In the true spirit of the American frontiersman, blacksmiths Donald Hanson and Andy Morris from Colorado Springs manufacture authentic, functional beaver traps like those used by trappers during the 1830s. And they do so by using the same basic equipment and tools trap-makers of that era would have. The 5-pound, period-correct traps that they make are modeled after one of the devices that were used on the Hoback River near Jackson, Wyoming. The original traps of that design are on display at the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron, Nebraska.

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Crank Up The Forge

The pair of veteran blacksmiths, who have known each other for 20 to 30 years, have worked on a number of projects together over the years. These include branding irons, knives out of chainsaw chains and metal gates, to name a few. They got into the trap-making business when someone showed up at their shop asking for help. A participant in historical muzzleloader reenactments needed a trap with broken springs repaired.

Andy had gotten into blacksmithing as a part of historical reenactments, and Don was also interested in the role blacksmiths played in frontier days. So, the trap-repair request was right in their wheelhouse. They took the project on as a new challenge.

“He left the trap with us for a number of months to see what we could do with it,” they commented. “Forging the steel for the traps was fun. We knew we could do that. The challenge was hardening and tempering the springs so they would work properly.”

Beaver Traps Research

What followed were months of research and trial and error. They used historical trapping expert Allen Harrison from Oklahoma as a resource. Also they referred frequently to a book titled The Steel Trap in North America by Richard Gerstell, another historical trapping expert. They even visited mountain man encampments to see their traps and talk to those who owned them.

They discovered that the springs were truly the weak link of historical traps. Springs frequently broke like they did on the one that was brought to them. That’s why pioneering trappers usually brought extra springs with them when they were checking their lines.

Traps were designed with a pair of removable bolts that held springs in place so the springs could be removed and replaced as needed. The cost of these springs normally amounted to one-third to one-half the price tag of the traps, reflecting how valuable those parts were to the finished product.

“We were meticulous to make sure we got things right,” they said. “We’re determined not to buy manufactured springs. Also we made them ourselves, and it took us months, working at it part-time, to get it right. We weren’t interested in seeing how quickly we could do this. We wanted the traps we made to be authentic reproductions.”

The Right Temper

“It was a challenge for us to get the hardening and tempering right. When you forge steel, if you just harden it, it’s going to break. The springs had to be tempered properly to get the best results. Tempering lets heat go back in the steel so it’s not so brittle. If steel is tempered too long, the springs will be spongy, enabling an animal to pull its leg or foot out of a trap.”

The blacksmiths also feel that the cold water temperatures of beaver ponds and rivers had to affect the effectiveness of springs on historical traps. After days of being set in cold water, they believe that springs would weaken and close slower, increasing the chances of missing an animal that sprung the trap. This is another reason that frontiersmen may have changed springs on their traps before resetting them. Fresh springs would increase their chances of catching the critters they were after.

Don and Andy make all of the trap parts from standard steel that they purchase in 20-foot lengths. They buy 0.5-by-05.-inch solid bar and 0.25-by-1-inch flat stock to work from. That stock is then cut to size and length for the various parts with a band saw.

The band saw is the only piece of equipment Hanson and Morris use that would not have been available to frontier blacksmiths. Don said frontier blacksmiths would have used a hacksaw or chisel to cut steel into desired sizes to work with. Standard stock steel would have been available from England to blacksmiths in the 1830s.

“What a blacksmith generally does is take a piece of metal and change its shape into what you want,” Don explained. “You don’t take anything away from that piece of metal or add anything to it.”

Tools Of The Trade

To shape metal, you need fire produced in a forge to heat and soften the metal. Don and Andy have two forges: one fired by coal and another that burns propane gas. They used the coal-fired forge for much of the trap making.

You then need a heavy metal anvil to place the small pieces of metal on so they can be hammered into shape. Anvils vary in size, with some being as small as 25 pounds, but Don uses one that weighs a little over 200 pounds, made by Peter Wright in England. Blacksmith hammers come in various sizes, too, but Don uses one that weighs a pound and a half for making traps.

Tongs are used to grip pieces of steel for putting them in and taking them out of the forge as well as while they are being hammered into shape. “There’s hundreds of tongs,” Hanson said. “The tongs are shaped to grip steel based on the shape of the steel. We make a lot of them ourselves.”

The pair also make many of the punches they use. Punches are used to make square holes in metal, and drills are employed for round holes. The blacksmiths also make different jigs to help them shape the metal for various trap parts, so each part will be consistently shaped.

“A jig is a device to place metal in and bend it so it conforms to the shape of the jig,” Don said. “We use a jig to make the trap jaws, for example. We lay the metal for the jaw in the jig and get the same bend each time.”

Smooth Progress

When making beaver traps, the pair split up the workload to make the process go as smoothly as possible. Don normally starts making the posts, dogs, pans and crosses while Andy does the springs and jaws. They also make the nuts and bolts necessary to hold the springs in place. They use taps to put threads on the inside of nuts and dies to put threads on the outside of bolts.

