Saw camping equipment at Target, which reminded me that I need to get an emergency kit together. Two kits, really; one that doesn’t take up much space (to be kept in the car), and a more extensive kit for the house.
Various websites recommend the obvious: Water, first-aid supplies, battery-op radio, etc. Some of the stuff I don’t agree with; for example, toothbrushes and toothpaste. During an evacuation, I’ll have bigger things to worry about than morning breath. Or scissors–a utility knife makes more sense to me.
It occurs to me that woodworkers might have a different list of essentials. What would you include in an evac kit, knowing that you might need to carry everything on your back?
Janet
Replies
If I need to bug out woodworking is the very least of my concerns. Check out “The Backwoodsman” magazine great little rag that is reader written, they have printed many, many articles on the fine art of bugging, sheltering in place, survival kits, emergency preparedness etc, etc.
I didn't mean tools for woodworking. More like tools to cut firewood, or start a fire, or to break something.J.
Janet,
I'm going with a handsaw, maybe a bow-saw type, for firewood, shelter, clubs for hittin' people, er, I mean, self-defense, self-defense...
Cavemen hunted with clubs, but I'd probably starve before I got lucky enough to bring down anything.
Maybe that's why I'm single, people sense on some instinctive, hard-wired level that this guy they're looking at ain't no hunter-gatherer. More like napper-dreamer.
--jonnieboy
“It occurs to me that woodworkers might have a different list of essentials”<!----><!----><!---->
OK, so how is a woodworker’s survival any different from a mechanic, lawyer, engineer, teacher…. It seems to me that one’s occupation or hobby is of little consequence in one of these situations other than maybe a medical professional might have a more complex list for a first aid kit.<!----><!---->
I include a 12 gage Mossberg model 500 shotgun near the top of the list, if you got to bug out then a lot of things have already went very bad (I can’t defend myself with a #7 jointer plane!). However in almost every case sheltering in place is a far more prudent action, so packing your basement with water, food and ammo makes the most sense. <!----><!---->
Napie,
If you got to bug out, a Ruger Mark II and 500 rds of .22 weighs a lot less than a 12 ga, and 25rds of 00buck. Just sayin'...
Staying at home, whole nother kettle of fish, no?
Ray
Good point, I have a few Mark I’s myself, (two even have red eagles) I still think the Mossberg and Glock 17 or two make the most sense since some of the things I may have to shoot can think just like me.
<!----><!----> <!---->
In most situations staying at home as long as you are prepared is the better choice. Why go someplace you don’t know as well in an already stressful situation.
how is a woodworker’s survival any different from a mechanic, lawyer, engineer, teacher….
It's really about the problem-solving traits that woodworkers demonstrate. Like in the Tips section of FWW--sometimes I marvel at the ingenuity of the solutions. I figure that woodworkers have more of a MacGyver-type mind set than most.
Janet
It might be better if lawyers and politicians were not allowed to have survival kits. ;-)
I'm right there with you on that one!
Its been dozens of years since I was a member, and almost a dozen since my boy was; but the Boy Scout handbook used to have a great list of items to have in a first aid kit.
Things that most of us would not think of, like some matches, some big triangles of cloth, a candle..........
I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone,
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone;
I can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone,
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. (Phil Ochs)
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/
The relatively new mini fluorescent and LED lanterns that run off of common batteries are great - you can light up a room and actually read with them. The small Honda generators that run very quiet are great.
One thing I wanted after Hurricane Katrina was more food like dehydrated beans and rice, tea and honey, hot sauce and pre-mixed bread and brownies type stuff that could be cooked in a Dutch Oven on a camp stove. Stuff that could be put up in non-hydrated form and last a long time. Red beans and rice, cornbread, pickles and jalapenos, etc., go a long way toward improving morale.
I cover security with a .44 magnum and a scary sharp machete.
Backpacker's water purification kit. I also like a camp stove with fuel, a backup camp stove with a different type of fuel, and a backpacker's camp stove for the car - I always want to be able to cook. Improves morale.
A chainsaw - well-maintained, with supplies, and with the ability to sharpen the chain - solves a multitude of shelter and access problems after a hurricane.
Though I hadn't smoked for years and years and years, I felt like I wanted a cigarette and a shot of Jack Daniels after Katrina crashed all the trees around me and smashed my deck and part of the house. Took me three-quarters of a day, and some hiking to find a place to buy a pack of cigarettes, and I was lucky to find it. Not recommending this - just saying...
Ten, or even five, extra gallons of gasoline, would have gone a long way in the weeks after Katrina. Lines at the gas pumps were really long.
The ability to recharge cell phones is crucial. Cell phone towers will come back to life faster than landlines.
Tent, air mattress and clean sleeping gear in case you can't be in your house. Have your car and house insurance papers ready and the numbers to call ready. Have cash available and be able to mail a check to deposit at your bank when mail service starts back up.
Plenty of food and medicine for pets.
Something to improve morale in the days without power - whatever your hobbies are - e.g. listening to music, reading, playing guitar, woodcarving, etc. An iPod and the ability to recharge it can go a long way.
Whether it's your portable kit or house kit - extra toilet paper! In Montana, where I spend about half the year, we consider the essential stuff for a possible snow-in situation to be: Peppermint schnapps, adequate firewood supply, chocolate chip cookie dough, and toilet paper.
Good luck. Think in terms of food, shelter, clothing, security, morale. IMO the best book ever written about survival situations is Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe." It is a fantasy, for sure, but what it says about attitude, morale and never giving up, is most important.
for example, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
I saw this and althought my teeth are not perfect. Just some oldtimer that problably never saw a dentist untill I enlisted into the army when I was 17 years old. Yes I was younger than 18 but not exactally sure how much younger. Mom had to put her signature on some paper. I bet she was glad to get rid of me....
I seem to recall that on many old human and animal fossels that died because of tooth decay and rotted out jaw bones!
Just my thoughts....
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