What did you do to prepare today?

aaakev

Topped up the wood pile with about 15 pallets i got recently, had been using the handsaw the handsaw the last while but fixed the chainsaw this morning and thank **** i did because it still took about 2 hours to cut, chop and stack it. Productive morning considering im hung over. ..

my3cents

aaakev wrote: »

Topped up the wood pile with about 15 pallets i got recently, had been using the handsaw the handsaw the last while but fixed the chainsaw this morning and thank **** i did because it still took about 2 hours to cut, chop and stack it. Productive morning considering im hung over. ..

Have you ever tried a jigsaw on pallets. When I burnt a lot of pallets I found it ideal. The main advantage being you had one hand free to hold the wood and could also cut from the inside out so leaving the pallet in one piece for as long as possible which again made holding it easier.

I guess your problem might be not having any power where you do the work?

aaakev

my3cents wrote: »

Have you ever tried a jigsaw on pallets. When I burnt a lot of pallets I found it ideal. The main advantage being you had one hand free to hold the wood and could also cut from the inside out so leaving the pallet in one piece for as long as possible which again made holding it easier.

I guess your problem might be not having any power where you do the work?

I used to use the jigsaw alright but i broke my last blade before the summer and never got more! I prefer using the chainsaw, i find it faster. Just stack them all up and fly through them and end up with a big pile

mawk

Today I stocked up on internal resources and right now I am drought and famine resistant.

Mostly spiced beef and selection boxes

anvilfour

Picked up a few bargains yesterday evening in post Xmas Sales:

- Got a box with 20 tubs of Vaseline.. (No this isn't for my chapped, winter lips.. Petroleum jelly can help you shave without water, is useful for starting fires, prevents rust on machinery and is useful for first aid - read more here).

- Found a late night hardware store offering a dozen box of nails for the price of ten, snatched them up. I am terrible at woodwork but may be able to trade them come the Apocalypse.

We also cooked a goose over the Xmas period and I made sure to drain all the fat into a handy jar. Aside from its uses for cooking, I want to make some shaving soap in the new year and I think that it'll have the right consistency without being too hard on my delicate little skin!

By the way soap making is one of the easiest survivalist skills out there and one of the most useful IMHO - if it were at all difficult a blunderer like me couldn't do it, will post in here if it goes at all well!

my3cents

I hadn't thought of this as a prep but when I sat down and looked out the window at all the water and rain then started to open my new toy I realised it was.

Bought a waterproof camera. FujiFilm XP80 if anyone is interested.

Amalgam

IKEA: SKALAD - Paring knife



Don't overlook.. Budget Ikea paring knives.

Painfully sharp, like a razor blade with a handle.

Comes with a sturdy sheath and costs less than a euro. I think they're priced at 85 cent.

Handy to carry in a backpack, with little risk. Maybe could be used for wittling/cutting/food preparation etc..

---

Red: http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/cookware/knives-chopping-boards/skalad-paring-knife-red-art-00287667/

Grey: http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/cookware/knives-chopping-boards/skalad-paring-knife-grey-art-80256704/

Blue: http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/cookware/knives-chopping-boards/skalad-paring-knife-blue-art-20287666/

my3cents

RE: Paring knives, I keep a couple of the Lidl ones handy. Offer has just finished on them iirc €2.49 for two, but I only have them for food preparation. I don't expect to leaver a car door open or split logs with them

Edit> Also have that little sheath to make them safer.

Amalgam

The plastic sheath makes all the difference. Seriously, you get the willies just looking at the blade. Very thin blade, unsettling.

anvilfour

Amalgam wrote: »

The plastic sheath makes all the difference. Seriously, you get the willies just looking at the blade. Very thin blade, unsettling.

my3cents

But what did she say about all that Vaseline you bought recently?

aaakev

Amalgam wrote: »

IKEA: SKALAD - Paring knife



Don't overlook.. Budget Ikea paring knives.

Painfully sharp, like a razor blade with a handle.

Comes with a sturdy sheath and costs less than a euro. I think they're priced at 85 cent.

Handy to carry in a backpack, with little risk. Maybe could be used for wittling/cutting/food preparation etc..