Annealing, or heat-treating, the steel is an important part of the process. The steel is heated to soften it so the metal can be bent until it is in the proper shape. After the parts are properly shaped, they are slowly cooled to re-harden them.

The jaws are riveted together as part of assembly. Don and Andy hand-test springs before assembly and match the springs in pairs from the weakest to the strongest. Chains are also added to the traps. The chains are welded using the forge. Borax is used as flux during the welding process.

“We can make traps any size, but most of our traps have a jaw spread from 7.5 to 9 inches,” the blacksmiths said. “The traps weigh 5 pounds, and the chains weigh 2 pounds. Trappers in those days relied on the weight of the trap and chain to drown beavers that they caught. Most trappers carried six traps with them.”

Labor Of Love

“There’s a limited market for the traps we make,” they said. “In the state of Colorado, you can’t use a trap like this. Trappers are limited to body-gripping traps that kill instantly in this state. Even though our traps are 100-percent functional, we aren’t making them for trappers where these types of traps are legal to use. Our market is the reenactment folks.”

Anyone who is interested in authentic, period-accurate traps from the 1830s can contact Don and Andy at forgedtraps@gmail.com.

For the most recent copy of Survivor’s Edge or American Frontiersman or to subscribe, go to OutdoorGroupStore.com.

Shotguns are one of the most popular weapons for home defense, but they’re also one of the most misunderstood. Let’s look at a few myths and realities of them:

 

Myths

1. The Pump Action Will Always Drive People Away.

When an intruder hears the classic sound of the pump action, they will likely recognize it and possibly think twice. But that doesn’t mean that they will turn and run away. If an intruder is desperate enough, it’s very unlikely that the sound of a pump action will do much to deter them. They, too, likely are armed. The only thing that might make them flee is when they’re staring down the business end of a shotgun.

 

2. It’s Impossible to Miss.

Point and shoot, and you’ll hit anything in front of your shotgun’s barrel, right? Wrong. It is one of the biggest myths that exists about shotguns — and primarily only subsists in some people’s minds because of what they see in the movies. You still have to aim when you shoot a shotgun, especially when things are up close and personal. The closer the target, the smaller the pattern will be.

 

3. A 20 Gauge Is Not Powerful Enough.

When shotguns come to mind, people typically think of 12 gauges. To this end, they figure that a 20-gauge shotgun, another common shotgun round, is too underpowered. This is simply not true.

While it is absolutely correct that a 12 gauge is more powerful than a 20 gauge, a 20 gauge still has a lot of power to it (roughly equal to two .44 Magnums at the same time).

 

4. It Only Takes One Shot to End the Fight.

Sometimes, yes. But it’s never guaranteed that an intruder is going to be stopped dead in their tracks with a single slug or buckshot in their gut. If an attacker is high on drugs, there’s a significantly higher chance that you’ll have to rack in another round and fire again. Take note: Use a semi-auto or pump-action shotgun rather than a single or double barrel.

 

Realities

1. Shotguns Are Excellent Weapons For Home Defense.

One could make an effective case that a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot rounds is the most effective weapon for home defense currently available to the average American. While you have to be careful not to be susceptible to the myths we have just discussed, it’s hard to argue against the lethality of a 12 gauge in a close-quarters defensive situation.

 

2. The 20 Gauge Is a Better Choice for Smaller-Statured People.

If you can shoot a 12 gauge comfortably, then by all means use a 12 gauge. But if the recoil of that 12 gives you too much of a kick to your shoulder, then there’s no shame in admitting so.  Women and people who are small in stature will often turn to the 20 gauge as an alternative.  While the 20 gauge isn’t quite as powerful as the more classic 12, it still delivers a lot of knockdown power and offers less recoil. The only thing to watch out for is the weight of the shotgun; a 20-gauge shotgun with half of the weight of a 12 gauge might have more recoil.

 

3. Buckshot Is More Effective Than Birdshot.

Contrary to what many people believe, birdshot can and will travel through your walls. But penetration aside, buckshot will almost always be more effective than birdshot in a defensive situation. A handful of pellets will do more damage to human flesh than hundreds of significantly smaller ones.

All in all, shotguns are excellent weapons for home defense and may mean the difference between life and death if you ever find yourself in such a scenario.

What would you add to this list? Share your tips in the section below:

Is Your Shotgun Suitable For Home Defense? Read More Here.

The post Myths And Realities Of Shotguns As Weapons For Home Defense appeared first on Off The Grid News.

Amongst all the critical supplies that survivalists stockpile, there is nothing more controversial than ammunition.

When it comes to food and water, you never hear someone saying, “That’s too much.” But you can hear that with ammo. You can also hear a lot of people spouting off about how you need 10,000 rounds, without a whole lot of justification for it.

