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Reply to: How to maintain a fan Posted 2 weeks ago

This video should give you a good walkthrough To sum it up: Every 1-2 months take the front shield off and wipe it down with a rag and warm soapy water to get rid of the dust, do the same with the rear shield. Wipe down the blades with a damp cloth. Maybe every 3 months, take the blades off completely and used some compressed air and blow out the motor and wipe down the outside with a dry or slightly damp cloth to get off dust. Place a drop or two of lubricating oil in the bearings like 3n1 oil. Keeping it cleaned and oiled will greatly reduce friction and heat generated in the motor and prolong the lifespan. But even if you do this monthly, if you just have a cheap fan it might not last too long. I don’t know of any “top name-brand fans”, but some popular options off the top of my head are Lasko, Honeywell, and Vornado.

Reply to: What are your softcore preps? Posted 4 weeks ago

I love this topic Kira. The doomsday bunkers and end of the world stuff gets tiresome after a while, it’s the small every day preps that you use more often and make life so much better. For me, it’s improving my EDC. I use my Leatherman multiple times a week, lighter and pocket knife every day, water bottle every few hours and more.

Reply to: Making your own first aid supplies after a disaster Posted 4 weeks ago

Exactly what Kira said. Gauze is going to be more durable and sterile and that is what you want in a bandage. Sure the others will work if you have nothing else, but if you have the option go with gauze. Last thing you need is an infection or pieces of toilet paper breaking off into your wound.

Reply to: Preppers and climate change Posted 4 weeks ago

Unfortunately I have similar feelings. There will always be countries and companies that don’t care and would rather keep things running to make money. But I can do what I can and slow the process down just that little bit. I hope others will follow my example.

Reply to: What’s the likelihood that I will be able to live into my 80’s with the increasing number of disasters? Posted 4 weeks ago

What an incredibly uplifting pep talk. I am a survivor, because those before me were as well. We are the product of all the generations before us and it is also up to us to carry that on to the future.

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Jul 08, 2022 Posted 1 month ago

I always thought that BattlBox subscription service would be pretty gimicky and have cheap survival products in it, but to see that the crew actually has tested out the products and show you in a tv series makes me want to sign up now. Thanks for the show recommendation. My budget isn’t going to be very happy though.

Reply to: Minor prepping victory: Perennial Fruit! Posted 1 month ago

That sounds like an easy way to protect yourself. Powdered sulfur doesn’t seem to be that expensive on Amazon either.

Reply to: Let’s make the ultimate emergency reference guide for a bug out bag Posted 2 months ago

Thanks for the compliment! It’s good to learn about each technique and practice many times beforehand and then use this guide as a refresher of “Oh ya! That’s how you do it”. I for example have tied all the knots in the reference guide many many times, but since I don’t do that every day I forget it. But just a quick glance at the diagram reminds me and I’ll be able to do it again.

Reply to: Let’s make the ultimate emergency reference guide for a bug out bag Posted 2 months ago

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Here is a link to our first rough draft of the 1/2 sheet reference chart. (Thanks to TP for hosting the file on their Google Drive). It is easily editable so you can remove or add whatever you want. Maybe you don’t care for the section on important phone numbers or how to make an emergency toilet. Change it then and make it your own. I left two little blank sections so you can add whatever you want in there. If you want a more comprehensive multi-page reference guide this YouTube video contains a link for a very comprehensive multi-page guide. I think there is too much information in there, some useless stuff, and some things that 100% need training on beforehand and isn’t something you are just going to be able to pick up by looking at the guide. Still, it’s a good guide and I stole a few of the pictures from it for our 1/2 sheet guide. Be honest, tell me what you like and dislike and we can add additional info on the second page that people can then copy and past onto the main page.

Reply to: News roundup for Fri, Jun 10, 2022 Posted 2 months ago

If you look at animals, or even our early ancestors you will see that they built their shelter and then for the majority of the day all of their efforts were spent on gathering food. Right now, I spend 14% of my income on food, 25% of shelter, 3% on gasoline, a whopping 6% on this dog, etc… As long as most of my income (my version of hunting and gathering) isn’t being spent on food, then I feel that we are doing okay and are not just “surviving”.

Reply to: Light weight backpacking gear and techniques Posted 2 months ago

That’s a great idea and something I will work on getting to you. I need some help on ideas of what to put in the reference guide though. I started another forum thread to have people pitch in their ideas.

