So What If Things Do Not Go Back To As Before?

Been a long time it seems since I wrote up anything in the old Survival forum and this post on how to make ink kinda put a little inspiration to me.

For those that recall the old Survival Radio shows I would ask the silly questions like I really didn’t know a whole lot. It was a role I took upon myself to ask for those that could not simply would not. I also would do a little tool/gear review that originally I wanted to laugh at like how Jack had found an electric powered rice cooker at a “must have” item for a BOB. And trust me, that was an inside joke with the studio for a long time. You may still hear (or see) rice cooker included here and there on a list to see if people are reading.

I guess the best way is to throw out a few things and then open it up to people to ask for how to do something. And since the above link explains how to do ink, in a general way let’s look around that a little bit more. Liquid gum arabic can be bought for around $30/gal if you look online. This can be mixed with various powdered pigments to form paint. Or use glair as a substitute. The point is a liquid binding agent.

So how about a pencil? Since actual graphic is not as commonly found in the US as in the UK. Charcoal is always an optional substitute. You can go as simple as a sharpened stick that has been burnt in a fire or make your own charcoal lead which is very involved and explains why inkwells were very common in schools for years to come versus pencils. Grinding charcoal rescued from campfires to an abundant pile of powder with a mortar and pestle is only part. You will also need to locate clay, reduce that to slip or further to strain tiny pebbles and fossils. Dry that back out by evaporation to usable clay, which will take several days. Now for your purposes you will only need a small ball or two about the size of a walnut. But since you have come this far straining clean clay make yourself a whole batch for other tasks of ceramics you may want to do with a homemade kiln. Plates, bowls and cups are typical favorites. So are ceramic sharpening stones for your knives.

Grind your ball of very hard sun dried clay into a fine powder with the mortar and pestle (another fine ceramic project—just not for this save it for flour). The amount of charcoal to clay powder is 4 parts to 1, mixing well, then add just enough water to be easily manipulated. Pack well into a hollow stick, I have used thin Japanese Honeysuckle also called Asian Honeysuckle. White and yellow flowers, red berries in the fall that you cannot eat and a rather invasive species. Set next to a fire as it requires about 2000 F to cook them. Now you can sandwich the lead into a wooden traditional pencil or roll into paper coated in a glue.

Glue: pine resin is my favorite so let’s start there. Gather from the trunks of pine trees into a metal can. If you have to, cut the bark and come back later. Pro tip: do not use you favorite nor most expensive knife here. Still have plenty of charcoal powder? You need a fire to melt the resin so you can make more if you need. Field expedient mortar and pestle is called a couple rocks that will get the job done. 1 to 1 ratio on the charcoal and melted resin and some well ground fiber such as grass leaves and stems or pine needles. Word of caution, just melt the resin no need to over do it as it just weakens the enzymes that make the tackiness of the pine pitch. Mix all ingredients well to make a shiny black lollipop on a stick when it cools. Just melt a bit to have a sticky drop or two when needed. Want it to be pliable when cool? Mix beeswax or tallow when you make it. Flour and water still make paste. And while I can give you alternatives to wheat to be ground into a serviceable flour for cooking breads...I don’t actually know if acorns, grass seeds or cattail pollen has enough gluten to be used as a paste. But remember that gum arabic? Buy some powdered gum arabic because that and some glycerin and a little water makes some magic. 3 tbsp gum arabic, 1 tbsp glycerine, and 1/2 teaspoon water in a bowl, mix well and you have a homemade super glue that takes and hour to cure. Or use some baking soda and actual commercial super glue to make an almost home epoxy. But best used filling in a gouge of sorts and sanding down.

Paper: I glossed over paper making (pun unintended) so let’s cover that. I am a big fan of cattails so let’s use that for our cellulose. Gather the leaves however works best for you. Some like to cut them down to pack easy in a bag. Others might be gathering for other uses at the same time like cordage making, weaving, etc. and want to keep them long. You will need a solid outdoor beating surface for pulping. But you will also need your box which is a removable screen in a frame to hold the pulp that becomes the paper. Some good heavy canvas a bit larger than your sheet of soon to be paper. To properly break it down cut your leaves into one to one and half inch lengths. And add to pot of alkali water to be boiled for two hours or so. Alkali water and be made by adding well sifted white ash to you water. The smell with let you know, but don’t go crazy a cup or two will do. The boiled fibers will feel as slimy as seaweed or moss from a lake and break down in your hands. Pile up on your table and do some beat downs with a good stick. You will be on this part for a while.

In a tub of plain clean water load your pulp to the screen box and spread thin, but completely. This is your paper, almost. Remove from tub and place upside down on canvas, cover and use a roller to carefully squeeze out the excess water. Sit off to dry while making more. Sure it is a bit textured but if you have the means to make a roller system to be a press to proper thickness (even better if you can cold roll metal sheet with it as well) it will give a uniform thickness and smoothness.

Any requests on other items to make off grid? I probably either know it, have a good idea or can look up how it is made and convert it to primitive means.

An excellent threat!

If you had a farm with livestock you could make Vellum or Parchment

a reply to: Ahabstar

a reply to: FredT

Parchment is calf, goat or sheep. Vellum is specifically calf skin and only high quality.

a reply to: Ahabstar

I can make red paint from squashed Cochinial bugs. Any use?

a reply to: nerbot

Sure. Red paint can be to post warnings.