Part of the problem, as with everything else in preparing for an uncertain future, is that none of us really know what we need. We’re trying to define how much inventory to invest in, without really thinking it through and determining how we’ll use it. In order to fully understand how much ammo we need, we also need to develop a plan for how we will use our firearms.

Of course, there are many preppers who have made a life out of collecting firearms, too. While I can fully understand the fascination with guns and the desire to have lots of them, I can’t really say that buying the largest gun safe you can find and filling it up with guns is really a necessity.

 

How Much Is Enough When Stockpiling Ammo?

So, let’s start out by talking about how many guns is enough. We need to determine that in order to know how much ammo we’ll need for those guns. There are two basic purposes for which you’ll need guns in any disaster situation. They are:

• Defense
• Hunting

You need to decide what sorts of guns you’re going to have on-hand for each of those purposes. In some cases, you may decide that you can use a gun for both purposes. A great example of this would be an AR-15. You could use that for both defense and hunting. If you have it chambered for .223 and buy a .22 long rifle adapter kit for it (new bolt and magazine), you could even use it for hunting.

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Likewise, a shotgun can be used for both purposes, although you are limited in range with a shotgun. Nevertheless, the actual gun that each member of your party is going to use in a survival situation should be decided. Those are the guns they should practice with and those are the guns you need to concern yourself about stockpiling ammo for.

Each member of your party needs a long gun (rifle or shotgun) and a pistol. As one firearm instructor so aptly put it, “A pistol is what you use to fight with, while you’re making your way to your rifle.” The idea here is that the pistol is always on your person, while you might be forced to put the rifle down, in order to accomplish some tasks.

If each family member is a shooter (and they should be), then you need one long gun and one pistol for each.

 

Now, on to Ammo

If you have more guns than those mentioned above, then the amount of ammo that you have for the “extra” guns doesn’t really matter. You’ve already decided which guns you’re going to use, so those guns will only be used if a straggler joins your party or you break or lose one of your primary firearms.

We’re going to look at the two uses of those guns separately, specifically in the sense of determining how much we need when stockpiling ammo and then add them together. Keep in mind that you don’t need hunting ammo for a gun that’s not going to be used for hunting. That would just be extra ammo and an extra expense.

 

Defensive Ammo

Home defense is where people really go crazy on ammunition purchases. But is that realistic? When infantry soldiers go off to battle, they carry what is known as a “basic combat load.” That’s the amount of ammo that they are expected to use in one day’s fighting. Do you really think you’re going to use more ammo than an infantry soldier?

The basic load of rifle ammunition for an infantry soldier is 210 rounds. That’s seven, 30-round magazines. One is in their rifle and the others are in ammo pouches on their chest rig. For those who carry a pistol (usually rear area troops and upper level officers), they carry three magazines’ worth. You should have ammo for both, as you should be carrying both.

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Okay, so if we use that as a basis, then how many basic loads of ammo do you need? This is subject to argument, but I seriously doubt that any of us are going to use more than two. If you survive through that much fighting, you’re amazing. Most of us will probably die long before we reach that point.

The other issue here is portability. Ammo is heavy. If you’re “bugging out,” you probably won’t be able to take more than two basic loads with you — one on your person and another in your vehicle. Once again, if you survive through that much fighting, you’re simply amazing.

 

Hunting Ammo

We could actually end up using more ammo for hunting than we will for defense, in some situations. A lot will depend on your specific survival plans. If you are planning on staying in your home during a crisis, you’re probably not going to use a lot of ammo hunting. But if you are planning on living off the land, in some cabin in the woods, then you may actually go through a lot of ammo. But there are few who fall into that category.

The only way that hunting will be a realistic possibility for most of us is if we live someplace where we have woods within walking distance of our home. Otherwise, without gasoline, we probably won’t be able to go hunting at all.

Now, the next question is how much ammo do you use hunting? When I go, that’s limited to two or three rounds, maybe only one. Unless I’m bird hunting, when I might actually use as many as six. So, you really don’t need a lot of rounds of ammo for each hunting trip.

Start by figuring out your worst-case scenario for how long you’re expecting to be in survival mode. Based on that, how often will you go hunting? Let’s say two or three times per week. So, if you’re using three rounds of ammo per hunt and hunting three times per week, you’re going to need an absolute maximum of 365 rounds of ammo to survive a year. I bet it will actually be much less than that.

 

Putting it Together

Okay, so let’s put this all together. As an example, let’s say you’ve got an AR-15, which is your primary defense and hunting weapon, and you’re carrying a 9mm Glock as your sidearm. Two basic loads of ammo for your AR-15 is 420 rounds. Plus a year’s worth of hunting at a maximum of 365 rounds. That makes a total of 785 rounds. Then you need 102 rounds of 9mm for the two basic loads to fill the three magazines for your Glock.