Reply to: Light weight backpacking gear and techniques Posted 2 months ago

Many bug out bags and bug out bag guides (including The Prepared’s) include a survival guide book. An emergency is not the time to break out the survival guide and learn what to do. The time to learn what to do is now so that when the emergency comes, it is second nature and you can just act. If you really do need a reference though, condense that entire heavy guide book onto a small 1/2 sheet of paper and laminate it. With small font and front and back, you can fit anything you need in there.

Reply to: Share YOUR social media page/account on prepping/homesteading Posted 2 months ago

I agree with both of you Joker and Trace. OpSec is important and not paint a target on your head of where people can go for supplies, but after reading The Prepared’s article on why you should share your prepping, I have lightened up and have been more open with sharing some of my knowledge with others. If we all keep preparedness to ourselves, then we are doing a disservice to us and our fellow human beings. It is important to build a community. If we share prepping with everyone and everyone is just that more prepared, then they won’t be coming to your house for supplies or a free handout, because they will have their own supplies and preps. You can tell people that they are camping supplies if they ever ask and you don’t trust them yet. That way you can still talk about the camp stove, solar panel, or food storage you have and educate people, but aren’t giving off the vibe of “I’m a prepper with a ton of supplies” if you want to be cautious. Great job to Trace, his wife, and everyone else who makes these social media accounts, talks on this forum, or chats up someone in the grocery store line about prepping. We need more of it out there and it will only do good the more people who are prepared. You can create social media accounts and share your prepping ideas and never give out your name, address, amount of supplies, or even show your face. Doing product reviews on YouTube for example is a great way to educate people on what items work and where they fall short. That’s the beauty of the internet. Heck, no one here knows my name or where I’m from but I’m able to chat all day about prepping and make the world a little bit of a better place but can still keep my operational security in check.

Reply to: How to survive an active shooter Posted 3 months ago

You say: “Also, playing dead isn’t a great strategy because shooters will re-shoot bodies. It might work until the shooter leaves the room the first time (and has saved people’s lives when they were shot in the leg before), but you still need to try leaving ASAP.” I agree with you and my first thought is to leave ASAP, but it is interesting to see that a 11 year old girl in the Uvalde shooting did survive by putting blood on herself and playing dead. I wonder where she got an idea like that. Something that hasn’t been mentioned is to seek counseling after a disaster like this, even if you feel like you are okay. Especially if your 11 year old daughter had to resort to putting the blood of her dead classmate on her body in order to survive, that has got to cause permanent mental scarring for life, get the help after the fact.

Reply to: How to survive an active shooter Posted 3 months ago

It’s a very sad website, but https://massshootingtracker.site/ tells of many mass shootings that never make the news. Did you know there was another shooting the day after the elementary school in Texas that wounded four? And there have been 253 shootings in 2022 so far?

Reply to: Demonstration: hatchet Posted 3 months ago

That “also” does make it a bit confusing doesn’t it? I didn’t see a pocket stone and knife video but the technique for a knife would be the same as it is with an axe of bringing the stone to the axe/knife and not the axe/knife to the pocket stone because of it’s size.

Reply to: Cook your food in water instead of over a fire during a survival situation for the most nutrition Posted 3 months ago

I’ve read Hatchet but not any of his other ones. Do you recommend them?

Reply to: Cook your food in water instead of over a fire during a survival situation for the most nutrition Posted 3 months ago

Sorry but those aren’t my pictures and are just stock images I pulled off a Google search. It looks to be just a 2 quart camp pot though. Maybe something like this:

Reply to: 80/20 Rule for Emergency Radios Posted 3 months ago

I’ve seen people recommend to get a satellite phone over ham radio but that is a good point that many of those can be reliant on ground based systems that may be offline during a disaster.

Reply to: Cook your food in water instead of over a fire during a survival situation for the most nutrition Posted 3 months ago

Most rocket stoves I have seen just concentrate the flame on the underside of the pan like on a stovetop. The efficient design that I liked on yours is the heat is channeled up along the sides of the pot as well.

Let’s make the ultimate emergency reference guide for a bug out bag

Let’s make the ultimate emergency reference guide for a bug out bag

Cook your food in water instead of over a fire during a survival situation for the most nutrition

How to defend against marauders after a disaster

Heard The Prepared on NPR this morning in an interview titled “Doomsday Prepping Goes Mainstream”

What to say to kids instead of “be careful!”

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