How to Survive the Apocalypse on $20
hsta.pen.io
hsta.pen.io
I don't think buying a chainsaw is practical, buy a proper carpenters saw (AKA cross-cut saw) and you'll be able to get through a 2x4 in less time than it takes to even start a chainsaw. It's easy to maintain (about once a month a spray down with WD40 will keep it from rusting, which rust will only become a pain in the ass if you've left it in direct contact with water or after about a decade hung up in your average garage). A 24" (full-draw, why full-draw? Because you'll have to work 3 times as hard with a 15" half-draw as you're spending 1/2 your cut moving slowly and keeping alignment) carpenters saw will run you around $30 for a top-notch brand.
If you're going to buy a chainsaw don't. You can get a battery operated sawzall (reciprocating saw) for a similar or lesser price. It would likely be cheaper and safer to buy a miniature generator and a sawzall. The sawzall also has the nice ability to be used for precision and with a metal-cut blade can be used for other things (IE cut open a jammed lock). You can get a hackzall (one handed reciprocating saw) for around $130 MSRP and sawzalls for around $200 MSRP both often include two batteries and a charger.
If you're going to have a generator, you can go as low as $70 for a 9A sawzall.
Chainsaws are dangerous for even trained users. Sawzalls are hardly dangerous when operated by idiots. A fullsize sawzall can be operated with one hand. A hackzall is easily operated with one hand (I'm talking an electric knife level of easy).
Carpenters saws are the safest you can get. Aren't effected by power and last a solid decade in a good location with zero maintenance. WD40 it once a month and it'll last your lifetime if you're keeping it solely for emergency use.
Plus, you could spend the difference on a battery powered nail gun, which if you tape up the guard you'd be able to use as a make-shift rifle.
That way you've got a nailgun for range and could have an easily used hackzall for melee (just make sure you use a nailed-wood blade so it'll cut flesh and bone adequately). Plus both easily store in a tote bag.
I don't think you were being serious, but just in case anybody thinks you were: that wouldn't be accurate enough to hunt small game, nor would it be powerful enough to reliably take down large animals, humans or zombies.
Plus, a nail is essentially a flachette and has virtually no stopping power. You're aiming for the head or nothing. You'd likely be better clubbing the zombies (or bunny rabbits) to death with the nail gun than actually trying to kill anything with it.
It would, however, get you into a good position when the New World Order sets in an crucifixions become all the rage again. You'd be able to crucify at a significant person-per-minute rate! Say hello to the executioners job.
If you want something with good cutting ability that is safe and self contained (i.e. no generator required) consider the several variants of saws that "cut on the pull". The advantage of a pull saw is that the blade is kept in tension during the cutting stroke, and therefor will not buckle no matter how thin its steel. Also, typically the pull stroke of your arm is stronger than your push (back and biceps vs chest and triceps).
There are aggressively toothed folding camp saws and non-folding tree trimming saws that would be great additions to a survival kit. As the parent commenter suggests, get a larger one and avoid the frustration of short strokes!
My all time favorite kind of pull saw is the Japanese style carpenter's saw. Shaped kind of like a long (unbent) spatula, it's capable of incredible speed and accuracy, well beyond that of a western hand saw in my experience. You can get a decent one at Home Depot or Sears with alternate edges for cutting wood (across the grain) or ripping it (with the grain). I'd recommend one of these for every home repair toolkit, but unless you're going to repel zombies with finely mitered woodwork, get the other kind of saw for your survival kit.
You'd be better off packing a crosscut saw and a rip saw (used for making planks) and save significant weight.
Perhaps spend that $20 to research moving to a new location that is not on a major fault line with guaranteed major earthquakes? I mean Japan only has so much room and they built for surviving all but the worst, but what is the excuse with all the land in the USA?
We have hurricanes here but no-one is going to be "surprised" by a hurricane (unless you live next to a levee I guess).
I'll happily deal with volcanoes and earthquakes to live here.
Er, yeah, no. California isn't going to sink into the ocean and unless you're in the Outer Sunset you're not getting washed out either.