For people in your family who are not going to be hunting, you can forget about the ammo for them to hunt. They’ll only need the two basic loads. That’s a whole lot less ammo than you need. For that matter, if you have others who do hunt, then you won’t have to hunt as much, so you’re still looking at only 365 rounds to take care of the year.

This means that for a family of four, all of whom are shooters, you need 2,453 total rounds of ammunition for rifles and pistols, in order to be ready to survive for a year. That’s a far cry from the 10,000 rounds that a lot of people are saying.

Of course, if having that 10,000 rounds gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, then buy them, assuming you have enough money for that much. But don’t feel like you have to, just because someone set up an arbitrary number and a lot of others have repeated it.

Keep in mind that these figures are only for surviving. They do not include anything for training. That’s another issue entirely. You can go through a lot of ammo learning to shoot. But then, those aren’t rounds that you need to stockpile for survival; those are rounds that you’d better expend before it becomes time to survive, or you’re going to be in a world of hurt.

Do you agree or disagree on stockpiling ammo? How much ammo should you stockpile? Share your thoughts in the section below:

 

 

The post Everything You’ve Heard About Stockpiling Ammo Is Wrong appeared first on Off The Grid News.

Learn how to make a spear with this guide so you can hunt or defend yourself in a survival situation.

RELATED: 20 Essential Homemade Weapons For When SHTF

In this article:

1. Learning How to Make a Spear Is a Must for Survivalists
2. How to Make a Spear for Food and Self-Defense

How to Make a Spear for Self-Defense and Survival

Learning How to Make a Spear Is a Must for Survivalists

Whether you’re in an authentic survival scenario or just up at the lake for a weekend camping trip, you’ve got to eat. But what if your food supplies are running low, or worse, you never had any, to begin with?

That’s when knowing how to make a spear comes in handy. Here, we’re going to show you how to make a hunting spear from wood.

We’ll also offer some basic fire-hardening techniques to prolong the life of your spear. Stick around to the end to learn the most effective way to make this multifunctional, primitive hunting tool.

Along the way, we’ll pass on some important safety warnings and tips. Before you get started, here are a few things you’ll need:

1. Spear Pole

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We recommend a small, green sapling approximately 2 – 2.5 inches in diameter, and a few inches taller than you are. (We’ll tell you why later.)

Tip: When choosing a tree for your spear pole, choose as straight a sapling as possible. We recommend hardwoods such as hickory, oak or maple.

2. Sturdy Baton Stick

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Hardwood works best as a baton. This is essentially an improvised hammer and will serve to help provide an effective downward force to split your spear into segments without breaking it.

These can easily be found on the forest floor or you could even use a leftover piece of your sapling if it’s thick enough. Make sure it is not rotten, as a rotten log will simply fall apart.

You can easily tell if the baton is rotten with a few quick, solid thumps against a tree stump. If it doesn’t shatter, you should be good to go!

3. Strong Cordage (2-3 feet)

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Paracord is my cordage of choice due to its strength, durability, and resistance to rot in damp conditions, but any cordage can work in a pinch (Even your shoelaces)!

Tip: You can never have enough cordage in a survival situation… you might just be surprised at how many different uses you can find for it! 

This tactical fish survival kit has 9′ of genuine paracord, perfect for your spear making.

4. Folding Saw

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A strong serrated knife will work… but having a pocket folding saw will save you a ton of time, work and hassle! Another secondary option would be a pocket chainsaw or even a wire saw.

In my opinion, however, no good survival or camping kit is complete without a folding pocket saw. Here’s a good one to grab.

5. A Good, Full Tang Fixed Blade Knife

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When it comes to splitting or batoning wood, a folding knife just won’t cut it! It’s dangerous to try and will absolutely ruin your knife.

Do yourself a favor and, before you ever head out, get your hands on a solid, full tang fixed blade knife… you won’t regret it.

Check out my favorite knife, it’s the #1 tactical folding knife in the world.

RELATED: 14 Homemade Weapons That Are REALLY Badass [2nd Edition] | Survival Life

How to Make a Spear for Food and Self-Defense

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Step 1. Prepare Your Pole

Once you’ve cut your pole, saw off the fat end to make the surface flat and even. Take your cordage and wrap the pole about 10 inches below the working end.

This will help keep the pole from splitting out once you begin the batoning process.

WARNING: Make sure your spear stands at least as tall as you do. This will help ensure the sharpened points of your spear are above eye level, just in case you take a fall while out on the hunt.

Step 2. Split and Sharpen the Working End of Your Spear

Once you’ve wrapped the working end of the spear with cordage, butt the opposing end up against a tree or stump to help stabilize it. Slowly baton 8-10 inches straight down.

Turn your knife perpendicular to the first split and repeat the batoning process.

Next, find a couple of three-inch sticks about the diameter of a pencil and slide them firmly in place between the splits to keep the spear points expanded. With your knife, sharpen each of the four points.

