Perhaps the biggest TEOTWAWKI threat out there is an EMP. While there are those who scoff at the possibility of such an attack against the United States; both North Korea and Iran have publicly declared their intent to attack us in this way.
Russia is being aggressive against their neighbors in Eastern Europe and China is building up their nuclear arsenal. Everyone knows that an EMP is a much more efficient use of nuclear arms than blowing up cities is, just like they know that we are woefully unprepared to defend against such an attack.
Without spending a lot of time getting into the science behind an EMP, there are two reasons why it is such a major threat.
Related: How to Tell in 5 Minutes If It’s a Power Outage or an EMP and Get a Massive Head Start
The first is that the E1 and E2 pulses overload fragile electronic circuits, frying the components. This happens the most where there are wires attached to those devices, as the wires can act as antennas, drawing in the electrical energy of the pulses.
The second is that the E3 pulse creates a massive surge in our power lines, which is likely to overload electrical substations and transformers, melting them down. It will also attack electronic devices that are connected to home and office electrical outlets, frying the power supply section of those devices.
Nevertheless, while we tend to think that an EMP will wipe out all of our electronics, a surprising number of them will survive.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they will be useful, as there will be a severe lack of electrical power to power those things, as well as the equipment they need to connect to. What good is a working cell phone, if there isn’t a cell phone network?
Of course, there is a certain amount of guesswork associated with trying to decide what electronics will survive and what won’t.
There are a wide range of factors, including the physical location of the device, whether the building it is in can offer any protection, the strength of the EMP, how the Earth’s magnetic field affects the electronic pulses and whether the device is connected to anything by wires.
But we can make some fairly decent guesses, based on what we do know.
Solar Panels
Surprisingly, one of the most useful things that will survive an EMP is solar panels. That seems a bit hard to believe, considering that those panels are exposed directly to the full-force of the EMP.
Related: Free Heating – How To Build a Solar Heater Using Aluminum Cans
But while they will take the hit and some damage, solar panels should retain about 90% of their ability to produce electricity. As most systems, are designed with about a 45% safety factor, they will still produce ample electricity the majority of the day.
About the only time it will really make a difference is at dawn and dusk, when the panels’ output will drop below usable levels.
Considering that the electrical power we receive from those solar panels may very well be the only electrical power available after an EMP, they are clearly an important part of EMP survival.
But we need more than one or two panels; the more panels we have, the more we’ll be able to do.
Cell Phones
There’s a good chance that our cell phones will survive the EMP, although the cell phone system itself will not.
Cell phones are small enough that they will not absorb enough of the EMP to be destroyed, especially if it is not connected for charging.
The cell phone towers, with their retransmitters will most likely be fried, so the phones themselves won’t be able to be used to communicate with others.
But anything that is stored locally on the phone itself will still be available and might be useful.
There are a number of survival uses for a cell phone, many of which involve apps that are stored on the phone or data that you can store there. Turning your phone into a survival tool is a worthwhile project, even if you never do have to deal with an EMP.
Considering that solar panels will work in a post-EMP world, you’ll be able to recharge your cell phone and use whatever you have stored there.
Don’t plan on using one of those small, handheld chargers though, at least not if you’re going to try and use your cell phone every day.
The phone will consume more electricity than those can produce. So you’ll need a larger one.
Handheld Electronics
As with cell phones, many other handheld electronics will still probably survive the EMP and for the same reason, their size.
About the only way that they could be damaged by the EMP is if there are wires attached to them, such as a charger.
Those wires could act as an antenna, gathering in enough of the EMP to damage the delicate electronics inside.
Related: What To Store In A Faraday Cage For EMP Protection?
On the other hand, chargers for these devices are likely to get fried if they are plugged into wall outlets, even if the device isn’t connected for charging. So it is a good idea to have spare chargers and cables on-hand, as part of your survival preps.
Flashlights and Portable Lighting
Flashlights and other portable lighting devices are likely to survive; especially those which have aluminum cases, like most tactical flashlights.
While the LEDs that produce the light are sensitive enough to be damaged, they are not connected to anything that can absorb the EMP and transmit it to them.
Besides that, the aluminum case, at least in the case of tactical flashlights, makes a perfect Faraday Cage, protecting the LED inside.
