as far as knowledge goes, carving them into stone would be a bit much, moby dick would be have to be carved on a mountain.

etched metal plates, or some other type of reinforced sheet that would last for a while would work, even embossing leather would last for a few decades. also right about now with the market down as it is, you might want to consider looking into buying land and finding a way to build underground. a cache of sorts for knowledge, the further down you dig, the colder it gets so if you were clever enough you could also find ways to store MREs, their shelf life extends by years with the drops in tempature. if you store them at 20 degrees Fahrenheit you could extend their shelf life to about 40-50 years or more.

not to sure how ammo keeps in cold weather but you could always store the components to make your own in the same manner.

I'm just saying, the idea thats been hammering itself into my head recently is buy land, buy supplies, build down like the dwarves of middle earth. keep yourself alive and as many as you can alive until the dust settles then rebuild something that would be strong enough to last the aftermath. you have to think that with all the abandoned military facilitys lying around. theres going to be alot of tech that wont take long for people to figure out how to use, a gernade is simple, pull pin, throw, wait for explosion, repeat.

If you build down, then you have a "panic room" when the inevitable bully with the bigger stick comes knocking.

essentially, rather than one person knowing a little of all this, you would need a group of people with their own specializations.
personally I can shoot a gun, and when ammo runs low, know how to make bows and arrows, and am good with them, as well as a sword (yes a sword),
I know how to grow things and have a pretty extensive garden as it is, if you can grow what you know is safe to eat, you don't need to identify it. I honestly haven't bought vegetables in years, and often give away quite a bit to friends.
I can take wheat and make bread, i have feild dressed an animal,
I know how to make a small hydroelectric dam, how to make wind turbines, waterwheels, and can hook them up to a generator.
I could build a simple shelter yes, but also know how to maintain my current shelter.
I have, downloaded off the internet, backed up on disks, and printed out on paper, plans and precise instructions how to build certian things, grow other things, and so on.

As well as this, i also have a friend who is in fact a blacksmith, one who is an electrical engineer, chemists, pharmicists, vetrinarians, medical doctors, electricians, even a glass blower, all in my area, and with about the same mind frame, we're all honestly looking forward to the eventual collapse of civilization, it should be interesting

I think it's important to note that while knowing a bit of everything is good and may very well be needed at first, it won't stay that way forever. After people are done starving and everything gets sorted out those who were able to survive will rebuild. When that happens if you are an expert in something useful farmer, chemist, electrician, mason, doctor etc you will have a huge amount entrepreneurial opportunities and won't need to be able to do everything yourself because you could sell your services. Communities that come together will be that ones that do the best, if your in a city though I would plan on leaving crime will go through the roof everywhere except close knit communities where you know everyone by name.

Originally posted by waterdoctor
If I can get elemental sulfur I can make black powder and gun cotton. I will need some one that can blow glass for me however for the reaction units. The sulfur can be found around hydrothermal vents and I know where one is about ten miles away.

Also many gas plants strip the sulfur out of the gas and stack it up. I know dozens of plants two years ago where paying people to hall the sulfur away and dispose of it. You could pick up last year a tonne (2000lbs) of sulfur for $70. You just need a storage place for it now.

I can tell you how to effectively field dress any size animal. If anyone would like I can post step by step directions with pictures of field dressing a deer later this year. A little bloody, but good and useful info. I also know how to distill alcohol. My grandfather was a Moonshiner. I know about carving spears, bows, and arrows. But I do recommend a big supply of aluminum arrows and steel broadheads. They are re-usable and are not too overly expensive for the cheapos. I also know about crop growing, natural fetilizers, etc. I can tie my own flys for fishing as well as make home made fishing rigs.

I thought of some things that don't seem to pop up often relating to this topic.

Everyone talks about being the warrior, or the hunter, or the farmer. But if you're in a large enough group where everyone's backs can be covered, those aren't the only valuable jobs.

Doctor, dentist, pharmacist, and medic. This is obvious, so I don't need to say more.

Mailman. And not just in regards to the hero of that fairly well known post-apocalyptic story/movie. People will still want to communicate. And if lines degrade, and working two way radios aren't readily available - somebody that could be trusted to be neutral between territories as a courier would be highly valued. Getting that trust might be hard at first, but if you can get the messages and mail through you will play a much needed role.

Merchant. Somebody has to engage in trade between groups. So of course there may be nomads that run from one collective or colony to another to do trade. Again like the mailman, establishing trust may not be so easy at first. But if trust is gained, you too would also be valued in post-SHTF society. This is because not every group is likely to have all types of food and goods available to them. Just don't get caught cheating the locals, or that may be the last time you're allowed in that town (or worse, it might be your death warrant.)