Step 3. Harden the Spear’s Points with Fire

Once the points are sharp, remove the cordage and place the sharpened points below the coals of a fire for 10-15 minutes. This speed dries or “fire-hardens” the wood.

Tip: Be mindful of your spear during this process; check it often to make sure it’s only drying and not burning.

Side Note: An alternative drying technique is to hold the spear just above the flames of your fire like a marshmallow so the flames lick the points of the spear.

While this technique may take longer, it’s easier to keep an eye on the spear points to make sure they aren’t burning.

Step 4. Reinforce the Spear

Once the spear is removed from the fire and allowed to cool, latch the three-inch wooden pegs in place to reinforce the spear during impact. Align your cordage vertically against the shaft of the spear and create a loop.

Next, wrap cordage around the shaft while alternating over and under the wooden pegs.

Step 5. Finishing Touches

After two or three times around, slip the working end of your cordage through the loop you created earlier, and give a stout tug on the other end. When done correctly, this will tighten the pegs up nicely and leave you with a durable, four-prong spear point.

You can also opt to sharpen the other end of the spear into a single, fire-hardened point for self-defense against potential predators.

Watch this video from AVmake for an alternative which is how to make a spear for fishing out of bamboo:

There you have it, survivalists! A sturdy spear good for self-defense and harvesting small game and fish. Your DIY survival spear will work great to take down small game and fish, but when it comes to larger game you’ll need a more heavy-duty weapon.

What do you think of our tutorial on how to make a wooden spear? Sound off in the comments section below!

Up Next:

• Make Your Own Compound Bow with Just a Few Supplies
• Homemade Weapons You Can DIY To Awaken Your Inner Caveman
• 7 Self-Defense Martial Arts For Personal Safety And Survival

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on March 31, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

Written by Wild Bill on The Prepper Journal.

Living or working in a disaster-prone area always requires that you be prepared for the worst. When a natural disaster strikes, you might not have the time to take the right recuperative measures if you were ill prepared. It is vital that you have an electric portable generator in standby just to be on the safe side.

If you live in such an area, it could mean having to survive some uncomfortable situations like enduring darkness for days, eating canned foods and having a lot more store in your fridge or freezer going bad due to lack of power.

 If you are experiencing floods, you will have your basement filling up with water since your sump pump stops working and have mold growing in your house.

In a business premise, you risk losing a lot of your products especially if you deal with perishable goods. Finding an emergency generator to rent for the period that you stay without power can be very challenging since they are in high demand at that time.

Statistics show that the demand for these generators rises rapidly during natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, ice storms, and others and that businesses with emergency power kits record minimal losses. Here is what you need to ensure when setting up an emergency power tool kit.

Know Your Power Needs

Before you buy your emergency generator, check the maximum amount of power needed in your building and compare that to the generator that you wish to buy. You can check the power rating of your building on the nameplate of the main electrical panel.

Take some time to determine the probable load of your house or building. You can connect an ammeter to the various electrical panels when power is being used at its peak. Do this for about two weeks to determine the amount of power that your generator will have to provide during the disaster period. You can also check your monthly utility bills over several months and get an average to find the approximate load.

Knowing your power needs will guide you to the size of the generator you need at your home or at your business premises.

Placement and Security

When you finally settle on one particular generator, you will need to find a suitable place in your building to place it. The generator, whether it is at home or in business premises, should be at a location where you can easily access it.

 It should be near the building’s electrical panel so that you use a little amount of electrical cable and reduce the cost of installation.

The generator’s location should be away from traffic for safety issues and in a dry area. If you can, have the generator completely away from public access.

Finally, ensure that only certified electricians connect your generator to the electrical panel. If you are not a qualified electrician, never try to connect it yourself. Never handle your generator with wet hands or in a wet environment.

Fueling:

When using your emergency generator, you will need to fuel it. During the disaster period, you may need to use a lot of fuel to keep it running for the period you will be without power.

We recommend that you go for one with a large fuel tank that you do not have to keep refueling. Know how much fuel per hour the generator you want to buy burns when at both full and half loads. This data will give you an estimate of the amount of fuel you need to have and at what intervals.

It would be counterproductive to run out of power in the middle of the night while using a generator yet it is that very situation that you got a generator for.

Avoid such scenarios by calculating properly the amount of fuel that your generator will burn up at a go, and have some reserve fuel within reach to refuel if need be especially during odd night hours. As a safety measure, you should not store gasoline and diesel for an extended period of times as will then need some chemicals to use them safely which will add up to your cost. 

Inspect and Maintain Your Generator

Now when you have your generator, you need to ensure that it is always in a top-notch condition. You never know when disaster will strike and you need to use it again. Even then, there will be instances at one time or another when there is a power outage in normal days.

These come as a blessing in a way since they remind you to once in a while run your generator to keep it in a good condition. You might also want to have annual maintenance, especially when expecting a harsh weather season. Always ensure that you use clean fuel.