---

Red: http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/cookware/knives-chopping-boards/skalad-paring-knife-red-art-00287667/

Grey: http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/cookware/knives-chopping-boards/skalad-paring-knife-grey-art-80256704/

Blue: http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/cookware/knives-chopping-boards/skalad-paring-knife-blue-art-20287666/

At that price i reckon you should cut the handle off ine and see how deep the tang goes into the handle, be good to know before ya loose a finger putting ot to a piece of wood! Very curious to know....

my3cents

aaakev wrote: »

At that price i reckon you should cut the handle off ine and see how deep the tang goes into the handle, be good to know before ya loose a finger putting ot to a piece of wood! Very curious to know....

At 85 cents its well worth sacrificing one to see how long the tang is but you could also see how far down the handle a good strong magnet will stick to the same effect.

Amalgam

4cm and 8 mm.

I reckon you'd be safe wittling and similar.

Impervious to a hob ring (heat). I had to hammer away at the handle with a lump hammer for a good bit.

aaakev

Good man! Well built knife so!

my3cents

Amalgam wrote: »

4cm and 8 mm.
...

One more question how thick is the blade?

Amalgam

my3cents wrote: »

One more question how thick is the blade?

You jest, but, to be honest, if I had a digital caliper, I'd be in heaven. The thickness of the blade at the cutting edge, as well as the 'back' of the blade, would be listed for every 100mm lenght of the blade, with a painfully autistic chart.. and an Excel sheet attached to the post.

my3cents

Amalgam wrote: »

You jest, but, to be honest, if I had a digital caliper, I'd be in heaven. The thickness of the blade at the cutting edge, as well as the 'back' of the blade, would be listed for every 100mm lenght of the blade, with a painfully autistic chart.. and an Excel sheet attached to the post.

The thickness of the thickest part of the blade probably around a mm. The dimension we cannot see from your picture.

btw the electronic digital calipers they sell in Maplins Lidl etc for around €15 (don't pay more wait for them to be on offer) are really good, very easy to use and surprisingly accurate.

Amalgam

A digital caliper is on my list of impulse buys.

my3cents

Amalgam wrote: »

A digital caliper is on my list of impulse buys.

Money well spent imo, I often use mine to check a dimension of something before going shopping. Particularly good on round objects for inside and outside diameters.

These are the ones I have http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/electronic-digital-calliper-n48aa but Maplin have had them over here for €15 as have Lidl.

Amalgam

I had my eye on that very model, is it a 'Neiko' by any chance?

I watched this review a good while back. The colour scheme seems to 'mimic' the Mitutoyo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Etrm33ppxs

There's also a good round up below, the Mitutoyo looks lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqZx_FNbSs

my3cents

I don't think there is any point in paying a lot of money for digital calipers because even the cheap ones are more accurate than the most users can use them to measure. What I mean is unless you can measure exactly the same spot, hold the calipers at exactly the right angle with no wobble and apply exactly the same pressure on the jaws each time then you are going to get inaccuracies greater than the accuracy of the calipers. afaik the more expensive ones have a better control over the thumb wheel pressure.

Mine were from Maplin years back in one of their many "sales" and are identical to the Neiko one but are totally unbranded. Not even a brand name on the instruction leaflet.

anvilfour

Tried to light a fire at the missus' place over Xmas... very embarrassing experience!

I had firelighters, twigs, logs and coal!

The firelighters flared up magnificently, then died out leaving the wood largely unburned... I tried using cardboard, a little vaseline but no joy...

My old man used to have a gas poker to get the fire going... so much easier.. Some Survivalist I turned out to be! Any useful firelighting items you can recommend would be much appreciated guys.

hexosan

anvilfour wrote: »

Tried to light a fire at the missus' place over Xmas... very embarrassing experience!

I had firelighters, twigs, logs and coal!

The firelighters flared up magnificently, then died out leaving the wood largely unburned... I tried using cardboard, a little vaseline but no joy...

My old man used to have a gas poker to get the fire going... so much easier.. Some Survivalist I turned out to be! Any useful firelighting items you can recommend would be much appreciated guys.

Well you tried everything else so petrol

GY A1

hexosan wrote: »

Well you tried everything else so petrol

dont do that in a house what ever u do , eek
sure way to set the house or urself on fire

hexosan

GY A1 wrote: »

dont do that in a house what ever u do , eek
sure way to set the house or urself on fire

The humour must of gotten lost in that one.

GY A1

hexosan wrote: »

The humour must of gotten lost in that one.

have seen a couple fella's who tried light the fire with it tho, LOL,
1 fella the petrol can exploded and went on fire in the kitchen
(smiley faces not workin in this post)

my3cents

Any fire, you have to start off small. The poorer your starting materials the smaller you start and slower you build up.