So I'm scaling for the ultimate earthquake/tsunami.
So west of the fault line, you are now swimming.
Whatever you do, don't get a gun just for disaster situations. If you're not going to put in the time to get proper training and regular practice, your gun could be more of a liability than an asset.
To trim it up, check ferfal.blogspot.com for some real life experience. The bag is just step #1.
Another reason to have requirements for a longer time period: if there should ever be a fatal large scale flu epidemic (or some other pandemic), it would be really good to isolate the entire family.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Fire_Department_A...
If they were used for drinking in the case of an emergency, I think you'd have to treat it a little bit unless they flush them regularly.
Iodine tablets take a water bottle, plus water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_iodide#Thyroid_protec...
Aluminum foil - you can cook in it; you can wrap stuff in it, but you can do that with plastic; save the foil for stuff where other things won't work.
Chlorine bleach can disinfect first aid stuff that gets dirty, but more importantly it can disinfect water supplies - it isn't as good as iodine, but it is good enough, cheaper, and if you buy much iodine suitable for disinfecting water, nowadays you are liable to have a midnight interview with some vicious twits looking for your meth lab.
Obviously in most of these cases there are still particles too small to be stopped by a dust mask (or, especially, a bandanna), and of course many fires produce gaseous poisons much worse than mere particulates, but it still makes a real difference.
Btw, you can also sterilize a needle using a lighter.
bandana: if it's large enough, it can be a sling for an injured arm
aluminium foil: it's reflective, it's a heat isolator, you can wrap stuff in it
bleach: to disinfect utensils
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/03/04/engineering-...
15 years ago, at practice lesson about radiation protection in University, I found that the most radioactive item in the class room is me. How to deal with that fact, when you have no money even to buy enough food to live? I had only one choice - buy ticket back to my radioactive home, grab our self-grown radioactive food and return back to University. Half of people in the country were is similar situation.
If we are talking about Apocalypse, and not about camping in the woods, then you must consider that you will need to live in contaminated environment and there will be no room in clean environment for you. You will stay for decades in areas with moderate chemical or radioactive contamination, like Japan today (if nuclear reactor will blow up).
Surviving in woods is much harder and expensive task than surviving in home. I mean, than you will need much more time and energy to solve your basic problems, like food, water, fuel, hygiene, etc., so you will have no enough time to play with camping, even when you are alone, without wife and children. Try that with pregnant woman, or injured man, or 1 year old child, etc.
For me, idea, that I should walk to radioactive woods to survive economic crisis, sounds crazy. I can die in about 15 minutes if I will go into woods unprepared with temperature of -30°C (-22°F) outdoor. Even when I will be equipped with saw.
My recommendations:
Always keep full cigarette lighter with LED, multi-tool pocket knife, and small candle (anti-mosquito, preferably: slice large candle into smaller slices) in your pocket AND in your outdoor clothing - you will use them much more often than any other survival tool. I use them few times every month.
Keep needle, thread, plaster, healthing balm and another multi-tool in your backpack. I use one of them 5-6 times every year.
TRAIN yourself - if you are injured, you can prepare wound with healthing balm, then boil water in paper bag or plastic bottle, disinfect thread in water and needle in flame, blend needle, and then sew up yourself. But will you do that properly and fast enough when you will do that for first time?
What you will do when you are wet and you will have only 15 minutes to build hut and make fire before you will die? Will be you are smart enough to use your wet clothing as material for hut and put candle inside your clothing? Can you make wood candle or torch using your multitool when your candle will be near to expire?
For long-time survival, good tools and instruments are very helpful. My parent has garage full of instruments - it helps a lot. But lack of some instruments and replacement parts made us mad some years ago - we just had no money to buy them (low market - high prices, we had 3-5 times less money, and they were about 5 times more expensive than today). Lack of replacement parts or tools to repair equipment forces you to drop your most used equipment. You use it often -> it wears out fast -> you cannot repair or replace it -> you lose it.