Spare batteries are unlikely to be affected by the EMP either, as they are single units that are unlike to absorb much in the way of electronic radiation, so they will survive.
With battery manufacturers now claiming that the alkaline batteries they are making will last for 10 years in storage, there’s good reason to stock up on them.
Computers
Another big surprise item that will probably survive is a lot of old computers.
I’m not talking about the computers we use every day; but rather the old ones that we used before, which are either stored in our office closets or our basements.
Since they are not in use, they are not connected to a bunch of wires to act as antennas for the EMP. Many also have metal cases, which will work as a Faraday Cage.
There’s also a pretty good chance that laptop computers which are not actually in use and not connected to power at the time of the EMP will survive, even though they don’t have metal cases. But that’s not as sure as the old ones, stored away.
Of course, the internet won’t be available, as that depends on the entire communications network, meaning lots of wires.
So like our cell phones, you’re going to have to depend on just what you have stored locally on the computer. Still, a computer is useful for a lot of things, even without the internet.
One thing that you should do, as part of your EMP preparation, is to download survival books and other references onto your computer.
Make backups of them on either CD or thumb drives, just in case you need to use them on some other device. That way, you’ll have those references at a time when you will really need them.
Cars
There is a lot of controversy over whether cars will survive an EMP or not. The general consensus is that they’ll all die; but that’s not necessarily true.
During the testing that was done by the EMP Commission, no cars were destroyed. A few stalled, but all of those but one restarted.
Related: 5 Vehicles That Can Handle An EMP Attack
To be fair, I need to state that the EMP Commission’s testing was non-destructive testing. In other words, they stopped increasing the intensity of the EMP the cars were exposed to, once the cars stalled.
Their funding did not allow for destructive testing. On the other hand, the level that they stopped testing at is supposedly more than our cars would be exposed to from a high-altitude EMP.
The vulnerability of cars and trucks is the windshield. If sensitive electronics are located under the dashboard and the car’s windshield is pointed in the direction of the EMP, it can destroy them.
But if the vehicle is pointing in the opposite direction, those electronics should be protected. Most cars and trucks are made largely of metal, making them function as Faraday Cages. However, plastic body panels offer no protection.
Even if our cars survive, that might not make any difference, as the available supplies of gasoline will quickly be gone. Local gas stations don’t have equipment for pumping the gas out of underground tanks manually. While I’m sure some people will improvise, that won’t last long.
Neither will the gasoline stored in tank farms, which will probably be confiscated by the government anyway. So you and I are going to be limited to whatever gas we have stockpiled and/or can get our hands on.
Stockpiling gasoline is difficult, as the hydrocarbons evaporate off quickly. By and large, you can’t store gasoline for more than six months; a year if you add a life-extender to it.
Storing in metal cans is somewhat better than plastic ones, extending that life. But the best thing we can do is to rotate our fuel supply, using the old fuel and replacing it with new every six months.
Appliances
Most basic appliances are hearty enough to survive an EMP, especially older ones.
Of course, I’m not talking about the $4,000 refrigerator with a computer that monitors your whole house in the door; I’m talking about the $1,000 model that just keeps your food cold. The same can be said for any other appliance.
The basic operating parts of any appliances consist of motors, many of which are robust enough to survive the EMP. The problem comes when we have delicate electronics in the controls
. So if you want to make sure that you have appliances that survive an EMP, keep the old ones around and fix them when they break; don’t buy the new ones.
Of course, all of those appliances are heavy energy users, so you’re going to have to be extremely careful about their use in a post-EMP world, where you’re powering all of your electronics with what you can get from your solar panels.
You might only be able to run the washing machine once every week to 10 days, so make the most of it.
Warehouses Full of Electronic Devices
Finally, the real treasure is going to be all the electronics stored in warehouses and big box stores, all across the country.
Most warehouses and stores are metal buildings, making them natural Faraday Cages. Since the products inside will be packed in boxes, the boxes act as insulation, ensuring that the contents are not in direct contact with the cage itself.
So those electronics should survive the EMP unscathed.
The job of rebuilding after an EMP will depend greatly on what we can find in those warehouses.
With the grid severely damaged, unable to be brought back online for a decade or more, it will depend on local neighborhoods and communities to find ways of producing electricity locally.