Archivist. Saving and preserving and protecting scraps of past knowledge. Perhaps the tech for accessing them may be offline for a while, but you'll try to identify and keep things of importance for the time when society gets back together and online. This will also overlap with teaching children and possibly indoctrinating more trustworthy outsiders into your group. The more knowledgable your group, the sooner you can reform a larger and more stable society.

Salvager. Garbage in the post civilized world is now treasure. If you know what is recoverable (mechanical things, containers, electronics, etc.), and how to recover it, that is definitely a worthwhile skill. If a collective has a good salvager, they may be able to get ahead of other groups either through trade or with resources supporting technical skills. Also when you need long term stores, it may be suprising just how handy and valuable those easily tossed plastic bags and bottles really are. Items no longer in production will soon be a trade commodity.

Technician/tradesman. Proper thinking shouldn't limit to old world skills like smithing, but to building a working engine out of junk or making something useful from broken electronics. I know if I were in a post SHTF collapse scenario, and we didn't have gennys readily found... If I could get a salvager to bring me a whole bunch of old speakers, diodes, wires, a torch, a butane soldering iron, and a freewheel... With what little bit I know, the group I'm in may be back into using electricity pretty soon. That would be nice, wouldn't it? An overlooked but competent bicycle mechanic would also be a highly regarded member of a group if vehicle fuel starts running out.

Works specialist/engineer. Basically sanitation, plumbing, or HVAC type skills. Sewage might involve dealing with buckets to a distant pit or burn piles for a long while, until something better gets worked out. You've got to keep up your fresh water and such clean and uncontaminated. Having somebody that can keep up some degree of communal plumbing or maintaining a drinking water distillery would be valuable. This job may also cover food disbursury. It would be good to have people who can maintain a common refridgerated or cold store until electricity becomes more available.

It's heroic to think about being a jack of all trades, but certain specialists will be needed after the dust settles and societal groups finally coalesce. Hopefully there'll never be an extreme Mad Max style dark ages, but to think it's all going to revert to agrarian, feudal, or warlord society seems shortsighted.

Use a spear, mankinds second weapon, effective for self defense, easy to use and make, in your sparetime develop your archery skills.

S&F for you, friend. I've been one of those observers and have already started prepping. I'm not a doomsday'er but I am a survivor. I learned how to can, and picked up a small library of books (paper and PDF) on a variety of subjects. In the event of prolonged power outages, I have also picked up a small power inverter to run my laptop from my vehicle. I've made arrangements to begin replacing my grid-tie systems (no city water or sewage here) with solar/wind systems. I use weapons with a very common caliber (with other calibers for bartering), have a compound and crossbow, as well as a sword or 2 and a dozen or so knives. Heck, I even own a blow gun. I also have a fair stock of dry goods, and my water comes from a natural spring on my property. I can count atleast 6 deer in my yard every day, and have a 40'x25' garden plot as well as an additional acre of open land. My wood burning stove has been in place for a couple years with access to 400 acres of woodland for fuel. There is fishing nearby as well as permission by a neighbor to shoot everything but cows in his 100 acre field.
My book collection includes medical/surgical guides, weapon improvisation, a few different survival books (SAS Survival Manual is a good one) as well as many I've read and sold. Black powder shouldn't be much of a problem as there is a saltpeter mine in my county (was used during the civil war a few centuries ago). I also live in a farming community so grain and dairy is not a huge obstacle.
A few good shows on TV to watch are Man vs Wild, Apocalypse Man, and there was a series on Discovery (I forget the name) where a party of people were theoretically forced to live after an apocalypse. I don't own gold. Can't eat it or hunt with it, and during a meltdown, people aren't going to be very concerned with a monetary system. Currency will be survival gear (food, ammo, fuel, medicine, etc). Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best!

Forgot to add my little blip about renewable power for gadgets like 2-way radios, radios, scanners, and such. All my electronics (as much as I can) are run by AA batteries. What I found VERY useful are the cheap solar powered driveway lights. I found a set of 8 lights that are run by rechargable AA batteries. I put them in the sun during the day, and remove the batteries at dawn. That way I can keep my 16 AA batteries charged. I'm sure some electronics tinkerer could improvise a laptop battery charger out of them

gotta keep this going bump bump bump sorry but people need to know this stuff... well it is useful isn't it?...