Be Safe out there and be sure to check out The Prepper Journal Store and follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

The post Prepare for Disaster with a Portable Generator appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

Every day we make decisions to protect our children. We decide what they eat, where they go to school, and even influence who their friends are. We see that they get to the doctors when they are sick or injured and we teach them what’s right and wrong.

But have we taught them what to do when we are not there? There are plenty of situations where our children need to make wise decisions and should they ever be followed or attacked by someone, they need to know how to respond. While we do everything we can to protect our children, we haven’t done our job if we haven’t taught them to protect themselves. That is why teaching basic self-defense concepts is important.

 

Avoidance is the Best Approach

One of the best approaches to dangerous situations is to avoid them altogether. While this may be common sense to us as parents, children don’t have the ability to evaluate risks to the same extent as we do. Therefore, we need to teach them basic principals to evaluating risk as well as what to do once danger is established.

Awaken Your Child’s Love of Learning, History And Adventure!

If your child starts to feel uncomfortable in any given situation, they should feel free to leave and go somewhere where they feel more comfortable. If they are walking on a road, running on the track, getting into an elevator or in any other situation where they are alone and begin to feel uncomfortable, they should leave and go where there are people. This is not about instilling fear in your child, but teaching them to use their common sense and intuition to wisely lower the risk they place themselves in. Situations with an attacker can quickly escalate, so avoiding them altogether is a far better option.

 

Situations Your Child Should Avoid

• Well-lit, highly frequented, open areas are often one of the safer places to hang out. If you ride on a bus, sit up front near the bus driver and stay awake.
• Isolated places, especially at night, should be avoided and only traveled through in a group of people you trust.
• Communication is very important. Parents and siblings should know your daily schedule. If you plan to go out at another time, inform someone of where you are going, who you’ll be with and when you plan to be back. While this may feel a little restrictive, nothing will get you help faster than your parents if you fail to show up home at the agreed upon time.
• Attackers are looking for the easiest target and will look for timid, fearful people first. Walk with confidence and respond with authority if you are confronted. Yelling words like “Go away,” “Police,” and “Help” can discourage an attacker quickly. Walking with your dog can also encourage an assailant to look elsewhere. While some dogs are more intimidating than others, even a barking five pound dog can discourage a would-be assailant.

 

Personal Control Helps Diffuse

When it comes to bullying situations, teaching your child personal emotional and physical control can help de-escalate the situation. A combative person may give up if you calmly agree with what they say. Rather than adding fuel to the fire, maintaining control over your emotions can go a long way toward calming someone else down. After the situation has passed, the child can then approach the  authorities and parents to deal with the bully and ensure that the situation doesn’t occur again.

(Note to parents: If your child complains of a bully, please take them seriously. Many parents and teachers brush complaints off, but children can face a lot of emotional and even physical abuse from bullies. This is not a time to teach your child to “toughen” up, but rather to show them that help is available and they don’t deserve the treatment they are receiving.)

Pocket Sized Solar Generator Provides Emergency Backup Power

 

Self-Defense Instruction is Valuable

Unfortunately attackers are often someone the child knows and thought they could trust. And sometimes they don’t back down and cannot be escaped easily. While we all hope our children are never in a situation where they need to use self-defense moves, giving them the training and experience to handle a tense situation can build self-confidence and potentially save a life. You can find self-defense classes through friends, community boards, the local YMCA, or even the hospital. The PE teacher at school can be an excellent resource as well.

Nothing can replace the value of learning self-defense tactics and practicing them. Many attackers anticipate common moves, but a self-defense class can tell you how to catch your attacker off guard. Keeping self-defense moves familiar through taking a class can be excellent preparation for smooth and confident defense reactions if needed.

Prepare your child for a world that isn’t always kind by instilling in them wisdom, self-confidence, and self-defense basics. It just may save their life.

What do you think about teaching children self-defense? Let us know in the comments section below. 

 

 

The post Child Self-Defense: Keeping Them Safe When You’re Not Around appeared first on Off The Grid News.

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editor’s Note: A guest contribution from Scott Huntington to The Prepper Journal.

Whether you live primarily off the grid and rarely venture to town or you simply wish to extend the life of your belongings to save money, taking certain steps can make everything from your clothes to your home last longer. Even though many now live by the convenience principle of tossing broken things and buying new, learning to extend the life of our objects also helps protect the planet we share. In a world where every other product bears a label reading “Made in China,” the cliche they just don’t build things like they used to has merit.

Any way you slice it, extending the life of anything from your car to your kitchen appliances makes sense. When survival is on the line, protecting your tools keeps you alive. Here’s how you can maintain the items you own so they last as close to forever as possible.

Extend the Life of Your Clothes

Washing and drying your clothes can cause them to pill and wear more quickly. Whenever possible, opt to hand wash your clothes. It takes longer, but it’s far kinder to the environment and your wardrobe.