Related: Turning Fire into Electricity (BioLite Camp Stove)
Once they do that, which may actually mean melting down copper and drawing wire to make generators, they will be able to take a look in those warehouses and find what is useful. That’s where rebuilding will begin.
Airplanes
While most people expect airplanes to fall out of the sky after the EMP, that probably won’t happen.
Airplanes, regardless of the size, are generally made with an aluminum skin, once again forming a nearly perfect Faraday Cage; even better than cars, as the windshield is smaller.
Airplanes are struck by lightning fairly regularly, without effect. That’s because the airplane is not grounded. So any electricity that hits it merely runs across the skin of the airplane and continues on to ground.
The airplane itself doesn’t attract electricity, unless it is sitting on the ground and has some metal cable or piece of metal (like a mobile stairway) connecting it electrically to the ground.
The big problem for most commercial airplanes will be the lack of ground reference.
The ADF systems they depend on will be offline, as well as the entire network of air traffic controllers, weather radar and even the runway lights they depend on to find their way to a safe landing.
Pilots will have to rely on dead-reckoning navigation and the mach-1 eyeball to find their way safely back to the ground.
While the fact that airplanes are unlikely to fall out of the sky is good news, there will be a lot of people who get off those planes who are far from home, without the necessary resources to survive.
All flights will be grounded, except perhaps those of private planes. But those will quickly become grounded by the lack of available fuel.
People who are stranded in other cities will either have to make the best of it or try to walk back home. Neither of those will be a good option.
Those with cash might be able to buy gear and supplies for the first day or two; but after that, it’s going to be all based on their wit and knowledge.
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I don’t have a faraday cage. but I will make me one. Have gotin a solar generator from 4-patriot supplies. It is a real good one and use when we go camping.
Question. would a fire proof cabinet work. It has a shelf in it, should I replace it with an aluminum shelf.
Need some info on the aluminum shelf. please.
PS: hope I never get to see if it works or not. will be a sad day when that happens.
We are closer then we ever have been to nuclear war. Hope y’all are ready.
Keep stock piling supplies. The time is getting closer.
Just planted more potatoes, leaks, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and more going in the ground very soon.
Ya running a bit behind, blew out my knee. still going, can’t stop for nothing. It’s time to grow food. as much as possible. eat storage and giving it away to help others.
Go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy a galvanized trash can with a lid, line it with cardboard, including the lid so anything you put in there does not touch the metal can. Put the lid on and tape it shut with aluminum tape, will protect it fine. We also have a 4patriots solar generator. And don’t want anything to ruin it. This trash can will hold some other electronics too, as there is plenty of room in there.
Please explain what the cardboard does.
That’s exactly what I did. I have two cans lined in cardboard with all my necessities in them.
okay, if a trash can, can work, then what I have will work really good. Just need to line it with card board.
Maybe I will line it with some thin rubber.
Thanks. I will not worrie about the aluminum shelf, then.
Dry Cardboard Insulates the contents from the metal shielding.
It’s what the whole faraday cage idea came from, shielding the sensitive devices from that millisecond massive EMP.
Cardboard is unnecessary. Search for “skin effect” if you want to know why.
Mrrrick, the cardboard is an insulating layer between the metal “cage” and the electronics inside. An EMP will create electrical charges when it passes through most metal items, and that charge will transfer to anything touching the metal, similar to producing a static electrical buildup and then touching something that will ground it and feeling the shock, only on a much, much larger scale and intensity. One thing experts tell us about Faraday Cages is they are much more reliable if completely enclosed and is why Dang Duffy advises to seal with aluminum tape because it is metallic, not plastic; leaving even tiny gaps will allow some of the EMP energy to enter the container.
Red ant: Aluminum is a conductor of current. In the 60s many houses were wired with aluminum wire in place of copper. Was cheaper than copper but not as long lasting. Failed because it is more resistant to the passage of current and thus got hotter in use. Getting hotter caused connectors to fail. I understand it is no longer used.
Cardboard has been used as an insulator to the flow of eve grins for a very long time. Those of us of a certain age will remember that appliance cords once had paper wrapping inside as insulation. You don’t see it anymore, but if you look closely at your great Grandma’s toaster you will see paper in the wires attached to the plug. That was insulation. It didn’t allow the flow of electrons. That’s why cardboard makes a good insulator for Faraday cages.
