Living off-grid implies a certain lifestyle, often without using valuable electricity. Handheld tools only use your energy so do not cost you anything except the upfront payment.
I appreciate that everybody has a weakness and who can do without coffee? Not me for sure, and that’s why my coffee grinder is top of my list.
See my list of indoor, outdoor, and general maintenance handheld tools that can help you to live better on your homestead.
In Your Kitchen
A coffee mill grinds dried coffee beans into the powder we all know as ground coffee. You may be lucky enough to find one in a yard sale or a second-hand store.
They were made of solid metal with wooden handles for comfortable grinding.
Hand whisks can be used as egg beaters, cake makers, and for any mixing needs in the kitchen. Wash them carefully after use.
You can find whisks with handles to turn for baking. These are a great favorite with grandchildren too.
Sieves of different sizes are useful for straining seeds from jelly and preserves. Think of removing seeds from rosehips to make syrup or jelly.
A garlic press. Trim the top and bottom of a clove of garlic to peel it, then pop it into the press and push hard. Out comes your garlic ready to be added to any dish you like.
Related: How to Make Black Garlic For Boosting Your Immune System
A multi-tool can opener. Buy a sturdy one that not only opens cans, but has a bottle opener, and possibly a corkscrew too.
Mortar and pestle, seed grinder, or grain mill? These kinds of tools depend on the food you grow. Some use a mortar and pestle and that’s fine for soft spices, seeds, and leaves.
If you want to hand mill grain, you need to buy a grain mill. Be warned that it is labor-intensive as a hand tool.
Cheese graters can be used by children and adults alike and add some luxurious topping as long as there is cheese available.
Manual juice squeezer – who doesn’t need a squeezer now and then? A hand-powered one is very satisfying. Just make sure you clean out the container as it is semi-impossible if you leave segments of fruit dry out in there.
Knife sharpeners keep your tools in good condition. They are discussed in detail below.
In The Living Room
Light and heat are needed in winter so have a stock of candles and matches stored in a place you all know. In emergencies, you can have a windup solar light kept in one location.
Log-burning stoves require a few essential tools.
Bellows are used to provide a wood-burning stove with oxygen.
They are really useful to get a fire started.
Other tools to use around fires are a poker to move red-hot burning wood into the center and tongs to move hot logs.
A sweeping brush and dustpan. Use them to clean up the ashes and try not to let dangerous ash linger in the air. Bad for your lungs!
Empty the ash into a container with a lid and move this outdoors to use on vegetable beds in winter when you want to add nutrients for the coming year. Fruit bushes and trees adore wood ash.
The humble hand-held carpet cleaner was invented in Michigan by Melville R Bissell in 1876 and this quiet rolling cleaner should suit any home even in the 21st century.
It runs on wheels with brushes on rollers that collect up dust and dirt which then can be emptied straight into your compost bin. They are quiet compared to the electric vacuum and the only energy used is yours.
Round The House And General Maintenance
A hammer, saw and drill are essential tools in my house.
I also keep a supply of hoses of different widths, wire to clean blockages, 60 feet or as long as your pipes, and a plunger.
I prefer long gauntlet gloves too for messy work.
Related: DIY Solar Water Heaters To Cut Down On Energy Bills
Sharpening tools are excellent to keep your tools sharp for longer. You can choose from stone, diamond-edged tools, and oil-based sharpeners. Diamond-edged sharpeners work for a long time and will ultimately, extend the life of the blade.
In the garden, in an emergency, I sometimes sharpen the edge of shears on the edge of a ceramic mug or use my pocket-sized sharpener.
Some homesteaders say that sandpaper and emery boards make a good sharp edge but to keep tools tip-top use the recommended method for your sharpener and do it regularly.
Sewing machines are all electric now.
But my grandmother had one with a metal pedal under the sewing area, allowing you to sew and move the pedal at the same time.
Look out for one at a yard sale or in your local second-hand store.
