Survival skills??

[Kutnupe14]

Am I odd that I collect dryer lint in ziplock bags? I personally, think that the ability to make fire reign supreme.

 

[Kutnupe14]

And you can sharpen plenty of blades with the right type of rocks.

 

[littletommy]

Am I odd that I collect dryer lint in ziplock bags? I personally, think that the ability to make fire reign supreme.

I do the same thing, dryer lint does NOT get thrown away around here. The family thinks I'm a kook, but that's beside the point.

 

[Scott26]

Finished my roof repair kit. Tarps nails tools roof patch etc. that way I won't have to locate everything

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

Am I odd that I collect dryer lint in ziplock bags? I personally, think that the ability to make fire reign supreme.

I do the same thing, dryer lint does NOT get thrown away around here. The family thinks I'm a kook, but that's beside the point.

I have a bunch, too.

 

[ddavidson]

Isn't it also strange that the "full" dryer lint container is never really full. You can just keep stuffing it in there.

 

[spencer rifle]

And to you parents: Do this with your kids, both boys and girls. Right now. My Dad and I would take apart things in the backyard. Shirtless. In the sun. Him with a beer and cigarette. Me with a big smile. Just broken stuff: small engines, a piece of office machinery etc. I learned about tools that way. Teach your children to hammer, saw, sand, measure, glue, staple, sew, how to wire a socket, how wire nuts work, to to sharpen everything, how to ID screws, nuts, bolts, nails and all sorts of tools. I've done this with my daughters. I called it "Tool School".

Our youngest has his own tool box, which he uses to take apart old electronics and appliances we scrounge for the cause. He saves all the screws and interesting parts, avoids capacitors, and sorts screws by machine or self-tapping. He also helps reload, and helped me a little with the last car engine rebuild. We are now building an archery target.

 

[Zoub]

If some of you guys want raised beds and don't want to move 21 tons of dirt to it, try straw bale gardening. Not hay, straw. Easy to find on google. Keep doing it in the same spot and add soil each year to build up beds.

To OP you mentioned having to maybe deal with a lot of leaves. Hardwood leaves are gardening gold. Get a riding mower with mulching deck and a pull behind sweeper. You mulch the leaves, sweep them up then drive to garden or planting beds and dump the leaf mulch. After you are done go run over the mulch piles some more with the mower. You never even have to get out of the mower seat, you will save tons of hours AND your garden or trees will love you. It's also a great way to build wet low spots. Leaf mulch will soak up water and decay into the soil.

 

[bwframe]

What's an efficient way to acquire basic mechanical skills? I seem handy, but I'm basically learning to solve problems as they arise. Each time I have to figure it out by checking the manual, looking at Youtube videos, or just plain old using my noggin. I enjoy it, but it takes time -- which is bad, because I need to work. Is there a Car Repair 101 course?

My advice is to not just "look at" YouTube videos, but subscribe to receive new video notifications. I've been small scale shade tree wrenching since I have owned vehicles, but I learn something or two new every week. It also keeps me interested enough to not wait until I'm up to my elbows in grease, frustrated and looking for a solution.

This guy is one of my favorites:
EricTheCarGuy - YouTube
Welcome to The NEW EricTheCarGuy! - Eric The Car Guy- Stay Dirty!

 

[flatlander]

The basic List:

1st aid and basic medical care to include nursing type care
Red Cross instructor- Teach about 12-15 people a month
Hunting, foraging and wild edibles
Need more wild edible practice
Basic gardening, with a couple successful seasons under your belt
Raised helping mom with a LARGE garden
Basic carpentry including tool care, using and making drawings
After retirement, spent 4 years learning/ doing everything from demo to trim finish to custom cabinets from raw wood
Basic mechanical skills including tool care
6 months as a mechanic
Basic electrical repairs-both household as well as small devices like radios
Pager repair tech
Land navigation
21 years as a grunt
Field craft-Infanty 101 type (camo, movement, personal tactics etc)
Marksmanship and weapons handling
Wilderness survival skills-shelter building, finding/treating water, making fire, signals etc
SERE instructor .mil
Small team leadership
Basic finance-save, spend, barter, trade, negotiate, take inventory, asset allocation etc
family ldr as well as store mgr
Cooking and safe food prep
Field hygiene to include proper disposal of mortal remains-animal and human.
Be able to swim

Thats the short list

Not too bad so far.

Bob

 

[Enkrypter]

I like to learn practical survival stuff. I'm not into all this tactical crap. Anyone can pull a trigger... People do it in Iraq everyday with little or no experience or training.

Like someone else said, boyscouts stuff. I think skills like negotiating, managing personal relationships, and anger management are also survival tools. I've always been a person who studies other people as well. Being able to gauge people's reactions is a huge advantage in most situations.

But the basics for me would be:

1. Building a fire when stuff is all wet.
2. Preserving food (smoking/canning)
3. Trapping/Snaring (I think people place too much emphasis on active hunting with guns and bows and overlook trapping and snaring. Passive food collection is superior in survival situations.)
4. Fishing/Hunting
5. Learning to keep warm and dry in all situations. Grandpa always told me the key to being healthy is staying dry.
6. Maintain skills. Go camping, go hiking, go backpacking, take your kids fishing. Get out there, get dirty and rub some dirt on it. If your kids know how to fish, all the better, they can be fishing while you are doing something else. When the time comes you need the skills to survive, your family will be ready, and in the meantime you will all be closer from the experiences you shared from all that camping and fishing prior to when SHTF.
7. Being polite. I think if things ever do go bad, you're going to need all the friends and help you can get.
8. Being resourceful. Way of the ninja and all that crap. Learn to reuse things that are trash. Lord knows there will be plenty of that when the time comes.

You don't need to be a navy seal to survive. You simply need some basic skills, the will to survive, and hope. Since most of us are family men/women, this will also mean making sure that the ones around us are calm and have a good mental attitude.

Trained soldiers on the battlefield struggle with depression. Imagine what your wife and kids will feel like. Learning personal skills to keep people calm and cool-headed will be more important than knowing how to clear a house in 20 seconds. If one person around you is going mental, you won't need to worry about bandits shooting you, someone in your group may do it for you. I think these hardcore guys overlook the touchy feely stuff.

I've seen Soldiers snap. It's not pretty.

 

[bwframe]

Our friend Wetsu makes some very good YouTube videos also. We should encourage him to do more.

https://www.youtube.com/user/WETSU66?feature=watch

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

Our friend Wetsu makes some very good YouTube videos also. We should encourage him to do more.

https://www.youtube.com/user/WETSU66?feature=watch

Seconded. Excellent stuff. Practical, useful, simple to understand.

BTW, it's been a while since we had one, Russ.

 

[teddy12b]

People do it in Iraq everyday with little or no experience or training.

I get what you're saying, but generally the guys that just pick up a rifle and head off with little to no understanding of tactics die. Having the fundamentals in place is a game changer compared to nothing at all. It's like baseball, for survival purposes you don't need to be at a level to go professional, but you should know how to field a ground ball, catch a flay ball and not throw like a girl.


I've seen Soldiers snap. It's not pretty.

I've seen soldiers snap as well and you're right it isn't pretty. Keeping people calm cool and collected will go a long ways towards keeping a team together. The best way to calm people's nerves though is to be able to have the basic needs covered and keep pushing with goals and new skills to learn. I think people get bored when things become stagnant, and that's not good.