According to Dr. Arthur Bradley lightening discharges are totally different from both CME and EMP electron flows. Comparing lightening to those two phenomenon is like comparing grapefruit to bananas. Similar but totally different.
The automotive testing that was done was done in the late 1980s. One does not need to be an EE PhD in order to recognize that the the autos built in succeeding years are much more heavily computerized with more extensive miniaturized circuitry than the cars produced in the 1980s.
This whole question of cars vis a vis EMP/CME has been discussed many times on this list with frequent referrals to a paper on line that discusses the whole question of automotive failure quite cogently and in great detail.
Rich’s statement regarding the magnitude of the testing does not take into consideration that those tests are nearly, if not actually 40 years old. The tests did not consider electric automobiles. They were non-existent in the 1980s. With the government’s drive to make us all dependent for our private transportation on windmills and solar panels, your $100,000 Tesla will b a smoldering pile of junk in the event of either of those events.
okay thanks LCC.
I still use them. Some of my real old tools have the paper insulator cords.
Can’t use them on a damp ground, because the plastic coating is cracked real bad on the cord.
Will lite you up. I know first hand. lol…
Fact: getting a little zap of elecrity, It will kill Chiggers. I know this to be true. it dose work.
Proceed with cauction. ⚠
My old ranch boss told me to hold this wire. So I did and zap. He said the chiggers you had are dead, no more scrating or chigger anymore. Crazy…
thanks y’all…
Even lithium batteries need to be charged every couple of months.
The solar panels will survive but the charge controllers and grid-tied inverters will not make it.
they might a lot of them have built in surge protectors and over load equipment. (also not everyone ties into the grid too)
Neat fluffy article and we might actually get to see a EMP burst here soon enough. Our stupid leadership is once again giving the Ukraines some high tech equipment that sank a captial russian ship. Maybe we can stop funding the Nazies in the Ukraine and just step away. Its not like the US can fight anyways. We lost to the sand people in afganistan and ran with our tails between our legs giving them everything we had.
We are going to be completed off grid solar and this has been my concern. I’m probably going to get a duplicate controller and inverter to store in a Faraday cage (trashcan).
One of my big worries after an EMP or CME event, is another one or a string of them happening sometime soon after everyone has all of their once EMP Faraday protected gear out in the open.
If the Sun belched out the “KILL” shot,ALL BETS ARE OFF!
Solar flare is actually less destructive than EMP because (Given Warning) you can unplug everything while EMP by definition is a surprise attack.
Both will make for a really rough decade of rebuilding IF ever.
Will throwing main breaker protect vs unplugging?
According to the Soviet Project K EMP tests the EMP arced over open circuit breakers.
Also, many small fires were noted in various structures from overheated wirings.
Given that EMS might be a bit busy (If available at all) what’s your plans for electrical fires? Something to give thought about as most of us have the bulk of our preps inside our homes.
Always good to have extras in caches in case you lose your home.
Patricia Billings not as much because you still have all the wiring in the house.
The wiring acts as an antenna. Which not only transmits the emp wave but can amplify it.
And the U.S. is bombing the hell out of countries all over the middle east and meddling in the affairs of europe. Entangling alliances WITH NONE.
We deserve the hell that our government has brought upon us.
Don’t worry man the fudd’s here think the other countries want our “democratic ways ” and don’t even understand the US was a republic before there generation sold it out for safety.
They have there heads so buried in the sand. That they have no clue how much shit our country has intentionally screwed up. With other countries and trying topple everyone elses gov. All so they can push the “dollar as a standard currency”
Do some research and take a look at the EMP SHIELD CO.
They have a shielding device for home,vehicles,and generator.
Installation on the home shield is a little tricky the rest are easy.
Their customer service folks are engineers and will answer any
questions.
The rest of our communications gear will need a homemade
Faraday cage of some type.
Wondering how many suckered got that emp shield gimmick
It seems to me a metal, 4-drawer filing cabinet could be an excellent Faraday cage but has not been mentioned in any similar articles. Can anyone explain why not?