Tossing your clothes in the dryer may help them dry faster, but it does a number on the fabric — the lint screen gets full of all the bits of thread pulled from the fibers of shirts and more. Plus, line-dried fabrics smell so much more amazing than those dried with chemically laden sheets. If you live in an area that prohibits outdoor clotheslines, invest in a drying rack you can place on your porch or balcony to dry your duds.

Rotate your clothes and maintain proper hygiene. When you wash a load, put the clean clothes further back in the closet so every item sees relatively equal wear. While it’s not true you must shower every day unless you’ve been working in a coal mine, do wash your armpit and groin areas twice daily, as sweat can leave salt stains on clothes.

Make Your Food Last Longer

Using the right materials for food storage requires a small upfront investment, but you will save money and your stash of strawberries in the long run. Rinsing fruits such as berries in a vinegar and water solution before putting them in the fridge eliminates bacteria that cause spoilage before your produce hits the drawer. As fruits decompose more quickly than veggies, store them in separate drawers.

Invest in quality reusable food storage containers designed for different products. Store leafy greens in cartons lined with paper towels to draw out moisture and keep them crisper longer. Keep milk in sealed glass jars to extend shelf life, and spend the money for washable cheese cloths to keep your cheddar from molding after a few days.

Keep Your Vehicle Running Strong

Protecting your vehicle means performing regular and preventive maintenance on engine and body. To keep your car or truck rust-free for years, invest in rust protection for your undercoating and wash the underside of your car regularly. Wash your car at least every other week, or more often if salt and grime accumulate faster due to inclement weather.

Keep your engine running by getting regular oil and filter changes. If you drive a four-wheel drive or high-performance vehicle, speak with your mechanic about using synthetic oil — this extends the time between changes and keeps engine heat lower. If your car is older than 2007, change the oil every 3,000 miles. Newer vehicles can average 5,000 miles between changes. Replace your air filter every 15,000 to 20,000 miles.

Do the Same for Appliances

If you’ve got an older fridge, take a dollar bill and close your refrigerator door on it. If it pulls right out, it’s time to change the gasket. Doing so costs only $30-$70 and takes a screwdriver and an Allen wrench. You’ll save a fortune on electricity and keep food fresher longer.

Change the air filters for your HVAC system out monthly. Some experts recommend doing so less often in the winter, but deciding to cut down on filter changes depends on many factors. If you have pets who shed or if you smoke, keeping up with monthly maintenance can save you in terms of costly future repairs.

When it comes to your dryer if you use one, invest in a snake wand to clean out the lint trap more effectively. Create a spill barrier when using the oven by placing cookie sheets on the rack underneath your casserole or pie. Use a paste of baking soda to clean spills up if they do occur — as soon as the oven safely cools, of course.

Protect Your Furnishings

Do you ever feel warm when you sit next to a sunny window in your home? The heat isn’t only burning your skin — it’s also fading the wood and fabrics of your furnishings. Investing in window tinting can cut your cooling and heating bills, as well as preserve the life of your leather. Even your blinds become faded over time from sun and heat, so you’ll maintain your window coverings too. A bonus of such tint is that you can see out, but strangers cannot see into your home.

If your leather furniture suffers minor tears, you can buy repair kits and fix them at home in little time. Did you carelessly take a chunk out of a chair leg with a hammer while using it for support on another project? Get some wood putty and stain to repair the nick instead of buying new.

Extend the Life of Your Roof

If your roof leaks, the entirety of your homestead can suffer damage. Extend its life by keeping your gutters clear of leaves and debris, as overflows can lead to leakage. Perform a visual inspection of your roof while you do so — if you notice missing patches of tile or shingles, repair them without delay. If water damage reaches the rafters, black mold and significant water damage can occur.

Are you roughing it and having problems with your tent gear? Keep repair tape and basic tools with you to patch holes quickly. When you change campsites, shake out tents thoroughly to remove debris and insects. Pass on using water to clean it, as this can cause mildew, but if some develops from exposure to the elements, use a distilled white vinegar and water solution to kill it. Be sure to dry the area thoroughly.

Extending the Life of Your Belongings

Living in the sticks means driving miles to get supplies — and who wants to tackle such a drive every time something breaks? If you’re living rough or minimalist, no doubt you need to preserve the life of the possessions you keep with you. Even if you live in New York City, though, extending the life of your belongings saves you major moolah. Cash is better kept in your hand or even under your mattress than doled out constantly to merchants in a disposable-minded society.

Be Safe out there and be sure to check out The Prepper Journal Store and follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

The post How to Make Sure Your Stuff Lasts Forever — or Close to It appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: The following guest article was generously contributed by James Smith in October of 2015. It is worth rereading if you caught it then as well as for the first time now.

Additionally I want to add a link to a great, recent article along the same subject line from Aaron Karns of Startsleeping.org which can be seen by opening this link. 