I'm guessing there wasn't enough small dry material to get started and light the bigger stuff. A firelighter will not for example light a log on its own, it will have trouble lighting a 1inch diam stick if the stick is not perfectly dry.

Petrol and other fire accelerators often put the fire out - outdoor wood fires. You get a great big rush of flame all the dry stuff burns then you are left with all the green wood sitting there with scorch marks on it.

Then if this was an open fire there may not have been enough draw up the chimney until the fire got going which as it didn't might have been part of the problem. It can have hilarious/dangerous results but holding an open newspaper across the top half of the fire to draw air in at the bottom can help get the fire going - if you need an explanation why that could be dangerous you need to put the matches down right now.

my3cents

GY A1 wrote: »

have seen a couple fella's who tried light the fire with it tho, LOL,
1 fella the petrol can exploded and went on fire in the kitchen
(smiley faces not workin in this post)

My father tried to poor petrol from a gallon can on to a bonfire he thought had gone out. It suddenly caught up and as he jerked his arm back he splashed the petrol all up his arm and it caught light. If you knew my father then you'd know a is in order A definite case of "Do as I say not as I do". No serious burns though - but pride seriously damaged.

hexosan

GY A1 wrote: »

have seen a couple fella's who tried light the fire with it tho, LOL,
1 fella the petrol can exploded and went on fire in the kitchen
(smiley faces not workin in this post)

That's what the Darwin awards are for.

anvilfour

hexosan wrote: »

That's what the Darwin awards are for.

http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2003-03.html

Amalgam

If you have access to a mature Cordyline Australis (Cabbage Palm), the shedding fronds/foliage, make great 'firelighters'. They will light turf with little effort, just half a dozen will get things going.

Photo borrowed from Flickr user, Cairlinn (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kilwirraarchitects/). Cordyline Australis at Carlingford, Templetown Beach, car park. Very typical of examples you see growing here in Ireland.



The plant was/is very common in hotel grounds, very popular in the 70s. Seems to have come back in fashion.

Gather up the shedding/brown foliage, store them somewhere dry, all lined up. Forget about them for a while.

You'll end up with something like our trove. stored in a large blue Ikea shopping bag.



Pull out a single frond or two or three, bind them up around your hand once or twice, nice and tight, then twist as much as you want around the middle, tucking in the strands to keep everything together.



Works well. Devious fuel, you think nothing is happening, then come back to a healthy fire.

my3cents

At last a good use for those accursed cordyline fronds. They don't rot down and if you catch one with a mower blade they its a real pain to get them untangled as they refuse to break.

GY A1

also
saw ray mears using a piece of tyre tube to light a fire,
would'nt use it indoors but looked good for outside
burned pretty good

_Tombstone_

Thats not a knife............thats a knife <lovely looking blades>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01NHcTM5IA4

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Not so much about what I have done, but the father in law cut down a cherry Tree a couple weeks ago so I hope I can carve up a few pieces. Cherry wood is about the worst wood I can start out with in carving, but it's free I was hoping to start out with some soft wood but it hard to source where I am.

my3cents

Nothing really exciting, was in town today and did my usual round of checking all the charity shops for stuff. I'm getting much fussier now as I have more stuff than I really need but that didn't stop me seeing a few nice outdoor jackets but nothing my size. I'm still after a decent fleece jacket and a waterproof jacket just to finish off one bug out bag.

I did however pick up a strange little zip up holdall type bag for a euro. Seems I like shiny things as this bag is a bright yellow fluorescent waterproof nylon. Put into use as soon as I got back to the car it now holds most of the bulky car winter emergency stuff, sleeping bag, fleecy blanket, foil blankets and small tarpaulin.

my3cents

Kimberly Red Motorbike wrote: »

Not so much about what I have done, but the father in law cut down a cherry Tree a couple weeks ago so I hope I can carve up a few pieces. Cherry wood is about the worst wood I can start out with in carving, but it's free I was hoping to start out with some soft wood but it hard to source where I am.

Maybe split the logs down to sizes you need with an axe while its still green then paint the end grain with any old gloss type paint (hot wax is another method). Smaller pieces will dry out quicker (an inch a year is the old adage) and if you can prevent the wood drying out through the end grain it will split much less.

Soft wood isn't the best for carving as the grain often crushes before it cuts unless you can keep your tools at peak sharpness.