You’d have to be sure to seal every seam and opening with steel tape, I think. And probably either line the drawers with cardboard, or maybe keep small items in cardboard boxes (taped closed). I have an old metal filing cabinet that I didn’t even think of for use as a Faraday cage. Thanks!
Elverta, file cabinets have to many gaps, think of your Faraday Cage as being a 100% completely sealed container, like a properly sealed canning jar or mylar bag for food storage. Any little gap, seam, or hole will allow some of the EMP energy to enter your container and is why it is recommended to use something you can easily and economically seal up 100%. Since we are only guessing what the actual effects of an EMP will be, we will not know if anything we do to prepare will work, or was not needed, or falls somewhere in-between. For me, I don’t want to waste a lot of resources on Faraday Cages, so I am using snack tins from cookies and popcorn, cleaned and dried completely, then insulated top, bottom, and sides with clean corrugated cardboard cut-to-fit, and putting thumb drive data storage devices, old smart phones, small solar chargers, and all the cords and connectors needed to charge and use them inside, with the lids snugged down completely. I use one of the larger popcorn tins to keep an old small laptop, CD’s, DVD’s, another small solar charger, and all the cords and connectors needed for them.
Then I stored the tins in my gun safe, which may help protect them from theft and fire. And since my gun safe is packed from top to bottom, I did move some ammo to other locations to make room for the “Faraday Tins”.
Those were good moves. Are you leaving the gun safes unlocked just in case the EMP fries the electronics in safe doors. It’s possible.
DDD, my gun safe came with an emergency key to open it if the electronics go out. I keep that key in a location well away from the safe, but I can easily retrieve it in a very short time.
In actual experiments described in detail in his book about EMP/CME Dr. Bradley tested both tape that was supposed to be electron flow I’m pervious and ordinary 3M duct tape around the rims of garbage cans. He reported that the 3M duct tape provided better impede cevthan the tape that was purportedly manufactured specifically for that purpose.
If you want to get authoritative information about both EMP and CME events, I highly recommend Dr. Bradley’s book, “Disaster Preparedness for EMP Attacks and Solar Storms (Expanded Edition) by Arthur T. Bradley, PhD.
It is only 120 pages long so it is not an overpowering read. He explains his test parameters and describes in detail the results together with his recommendations. If you are concerned about either of those events you owe it to yourself to buy the book. It is available on Amazon.
While we are on the topic of CME, over the weekend I was cleaning out old e-mails from my computer. Spaceweather.com was one of the series I was cleaning out. As I perused the list of old posts from that site one caught my eye. It was from March 31, 2021. It recited the fact that it was 20 years ago on that date, March 31, 2001, that Earth was barged in a large CME. Before it could wreak havoc on our electrical systems, it was followed by another CME that reversed the effects of the first CME, thus neutralizing the potentially damaging electron flow. Aurora Borealis was visible as far south as San Diego.
I don’t remember reading that notice from spaceweather nor do I remember reading about the AB being visible in San Diego which means it must have been visible where I live. I do know that having gone through the Y2K folderol the previous year or two, I probably would have been unimpressed. I wasn’t prepping 20 years ago so wasn’t concerned about CMEs. It wasn’t until a few years later that I read an article about the Carrington Event that I realized just how dangerous the sun’s tantrums are to our modern way of life.
Speaking of which there have been more than 7 CMEs this past weekend, including one X1.1 CME. We have entered into an 11 year solar maximum cycle starting this year and Old Man Sun is living up to predictions. Solar activity has been in my opinion, extreme so far this year.
I am learning more about the sun than I ever suspected I would know. Not ready to write my master’s thesis yet but certainly feel that I have completed Bonehead Solar Studies 101.
Read Ben Davidson’s books and watch his daily report on the sun’s activities at Suspicious Observers on Youtube. He has been posting these since 2011 — 3 to 5 minutes a day. You are correct that the sun is doing its thing in a big way and a duplicate Carrington event is past due. The earth’s magnetic field is 20% weaker than in 2010 and depleating daily, making the sun’s activities amplified, creating weather and earthquake events like we have never seen before. Yes, prepping is not a bad idea. And don’t buy Bitcoin — I don’t know how they could ever hold value without the internet. Maybe someone else has more information on this.
