Man, The Tool-Maker

h/t WRSA

I am no slouch at tool-using, but it's an acquired habit. (And not my profession, strictly speaking.) Nonetheless, I have built beds, tables, furniture, cabinets, shelves, boxes, and two small cabins in my day, demolished houses and built rooves (roofs for English grammar-averse troglodytes), and any number of other things, including helping to erect and tear down goodly chunks of the village that is the original RennFaire for an embarrassing number of years. I've done 3 1/2 room additions here at Castle Anthrax solo, and before I'm too decrepit, I expect to erect the entire SHTF lair at Camp Snoopy that will put Bond Villain Lairs to shame. Including the pond, greenhouses, bunkers, trenches, concertina wire, and heavy weapons pits. (Yes, I'm serious.)

And, on my best day, I'm but a journeyman.

Point being, now or WTSHTF, there will be tool-users, and casualties. There will be no third option. In seriously distressing times, anybody healthy enough to eat but not bright enough to swing a hammer will find out what contractors mean by "construction laborer" in short order, or they will learn the meaning of John Smith's dictum that "He who does not work, neither shall he eat." (Liberal Idiots - but I repeat myself - that is what Reagan meant when he told you in the 1980s that "The best welfare program is a JOB.")

Pioneer is a verb.

Tools are why pioneer wagons were so heavy and moved so slowly from 1800-1900.

A man with the right tools can do anything.
A man who can make the right tools will have the money of the man who can do anything.
This is why most of the gold discovered out west started in the pockets of the miners, and ended up in the pockets of the smiths and shopkeepers who sold them those tools.

Working on TV and movie locations, it saddens me to have to explain to twenty-somethings that the 100+ year-old house they’re shooting in was built entirely with hand tools (No, really! Before electricity and indoor plumbing!), from materials hauled in by horse-drawn freight wagons from the nearest train depot, which is why the driveways are so big and curving; and that the reason the garage out back is so short, and has two small stalls not big enough for a SmartCar is because back in the day, that was the barn for the family horse(s). And that those sticks on the back side of an exposed wall are simply the 1900-era version of sheetrock, back when it was called plaster-and-lathe.

You can literally see their heads pop from the swelling at that point, like you just landed from a spaceship and asked to be taken to their leader.

Then they go back to texting and playing videogames on their surveillance phones.
Meanwhile, over at Zero-Gov's website, is a very cursory primer on the subject of tool assemblage. If this is news to you, go and learn.

You can also note that some of the worthiest sections of ,Rawles' three worthwhile written offerings*, and no small amount of his SurvivalBlog deal with tools, tool acquiring, and specifically what and which to get your hands on.

Most of us already know all this, and have made decent headway at becoming the jacks-of-all-trades we ought to be, both for self-satisfaction and the pride of creation, and for the collection of life-saving skills if/when Ugly Times come upon us again.

But for those who've concentrated on more immediate things, and those too new to have heard or apprehended that a sexy rifle and case of MREs aren't going to git 'r done in challenging circumstances, go read up on those resources.

Then, as now, skills at carpentry and woodworking, metalsmithing and metal fabrication, civil engineering/construction, plumbing, electrical work, welding, gunsmithing, automotive and engine-using skills, and the like, will be the entry ante to survive and thrive, not to mention among the millions of good-paying, good-benefits trades and job openings Mike Rowe is always on about right this minute, which can't be outsourced to China or India ever, and require no college, minimal training, and mainly just basic math and eye-hand co-ordination, with a modicum of attention to detail. Got a GED, not afraid to get your hands dirty, and don't want to squander $100K and up for a communist-indoctrination fap-fest at the local Uselessversity Re-Education Center, but still want to make upwards of $100K in a couple of years (while your liberal arts peers are still only juniors at State U. trying to master beer pong)? Caterpillar (little company in Peoria IL, maybe you've heard of them?) is always crying for guys - or hell, girls too - to learn things like heavy equipment maintenance , for going on 40 years. Three years out, and you're pulling $100K /yr or so. But no, stay in that clean-hands barrista gig, Snowflake. Coffee-slinging Latte Monkey will be a yuuuuuge gig during the Zompocalypse, right?

They're also fun, and if you're so inclined, can keep food on your table, a roof over your head (possibly even one you built your ownself), and money in your pocket.

So if necessary, go read Buppert's piece, and get busy getting what you'll need and learning to use what you've got if we ever become Venezuela - or the Eloi.

Survival is graded pass fail, not on the curve. And it's pretty much set at the 90/10 percentile, if not right at 100/0.



*(this one, this one, and this one, and in that order, if you were wondering; the rest are mostly a waste of time or money for the most part, IMHO)