_Tombstone_

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

Thats not a knife............thats a knife

Some beauts posted up there lately^^^

American Bladesmith Society's 'Knife Of The Year'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-TbSUlJlyg

my3cents

Was going to buy the Lidl walkie talkies but couldn't really think of a use for them so after stocking up on cheap boxes of screws in Aldi bought a load of food for the store instead.

Must have been an offer from a few weeks back some Indian promotion. Anyway 12 tins of curry, 6 veg and 6 chicken, all Jan 2019 best before dates. Which reminds me I must take a root through the supplies store to see what needs bringing into the house because I never finished the one I started at Christmas.

They aren't items we'd normally buy as my wife cooks everything from fresh but I use up store stuff thats going over the bbd for my lunches which I cook/heat up myself.

ShadowFox

my3cents wrote: »

Was going to buy the Lidl walkie talkies but couldn't really think of a use for them so after stocking up on cheap boxes of screws in Aldi bought a load of food for the store instead.

Must have been an offer from a few weeks back some Indian promotion. Anyway 12 tins of curry, 6 veg and 6 chicken, all Jan 2019 best before dates. Which reminds me I must take a root through the supplies store to see what needs bringing into the house because I never finished the one I started at Christmas.

They aren't items we'd normally buy as my wife cooks everything from fresh but I use up store stuff thats going over the bbd for my lunches which I cook/heat up myself.

Pick up the baofeng radios on aliexpress or eBay for €35 each if your looking for some they are fantastic radios here are the frequency codes for them and the sub channels for pmr446

Tactical

ShadowFox wrote: »

Pick up the baofeng radios on aliexpress or eBay for €35 each if your looking for some they are fantastic radios here are the frequency codes for them and the sub channels for pmr446

Remember that these are not license exempt like the Lidl ones are. Even when programmed with the correct frequencies.

Deise Musashi

My Father in Law is a HAM, the Baofeng need a licence if you were to operate them in Ireland, other countries have allowed certain frequencies for public use.

The Baofeng is such a good little radio it's worth doing the exam to be able to use them, great power to size ratio!

aaakev

Whats the range on them boafang radios? And how would one go about getting licenced?

Welcome back Deise, haven't seen you round these parts in a while!

Tactical

Deise Musashi wrote: »

My Father in Law is a HAM, the Baofeng need a licence if you were to operate them in Ireland, other countries have allowed certain frequencies for public use.

The Baofeng is such a good little radio it's worth doing the exam to be able to use them, great power to size ratio!

Yes, and with the Ham Radio Licence you are legally allowed to operate them on the appropriate Ham band. A Ham licence does still not make them legal for use on the 446MHz licence exempt frequencies as they don't meet the necessary technical conditions.

Alternatively a person can apply to Comreg for a single or multiple frequncies. You pay an annual fee for the licence.

Tactical

aaakev wrote: »

Whats the range on them boafang radios? And how would one go about getting licenced?

!

Range is dependent on terrain e.g. urban or rural and output power.

On full power direct line if sight maybe 8 - 10kms.

Comreg are the licencing authority. Check out their website for licence information.

Urban depending on type of buildings in an area, 500mtrs maybe. Less if indoors.

Tactical

In keeping with the thread topic...

I started my small 2kW 4 stroke petrol generator and load tested it today.

I had to replace the spark plug last year and adjust the valve clearances.

thehippychippy

Had to do a job on the jeep the weekend. Some d**khead cut the wires running from the body to the back door. All the locks open when they do this. Nothing robbed, just annoying. Reported it to the guards, they were sound, phoned my insurance, they said they'd cover it if I got a new loom (€700 +labour) paid my excess of €275 and didn't mind my premium going up and losing my no claims bonus!! Called my mechanic and he said its a common thing at the mo, his sparks can fix it, €350-€450. So I got some solder and some heat shrink and did it myself. Also taped 6, 8" pieces of 1/8" wire rope round it when I was done with the wires. Bit bulky but it'll mess up their blade the next time they try it.
Been collecting a lot of timber, both usable and for the fire lately. Cut up a lot of the fire wood and built a wood box on the deck which is getting stocked up quickly. Nearly have enough good 2nd hand timber to build my shed (would have enough if I didn't want to make it a bomb proof man cave!) Also collected a lot of scrap steel for the forge, which I'm hoping to get back to once work calms down a bit.

thehippychippy

Pics aren't great as it was late when I finished and I was frozen

thehippychippy

I