How about doing some real research on storing fuel? Such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene. for several years it has been repeated that you can store fuels for a year max, yet many of us have fuel that with one treatment of PRI-G for gas, PRI-D for diesel and Kerosene have stored fuel for up to 5 years without problems! The PRI products themselves will store almost indefinitely as long as they are not stored in direct sunlight.
They are fuel preservatives, not fuel stabilizers which only keep fuel in the condition it is in when the stabilizer is added. A fuel preservative can actually make old fuel refinery fresh.
PRI products are found in Auto Parts stores or big box stores like Wal-Mart. They are sold by independent dealers.
One of the best sources of info I know of is this article: https://www.countryhomesteadliving.com/fuel-storage/
having a vehicle that still runs after an EMP will only be useful if enough of the roads are clear enough to get around, you can get enough fuel to keep it running, and you can protect it from being stolen.
After a few days the only vehicles that can be used without you being in too much danger and really be able to get around with all the junk that will be on the roads is tanks and military vehicles because they have armor and can go off road.
You might be able to use a dirt bike or 4 wheeler but you would be taking a chance becasue of the danger of other people wanting what you have.
I plan on using my FEET that way I can keep situational awareness and still move around. Does it take more time? yes Will it cause more work? yes is it worth your life doing this? yes
if you live that close to people, Where driving a truck is going to cause a issue… You live to close to people.
Cyndy,
If you are a prepper and say If there is say an EMP EOTWAWKI event then I ask you why will we need to use a vehicle to travel around in?
1. There will be no gas staions open.
2. There will be no grocery stores open.
3. There will be no hardware stores open.
4 All the stores that we had will be empty by people taking what they want in a very short time.
5. Anyone you care about had better already be prepared like you. So you will not need to travel using a car for that. Becasue if they are that far way they you won’t make it to them.
Can we use some devices after the event that an EMP possibly would take out yes but they will be for being more comfortable than for actual survival.
Also these sites that say they make devices to protect you from an EMP are mostly fake those device don’t work if they even have such a device and just take your money.
I have ask myself all the questions and pondered what could happen. From it comes this:
Using a scale of 1 to ten where 1 is you are safe and ten you are dead.
From the first month or so any moving around even walking will be on the danger scale about 8. Of course you will hunt, gather and fish during this month so you had better have very good situational awareness.
Staying Put for the first month will be about a 4 because you should have defences set up.
After the first month then moving around will drop to a 6 and stay in that for 6 months or so. This is because after 6 months most of these roving groups will have been either killed or they will have set up some location as a base and use slave labor to farm, gather and hunt.
It will never get below a 6 because anytime you are out there will be danger from some passerby or of you falling and breaking a leg with no or very little medical help.
The dangers will be real and driving a vehicle just allows someone to know you are there. If they have not eaten for sveral days then your a target. Ask your self how many people in this world actually have morals right now? Not many
Then ask your self how many of those who now have morals will lose them after they get hungry? I can not answer that because I will still have and use morals. But as to other people I am not so sure.
1 to 10 not sure where the 0 went ?
lol you think your morals will be outstanding even when starving….
you can store gas… you can limit your use of the truck… I dunno …. i will use chain saws till i run entirely out of gas. Because like hell would i be cutting trees down manually
How far does the sound of a running chain saw carry? It won’t matter because if people were out scouting for opportunity, you just made it very easy for them to find you from a distance, and since you really should stay focused on running the chain saw or risk serious injury or death for failing to pay attention, if they have even a moderate amount of skill you are not likely to even be aware you are being scouted. Yeah, go right ahead and make yourself an easy target, no one will miss you, some may even be relieved that you’re finally gone, but that is why you really are a “Charlie Foxtrot” X-spurt, you always let your ego take charge and make bad decisions, which is always a fail.
dz, Hey the sound not only goes for a chainsaw but generators and any engine. So sound is also your enemy. Yep Me thinks there is some people that will think they are alone and will make enough sound for someone to find them and them not know they were spotted.
I think the main problem is seeing them before they see you. If you stay close in your area and have lookouts watching then they have a chance of seeing some one scouting you out. If they scout you out they most likely will wait until a time they think you are not ready for them and then attack. This puts you at a real disaadvantage if you do not know you have been scouted. If you know you have been scouted then you are at a lesser but still disadvantage if by having to wait on them while staying ready. Waiting is hard to do.