Knitting needles, crochet hooks, and sewing needles are not strictly tools, more craft items, but I value them as much as my gardening tools. Just having these items allows me to darn holes, make patches, and knit square wool blankets from scraps.
Blankets are quite fashionable in Amish craft shops and they can keep the household warm in winter. Who knows? Your blankets may become a sellable item.
If your sewing and repairs are excellent, you could set up a small business doing zips, replacing buttons, and doing repairs or restyling expensive clothes.
Outdoor Equipment
A hand-push lawn mower is useful. These are tough work, as I know from teenage pocket money jobs I used to do so maybe pay an enthusiastic teenager to do the hard work.
However, those mowings make great compost activators or free bedding for pets and animals.
For large fields to grow grass, for animal feed, or to make bedding like hay or straw, hand-held tools should include a scythe for clearing grassy areas, shears for trimming shrubs and tidying up, and some sharpening tools.
A hand pump for water will work even if there is a blackout.
Related: This Will Cause The Next American Blackout
A shovel, rake, and fork are needed for agricultural work. Try these out before buying. I found a shorter handle suits me best whereas other people prefer handles to suit their height.
Two saws are useful, a handheld one for sawing small branches or pruning and a larger one in a space where you can cut logs.
Wood Chopping, Sawing, And Storing Wood
If you need heat in winter, it’s likely to come from fire. Wood must be dried for at least two years before you burn it in a log-burning stove, so build a waterproof cover with good ventilation for drying.
Use a hand axe with eye protection, make sure the cutting edge is sharp, and that you work safely in an area with no pets, children, and enough space to swing it without causing damage.
Cut large branches into smaller sizes, stack them in order of cutting time, and add labels if required with dates.
If your property has a lot of trees, you can make a supply of cured wood, and maybe you can supply your neighborhood with logs too.
Spend the money on decent tools if you want them to last a lifetime. You may find it is the moving parts that run out over time, so try to buy a supply of any of these too.
If family members have tools in attics or sheds, ask for permission to go through their cupboards. That’s where my coffee grinder came from. Grease them and maintain them to keep them pristine over time.
A homesteader’s life is hard physical work but very satisfying and the right tools can make all the tasks easier and more productive.
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In today’s world more or less people have illegals doing their yard work. A push lawnmower is not what most urban homeowners would use. A lot of people are couch potatoes that don’t have the same muscle structure of their forbearer’s had. Some city dwellers are vegetarian dieters. People that eat meat are more suburban to rural like dwellers. So they would have the muscles to do hard physical work. Like pushing the push lawnmower for example.
I eat tacos so I have the strength for that.
Isn’t it funny in 9 years one guy at Burning Man Festival said. He’s never encounter a muddy weather event since he attended the festival.
Could this be an example of Climate Change Weather Geoengineering? Like the California wildfires or recently the deadly Maui wild fires?
Interesting could that be used in 2024 to deny access to presidential voting day, maybe?
So TJ, when was the last time you’ve been to the city?
When was the last time you traveled out to the countryside for a picnic?
TJ… everything is not a conspiracy…. yes, it is climate change. The Earth is not happy with our behaviors, simple as that!
You say “conspiracy”, I say science: World Climate Declaration
Trolls and Bible thumpers are a continuing annoyance on this blog for at least two years now. You guys just go away. Let the preppers do our thing here, please!
Shut your mouth pagan
If Mother was that unhappy she or he, or whatever dumb pronouns used today.
The planet earth would have wiped people off the earth long ago.
