glued the female end to the back of the charger. I then took another length of paracord and tied the charging cable to it so I wouldn't lose it. What you get is a tie on device I can strap to my pack so it can charge in the sun. Plus, if I need paracord, I have some in the bracelet and cable tie off. You can never have enough paracord handy. Never. So it was a simple, easy fix to the issue but the important part was that I used stuff around the house and it works.

So being frugal and inventive is important. Oh, it's not important nowadays. What you don't like anymore you can simply throw away and go to Walmart and get a new one, right? We are consumer whores. Don't get insulted, it's true. As a society we are wasteful gluttons and there is no denying it.

Except that if TSHTF there will be no more Walmart. There will be no more factories in China and Indonesia spewing out billions and billions of cheap, disposable consumer goods. We have what's left, we have what we can make, and we have our ingenuity to combine those things into something we can use.

This is why farmers never throw anything away. It's a habit of a by gone era where there was no such thing as superstores and you couldn't just 'go into town to pick up a few things'. You never know when you'd need that metal rod, or that scrap fence posting. Usually, you ended up using it at some point down the road.

That's who we should be taking our cues from. And we should start right now to get used to the idea. Think of what you throw away without a second thought. Think about how you can use it or store it for use later. Keep those margarine containers, you can store small items in them. Doing a small project out of wood? Keep the short scrap pieces. You never know when they may come in handy, and you can always use them as firewood. Did you back out a screw from a piece of wood? Keep it.

I'm sure there are other ways to be frugal. Lots of ways. After TSHTF if you survive, you'll probably think of even MORE ways seeing as there won't be any more curbside garbage pick up! As preppers, we should all practise being frugal and inventive. The habit just might save our life one day.