Dreaded, agreed, patience really is a virtue, especially when it’s about avoiding unwanted attention to yourself, and especially to others you care about. Egotistical assholes like Raven will not only get themselves killed, but many others around them.
Dreaded, I don’t really know many details how our ancestors managed their security, but I do know they all had dogs that were treated well as family members, and those dogs were very loyal and protective of the family, and excellent alarms. I have never lived around domestic geese, but I have been told they are similar to dogs in loyalty and being very protective alarms.
dz
The details our ancestors had for defense was different then what we will have to have for one basic reason. There was not many bad men back then that would rob and kill you so all you had to do was be aware of your area and setup basic defenses. We have many many more people now, than was around back then so they did not have to worry about roving groups being out to kill them for food. The old folks back then would not refuse to feed some one needing a meal even if they were an outlaw they would feed them. Oh there was some outlaws and indians but TV made it out to be a lot more then there actually were. Even the outlaws left women and children alone if what I have been told by some older folks is correct.
If the only thing we had to worry about was what our ancestors had to worry about we could easily survive. They did not have the chaos we will have until things settle down witch might a year or 10 years we will not know before hand.
and about your nail fungus, I know how to cure it. I learned it from an old Nam era Fudd doctor that really knew what he was doing and had decades of real-world experience under his belt, and he cured my “uncurable” fungus after 12 years of “higher educated ego’s” medical hacks misdiagnosing it for over ten years. But since all you ever do is lie and insult the “old Fudd’s”, good luck getting anyone to tell you how to do things more efficiently or get anything fixed
I grew up on the Oregon Coast in a logger household, with Douglas Fir evergreens being the most abundant trees, so I have a teeny bit of knowledge about chainsaws and falling and bucking trees. Since you live in Swissconsin, which I have never been to, and other than the videos you stupidly posted on the internet, I can only guess what type of trees and the environment you will be “running your chainsaw” in, but I did find this video that seems appropriate. If you’ll notice, the tree being cut is in a wide-open area with some wooded areas quite a distance away. Even if you were cutting trees in such a wide-open area with a chainsaw, the sound will carry, and even using my smallest handheld optics of maybe 4x power, you will be easily scouted from the distant woods. Red keeps hoping your will eventually grow up, but I have no misconceptions, you will always allow your ego to lead, and you will fail, dragging down others around you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mcGl3gjvsQ
for clarification, this video I posted of falling a hardwood tree is an amateur, there are much safer and more efficient ways to fall a tree.
I just imagined this is how our X-spurt would approach falling trees, following his ego and guessing, hit and miss, maybe getting it right, and lucky if he doesn’t get hurt because he really doesn’t know how to do something correctly, efficiently, and as safely as practical. And of course, he will totally ignore and disparage what the “old Fudds” know from real-world experience.
The main thing is if you need to run any engine do it during the day and have guards out watching for people scouting. Sounds travel farther at night.
The thing is we will have to use some engines unless we have enough ablebodied people to use shovels to plant crops. This take time and I do not think you will get enough planted by using the shovel method. So it will be a tiller, tractor breaking ground or better yet a horse drawn plow and this means you will need guards posts/listening stations setup too protect your fields while you plow and plant them then after they start producing you will have to have guards day and night until harvest is over.
There is so many problems that will have to be overcome that very few people will be able to overcome them all. All anyone can do is their best and staying open minded will help a lot.
Dreaded, again, agreed. If SHTF so bad we really are in an EOTWAWKI situation, there will be no rules, no normals, only survival, and for humans the phrase “survival of the fittest” will depend more on intelligence, knowledge, and the wisdom to make wise decisions more than anything else. Idiots like Dale and the X-spurt will follow their egos unto death, and unfortunately there will be others that are harmed and killed because of their poor attitudes.
dz That is 100% true.
