Archives - Page 12

Complete archive of our preparedness articles and community contributions from 2008-2017.

Homemade ice-claws
How To Tools

Homemade ice-claws

When I moved to college in Idaho as a teenager, I had a really quick introduction into a new world of snow and ice. While the snow I grew up with was wet and heavy, and usually melted away pretty quick in the moderate temperature. Idaho however introduced me to the bitter hard-freeze that left our campus with an amazing array of forms of ice that were completely new to me. I, as with many of my fellow students, became intimately familiar with this ice while performing the splits, or landing on my back when trying to hurry between classes.

Jayce
1 min read
The 5-gun challenge
Guns

The 5-gun challenge

A theme that is seeing increased activity on many of our friends blogs is that of the 5-gun challenge.  What does that mean? Well it's a way of answering the common question of "What gun should I buy?"

Jayce
17 min read
Book Review: What's Wrong With My Plant?
Gardening Reviews

Book Review: What's Wrong With My Plant?

<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-3507" title="whats-wrong-with-my-plant" src="/images/uploads/2011/02/whats-wrong-with-my-plant.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="304" />The other day I picked up a new gardening book from the hardware store. Its cover wasn't cluttered with photographs like so many other gardening and home improvement books; in fact, the only photo on the cover was of an obviously-distressed leaf. The rest of the cover was largely devoted to the full title of the book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0881929611?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=prepper-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0881929611">What's Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?): A Visual Guide to Easy Diagnosis and Organic Remedies</a>, by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth. This was actually the first thing that caught my eye. I don't like when books try to glam themselves up in an attempt to conceal the vapid content inside. This book looked like it was ready to get down to business, and so I picked it up and started leafing through it. It didn't take me long to decide to buy it.<!--more-->

TechHat
4 min read
Starting a Fire with Steel Wool
Equipment How To

Starting a Fire with Steel Wool

<a href="/images/uploads/2011/02/fire.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3453" title="fire" src="/images/uploads/2011/02/fire-202x300.jpg" alt="" width="202" height="300" /></a>Continuing my<em><strong> Heat and Light Series</strong></em>, today we're going to look at an alternative way to start a fire - with Steel Wool and Batteries.  Like I've said in previous posts in this series, this is probably something that every old Boy Scout and every long time Prepper already knows.  The point of this series is to get back to basics and cover things that new Preppers will need to get up to speed on - and to remind some of you about the skills and knowledge you have that you may have forgotten.  :)<!--more-->

Phil
3 min read
Hypothermia - Signs and Symptoms and Treatment
Medical Personal Preparedness

Hypothermia - Signs and Symptoms and Treatment

<img src="file:///C:/Users/Phil/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.png" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/Users/Phil/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.png" alt="" /><a href="/images/uploads/2011/02/hypothermia.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-3429" title="hypothermia" src="/images/uploads/2011/02/hypothermia.jpg" alt="" width="280" height="199" /></a>With more than half the country being inundated by massive snow and ice storms and much of the rest of the country having below freezing temperatures, people are at a very high risk for Hypothermia.  Knowing what Hypothermia is and how to treat it not only prepares you to help yourself but most importantly, to help others.  I've consulted several resources to try to put together a very comprehensive overview of Hypothermia.  Those resources include the<a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hypothermia/DS00333"> Mayo Clinic</a>, my EMT Training Manuals, the<a href="http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/winter/pdf/cold_guide.pdf"> CDC Guidelines for Hypothermia</a> and the <a href="http://www.hypothermia.org/Hypothermia_Ed_pdf/Alaska-Cold-Injuries.pdf">State of Alaska Cold Injuries Guidelines </a>(Alaska knows more about Hypothermia than anybody, their standards are what we use here for Search and Rescue).<!--more-->

Phil
6 min read
How to Make an Emergency Stove from Common Materials
Family Preparedness Fire

How to Make an Emergency Stove from Common Materials

<a href="/images/uploads/2011/02/IMG_2320.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3399" title="IMG_2320" src="/images/uploads/2011/02/IMG_2320-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>The next installment in our Heat and Light series is Making a simple Emergency Stove from Household Materials.  This stove is capable of boiling water in less than 10 minutes and is very easy to use and re-use.  The materials required to make it can commonly be found in the home and should be stored in your preps.  Required are: Paraffin Wax, cardboard and a couple tin cans.<!--more-->

Phil
2 min read
Making Fire Starting Wafer Candles
Family Preparedness Fire

Making Fire Starting Wafer Candles

<a href="/images/uploads/2011/01/IMG_2315.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3379" title="IMG_2315" src="/images/uploads/2011/01/IMG_2315-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>The next project in my Light and Heat series is making Fire Starting Wafers out of reclaimed materials mostly available at home.  These wafer candles don't have the same burn time (but it's plenty long enough to get a fire going) as the egg carton candles but they have a much smaller imprint.  This project will again be familiar to most Boy Scouts and long term Preppers and Outdoorsmen.  However, the purpose of this series is to get back to basics and review how to generate light and heat with common household projects.<!--nextpage-->As has been mentioned in the comments on the other posts in this series, you can use old candles or other wax sources instead of the new bars of paraffin I use in the demonstration.

Phil
3 min read

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