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Every year, over 2500 people die and around 12,000 are injured in home fires in the United States. Direct property loss due to fires at home is estimated to be over $7.3 billion annually. Like any other man-made catastrophe, home fires can also be prevented.

To protect yourself and your family, it is essential that you understand the elementary characteristics of fire. Because fire spreads very quickly, there is absolutely no time to collect any belongings or make a phone call. In less than two minutes, a small fire can become fatal; in about five minutes, an entire residence can be engulfed in flames.

Smoke and heat from fire can be more hazardous than the flames. Inhaling the extremely hot air can char your lungs, while the noxious gases can make you drowsy and disoriented. Instead of waking up due to a fire, you may fall into deep sleep. Contrary to popular belief, asphyxiation is the leading cause of deaths caused by fire, surpassing burns by a 3-to-1 ratio.

A large majority of home fires are caused in the kitchen, while cooking. These fires are also the leading cause of injuries. At night, fires are mostly caused by cigarettes not put out properly, lack of precautionary measures around fireplaces, and heating appliances kept close to combustibles and furniture. These fires are considered more dangerous than others as they can fume for quite a long time before being discovered.

Fire is QUICK!

In less than thirty seconds, a minor flame can get totally out of control to become a major fire. It takes less than five minutes for a house to be filled with thick black smoke or to be completely engulfed in flames. Most fatal fires happen while people are sleeping. If you are woken up by a fire, don’t waste time trying to collect any things as fire spreads fast and the smoke is too thick. You will barely have time to escape.

Heat

The heat from fire is more dangerous than the flames. With room temperatures rising to 100 degrees at floor level and 600 degrees at eye level, the heat alone can kill. The hot air, if inhaled, can scorch your lungs and leave you dead in a matter of seconds. The heat can also melt your clothes and skin.

Smoke

Fire isn’t bright, its pitch black. Fire starts bright, but quickly produces black smoke and complete darkness. If you wake up to a fire you may be blinded, disoriented and unable to find your way around the home you’ve lived in for years.

Flames do not kill as many people as toxic gases and smoke do. Oxygen is used by fire to produce toxic gases and smoke that kills. Inhaling small amounts of these gases can leave you disoriented, short of breath and drowsy. The colorless fumes can put you into deep sleep even before the flames reach you.

Preparation

You can only prepare yourself and your family if you know the characteristics of fire. In case of a home fire, know that every second counts, so your family and you must be prepared. Have a fire escape plan and make sure each member of your family knows it well. You must keep some of the necessary survival supplies in your home. Keep an extra door as a fire escape route and see that it is not blocked in any way at any time. Install fire alarms and keep a check on them regularly to make sure they are functioning. Here are some tips to help you prepare:

Smoke Alarms

A properly installed smoke alarm is the only thing in your house that can alert you and your family 24/7. A functioning smoke alarm enhances your chances of surviving a lethal house fire considerably.

Install smoke alarms that contain both photoelectric and ionization smoke sensors. Test their batteries monthly to ensure that they are in working condition. See that you have a smoke alarm installed on every level of your house, especially the basement. Sleeping areas should have smoke alarms both inside and outside, this is especially recommended by the US Fire Administration.

Furthermore, disabling a fire alarm can be a fatal mistake. Open a door or window, or wave a towel at the smoke alarm to clear the air.

During a Fire

If, even after all the precautionary measures, a fire happens to break out at your residence, follow these tips to ensure survival:

1. While making your way towards the exit, crawl low under the smoke. Poisonous gases and smoke collect towards the ceiling, so crawling your way to the exit may allow you to escape.
2. As soon as the smoke alarm sounds, think only of escaping. Do not stop to gather your belongings.
3. If you see smoke blocking your exit, look for another way out.
4. Before opening any doors, feel the door and the doorknob; if they feel hot, do not bother opening it, look for another escape route instead.
5. While opening a door, open it slowly to see if there is heavy smoke or fire.
6. Stop, drop, and roll if your clothes catch fire. Make sure you cover your face with your hands and roll on your back again and again until the fire is out.

Escaping the Fire

To ensure survival in case of a fire at home, you should know any obstacles that may hinder your escape route. For example, gratings or grills on windows usually have a fire safety feature that allows them to be opened easily from the inside.

Make sure you have fire escape ladders if your home is of multiple stories. Ensure that the anti-theft mechanisms that block entry from the outside are easily opened from the inside. Your family members’ safety is as important as yours, so you should teach them all the precautionary measures, as well as conduct a drill at least once a year so they know how to escape a deadly fire.

About the author: James Smith is a survivalist, who loves to write about survival skills and techniques. He has extensive knowledge about different survival kits and other survival supplies which he loves to share with others by writing blog. Follow him on twitter @jamessmith1609.

The post Are You Prepared to Deal with a Fire at Home? appeared first on The Prepper Journal.