Notice: The Covid might not hit you from there but I can.

a reply to: Ahabstar

Bought some fishing nets just in case everything goes from bad to worse...

I bet they could be fixed in the woods to catch smallish mammals..
Set em up in a long line to catch small deer, rabbits.

Could work..

Oh, and here is a good tutorial on how to cut a deer up.

a reply to: Ahabstar

Relax this is just a minor drill, much will change.. So bye buy to physical cash, robots are on the way to replace humans for jobs that involve contact. Supermarkets ran by machines.... With only those with the chip in the right hand able to buy.

And this is just the beginning

I'm adding a new mask to my collection

BushcraftDave

Off subject..
Removed by Bigburgh

a reply to: Ahabstar

You know what I'm reminded of?

Post-war France.

I remember a documentary I saw about it. The retaliation with consorting with the Germans, the recriminations, the regrets, the rebuilding.

Things will change.

But this is an opportunity to push for better change.

a reply to: Ahabstar

One more, here are instructions that some might find handy.

Step one.
Imitate seal.

Step two.
spear it with a harpoon and kill it with your fists.

Step three.
This is how you cut the skin to make long leather straps, for clothing and so on.

a reply to: solve

It's the same process for all animals just about, I've worked in abbatoirs and boning halls.
Hang the animal up by the hind legs of it's male cut its testicles off, from the top slice to around the middle of the chest, careful not cut through into the intestines, now go back to the top nick out the back of the intestine and stomach while pulling down and cutting away from the liver, put to the side. Cut or pull the liver, heart tongue out as one piece, pop kidneys out gently slicing its incasing skin.
Skin the animal whilst hung. Deboning is easy if you know where the joints and shoulder blades etc.




Edit* grip the pipe at the top shut before pulling stomach etc out or yuck.

a reply to: Bigburgh

Without going into what is EASILY available on other websites well dedicated by finer teachers than I will tell you is that any particular “juice” with a sugar content above 20% (even a bag of pure white sugar dissolved into water) can become fermented with the introduction of yeast in about two weeks. Anything beyond that plain sugar and water is a flavoring agent like malt, hops, raspberries, maple syrup and better selected strains of yeast of course.

A jug Or bucket really and an odd cork with a tube and some water in it is the basic equipment although you can certainly make life easier upgrading the tool kit. These things do take time and planing of course. I can tell you of some black raspberry wine that had the octane enough to run a weed eater as still tasted quite sweet. Then I learned something new a few years after it was gone that probably would had killed us by instantaneous alcohol poisoning on how to distill without a still...

Nature is better off with humans according to this thread.

originally posted by: Ahabstar
a reply to: FredT

Parchment is calf, goat or sheep. Vellum is specifically calf skin and only high quality.

Speaking of livestock, there's always glue to be made with the hooves, although I have never attempted it.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Ahabstar

You know what I'm reminded of?

Post-war France.

I stopped drinking and supporting Cognac from places like Hennesy after I found out they were allowed by the Nazis to continue trading with the rest of the world and profiteering in wartime as long as they kept those bstrds happy.

Sure, Mr Hennesy was afraid, but a few drops of arsenic would have made a great blend for the Gastapo to enjoy.

a reply to: Ahabstar

They aren't going to. Ever. Life has changed, lives, careers...our future is yet unknown.
Go back? We need to hold on as we hurdle thru this....Well written thread.

Best

a reply to: Liquesence

Not made it either because lopping off hooves isn’t my thing. But it is boiling down hooves and bones for the collagen or gelatin (Jello and gummy bears and gummy worms). You can also render done the hairy hides for hide glue as well.

Fish glue is another I have not tried but seems to be just boiling down fish bones until they liquify as well.

But given the complexity of the above, I’ll stick to pitch and paste from flour.

a reply to: Ahabstar

It wont go back. Life will resemble things at first and slowly optimize to a new set of social parameters.

Civilization wont collapse. It will adapt or drag its feet until it does. No matter what life /society is reborn now and we dont fully understand it yet.

a reply to: solve

I should point out that “no kill” traps are a bit inhumane In that the animal does suffer in fear. That fear will taint the meat with adrenaline and lactic acid in the muscles in addition to other sustained injuries. Food preservation is not as easy off grid as it is on the grid. A single person will rarely consume a deer fast enough even if some serious amount of meat smoking and jerky are performed quickly. A single person would have a hard time consuming something the size of a coyote in a reasonable time to be honest.

Fishing would be a better use of time and keep an efficient use of resources. But let’s say you are lacking your prized fishing tackle:

Everyone has heard of using a strand of 550 cord from the core. But use it how exactly. Sure you could use a stick as a pole but how about a 20oz soda bottle for an easy portable solution. Tie a knot in one end of your line and place inside the bottle and replace the cap. Check to be sure you can not pull the line free. Wind the line around the end of the bottle after removing the label for an easier casting. The bottle will float if you get too ambitious and let go. For hooks, my best success was to make a stick pointed at both ends (think of a fat toothpick) and work a notch in the center to tie to the string. I call it a pointed hourglass because that is kinda the best description to visualize it. For a weight you might tie a small odd shaped pebble if you need it. Hooking the fish will depend on it wedging your hook in its mouth so a large mouth bass is pretty much out. But you might get lucky. In the event that you do have some store bought hooks, sinkers, etc. you can store them in the bottle as a handy all in one fishing kit. But old pill bottles/aspirin bottles make great storage for tackle.