dz it has been a long time since I fell trees lol but I think I still know how. The thing people do not understand is an ax can fell a fair size tree if used properly. It does take about twice as long and is good exercise which people living the new lifestyle will need. Using chain saws and doing things that does not require as much work will hurt you more then anything because you need to be at the top of your form to survive. Surviving in the wild takes hard work which most people now days do not know what hard work is. they think a hard days work is working 8 hrs in some plant on an assembly line then coming home and setting on the couch drinking beer. But in the wild a hard days work may be plowing a field, chopping down trees, walking 5 or 10 miles hunting, or any of a hundred other things and it is not 8 hrs a day it is from daylight till dark everyday. I worked on my uncles farm. We got up before daylight ate breafast and was in the fields before daylight and took only 1/2 hr for lunch and that was in the field where we ate. We might get a few minutes break in the middle of the afternoon if it was 105 degrees lol to cool of and wash our face. We worked untill it was too dark to see. We clear fields meaning we cut trees down, blew stumps up and picked up all the sticks and stones. Then it was ready to be turned which was also hard work even though we had a tractor. You would turn a litttle get off and remove a rock or big root then start all over until you have the field turned then twwo weeks later after its burn you came back an plowed it witch was worse then turning because you had all the smaller roots and rocks to deal with.
Dreaded, it depends on the diameter of the tree, but I prefer a good saw, even a bow saw if it fits.
And yes, surviving after a SHTF situation will be a lot harder than most people can imagine, let alone having ever experienced. You have to be willing to perform physical work all the time while also keeping your mind sharp and focused.
Yeah i’ll run the chainsaw as in the fact …everyone in my area has one and will be doing so. I don’t live in your city life and people here have fuel stored. I suppose you won’t cook food either for the fear or the “smell of food going out either” Well die alone and cold. The reaons for having a group is to provide secuirty foremost. So sure while the chain saw carries…. but in our valley its not going far we don’t have open endless land like some tools in Minn or IL.
Anyways i am sure you got some christians you want to put on the cross and sell your nieighbors out to the Goveerment because you back the blue….. have a good one.
Claude, I see someone has selectively start censoring your blog. If you want to censor, please do it right.
1.) set the rules with very explicate and non-negotiable parameters, such as: All posts must pertain to the prepping subject. Posts deviating from prepping will be considered a violation. (This means all the soapbox sermon preachers will be in violation). Intentionally posting lies about, name calling, or antagonizing other posters is a violation and you will be banned.
2.) establish a verifiable login method such as by IP Address so posters cannot post under another bloggers name, as I proved can be done. If you cannot verify by IP Address, then it requires much more scrutiny and research to verify but will be required to remain valid.
3) all violators will be PERMANTLY banned from all Ask a Prepper and affiliated blogs, such as Homestead Survival and Urban Survival.
I can live with that, can you?
lol… sorry.
that’s, not free speech… That’s being a “di**-tator”.
That time will be here shortly. but not right now. thank you…
wait till they censor everything, unless you receive his, Mark. then you can still only talk, when they want you to.
billions will see…
red ant, not surprisingly you completely missed the point, I said if you’re going to CENSOR, then do it right. Claude or someone else with administrative rights to the blog started censoring, but half-assed, so I posted if he was going to CENSOR, then to it right.
This is similar to “maintaining good order and discipline” which means set the rules, and enforce them.
Going back a bit in comments about security. Every farmer in my family has a few dogs roaming around, mostly huskies and German shepherds. It’s an intimidating sight, even if all they’re doing is watching you. Animal shelters are full of pit Bull mixes because of the unfair stigma against them. In terms of sounding an alarm, small dogs seem to be the barkers and I don’t underestimate those razor teeth. My neighbor has a shitzu puppy that is the terror of the block.
Geese — geese are great security. They’re not loyal to you, but they are extremely territorial, especially during mating season If you’ve ever been chased and pecked by an angry goose, you know how painful that is. The goose won’t give up until you’re off his turf, and they seem to remember you forever. Swans are the same. Surprisingly nasty birds.
If you can, have a few critters to enhance your security.
My Geese are pretty loyal and pretty good security . Loud and alerting….
I would take all of the information in the above article with a HUGE grain of salt. However the article is full of bovine fertilizer which could be useful.
EMP commission auto test wasn’t done at an EMP intensity of 400 dB. All ’75- up cars are fooked, all ’95-up diesels are fooked.
Those with a running car will be carjacked.
Meh … most early 80s chevys will be running or a quick HEI replacement.
That’s IF it fails. ….