Tag: survival gadgets

Survival Prepper: Electronics

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn Preppers, Survival Prepper, SurvivalistLeave a comment

I myself am an advocate of using technology, especially for homestead defense purposes. I prefer an induction kitchen over an open fire, without any doubt. And I know that given the fantasy of the need for an endless-expanding market, things are designed, engineered, and manufactured for failure. This is because of the need of being sold at an affordable price and keep the money flowing. YOUR money, flowing from your pocket to theirs. No matter if you decided to use some “excess” money you may have, in buying a new microwave, or some other stuff. Keep reading, please.

Simplicity is reliability.


But what I do feel the need to mention, is how important is to keep our devices and appliances as simple as possible. Simplicity is reliability. Sophistication, in my opinion, has been used for decades now to absorb the excess money generated by the boost of the companies’ profits, produced by an incredible increase in the use of automation and information technology, outsourcing, and other similar phenomena that allowed to decrease the production costs.

This sophistication has brought us extremely beneficial devices at affordable prices: heat/thermal vision for our cellphones, high-powered crossbows (carbon fiber, anyone?), and tons of other gadgets. Tablets, GPS, tasers, drones, and a good variety of these survival gadgets are going to be very useful and widely used in the sustainability or defense of our homestead. Air rifles technology and some interesting toys like 3D printers and all types and flavors of machines for making other machines in the skilled hands of the mechanically savvy are all over the place.

If you don’t really need fancy electronics, then keep it simple for your basic day-to-day needs. In the present conditions, someone who needs to fix their luxury refrigerator with a Bluetooth connection and with more computing power than my laptop is going to have a heart attack. That is if they are lucky enough to find someone able to fix that kind of thing that has not left the country yet.

You need a simple repair set-up

There are plenty of tutorials about lots of maintenance so you can do without thinking it twice, always of course with the assistance of someone with the needed technical knowledge. This is important because you will be able to diagnose problems at an early stage.

You do need, as a prepper, a bio-digester that will provide the gas generated by the waste of the chicken coop, to boil the rainwater that you have filtered previously with your entirely gravity-fed, high capacity, custom homemade, filtering equipment, and prepare your coffee. Only then, you can turn on your large TV, naturally powered by your solar/wind/hydro generator/batteries setup, to admire Scarlett in all of her beauty.

Complicated electronics are great…in good times.


Electronics have come to improve lots of things, and I am pretty aware of that.

Having equipment and devices that are made to last, perhaps with analog systems, instead of lots of electronics, is something that in the long term will be rewarded.

Yes, I have some digital measurement tools, of course. A digital vernier calibrator (sort of a very precise rule used by technicians to measure dimensions of small pieces, like in machining or repairing), for example. But I do have a mechanical one J as a backup that I could buy for a few bucks (and know how to use it).

I hope you have enjoyed the reading, by Jose from Venezuela.

God bless us, fellows!

Survival Prepper: Essential Shoes

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn Preppers, Survival Prepper, Survivalist1 Comment

While it might not be as exciting or sexy as some of the survival gadgets on the market today, a good pair of boots is an essential piece of survival equipment. If you ever find yourself bugging out, forget your tennies, they won’t survive. You’ll need a good pair of hiking boots or work boots to help you on your trek through the wilderness.

Good boots are an investment. Properly cared for, they will last. But if you don’t care for them, then you can count on their life being considerably shorter. That could very well leave you in a position where you don’t have any footwear; not something you want to contemplate in a survival situation. Going without good footwear in such a situation could see your feet cut to ribbons.

Of course, a lot depends on the quality of boots you buy. Like many other things, you tend to get what you pay for with boots. Good ones are better made, with higher quality materials and greater comfort. But the quality of the boots themselves doesn’t matter as much as how well you take care of them. Proper care can add years to the life of a pair of boots.


Break Them In


Break them improper break-in may not add years to the life of your boots, but they will add years to the life of your feet. Actually, it will help your boots to last too, as painful feet cause people to walk improperly, causing unnecessary wear on soles and heels.

Breaking in should be done in small stages. Don’t try to wear your boots for a whole day, until you’ve got them well broken in. Until then, only wear them for a couple of hours at a time. That will give your feet a chance to recover so that you don’t end up limping or walking improperly.

Some boots are made with harder, stiffer leathers. If there is a part of the boot in which your foot needs to be flexible, it can help to work that area by hand, bending it over and over to remove the stiffness from the leather. Do this as you are oiling the boots, and it will do a world of good for your feet.


Waterproof Them

Waterproof boots need to be waterproofed; they don’t come that way from the factory. Even if your boots say that they are waterproofed, don’t believe it. The sprays they use at the factory aren’t very good and will wear off quickly.

Waterproofing is either done with wax or oil, depending on the way the leather was tanned. If your boots are made of oil-tanned leather, then you’ll need to use oil to waterproof them. If they are chrome-tanned, you’ll need to use silicone spray or shoe wax to waterproof them. One of the best products around for waterproofing boots is mink oil. This paste product works for both oil and chrome-tanned types of leather, as it is a combination of oils, lanolin, and silicone.