It is GOD who is in charge of us, the world and the universe. And no I’m not a Bible thumper, organized church goer of the sort. I believe in one GOD the creator of heaven and earth. So cool your Marxist educated notions, thank you sir!
sorry … there is no such thing as manmade “climate change.”
the climate changes for 3 simple reasons.
sunspot activity … well documented, and somewhat regular. axial tilt of the earth which is not constant (the earth wobbles slightly).
and the earths rotation around the sun, which is also irregular (sometimes slightly closer to the sun, sometime slightly further from the sun).
the “bogyman” of CO2 is nonsensical … CO2 is the building block of life. plants need it to grow, and plants then add oxygen to the atmosphere.
and , no, the sudden fires of meat packing plants, etc is not merely a coincidence … there are powerful people who hate humanity, and worship “mother nature.”
Believe!
Chinese spies gained access to US military bases by posing as tourists, report says
Believe!
TJ, the Bible is repleat with why people should be prepared for lean times. Preppers, Christian or not, should be able to voice their thoughts and opinions about prepping freely. Climate change has been going on for millennia even though some people try to convince others it’s human induced. You don’t see anyone trying to get you to become a Christian, although reading John 3:16 wouldn’t be a bad idea.
In short, be willing to accept prepping ideas from anyone… they may be good or bad, but you won’t know until you try them.
A lot of people with commonsense, like those in the snow country understand being prepared in case of snow storms.
City slickers only know their food comes from a bodega, not from a farmer.
The wide spread population knows of some type of a supreme being if the universe.
The problem on earth is organized religion of mans’ hand is tipping the scales of what is true. The pearl-clutchers of the Bible must except the Bible was written by the hands of elitist men. Who organized certain spiritual books, allowed or not allowed into the Bible. There are too many versions and misinterpreted translations of the Bible. Who real knows which Bible speaks the truth? King James is the English speaking go to version. But is it the true story of the people on planet earth?
There is a lot of difference between religion and faith. Most think they are the same thing…. they aren’t.
Hey People.. it is as simple as this..
Read and learn .. no one is forvsing you to read this article! When the day comes that life as we new has changed.. this can only help! Thank you to the Author!
Sorry on the typos!
We need an edit button to fix our reply’s, thank you!
I for one will Never , ever stop proclaiming My salvation, love for Jesus Christ , Love of Family Values, Love of The Way, The Truth , The FREEDOM Life only by way of Jesus Christ
So , YOU can Save all YOU can , Store All YOU can , Get everything YOU can so you can have it all when the end comes , and WILL be taken away, destroyed by the evil empire of this world who ( LIE , Cheet, Steel , LUST after to satisfy their need for Greed
YOU however can and Will have the opportunity to have Life , Save Lives, Live Free right up to the Rapture , when God Pronounces the Time to pay for sin
Redemption is today and you can have it
or YOU can keep the rebellion , do it YOUR way , and find out the lie was real
one thing to be a prepper or a boy scout and prep for hard times
another to store up massively , selfishly , and lustfully
Salvation is at YOUR door , YOU are the only one who can make that decision
Accept or Reject
Works cannot save , weights and scales never equate to salvation and saving your from the End
Like Hawaii , Like ukraine , Like history proves Mankind will and always will seek after thier own demise
Like the bilble says ( Thinking Themselves to be wise , they reject God and become fools )
There Fore God who is JUST and Loving , after his patietience has run out , give them over , that is right Gave them to thier own , Selfish way s
By the Way the articles listed in these preppers sites are for the end , or untill the end
No! Hell No! We reject you Bible verse thumper’s holier than thou attitude!
Your not helping, prepping is about being self sufficient in life. Separate from the religious stuff. Yes you can believe in GOD all you or we want.
But religion is a personal matter, not your soapbox preaching here.
Get the message here? Hear oh Lord, for they do not know what they are doing. They have been mislead by organized religion of mind control churches. Praise GOD!, for the truth seeker in their private moments with GOD. Not airing out their personal dirty laundry among the public. Thanks be to GOD Almighty!
The Bible does not say keep voting for the same old evil liberals such as the modern Demoncrat party. They are raising taxes, wages, gas prices, gun laws to protect criminals and jail the defenders using a gun.
Mass shootings have risen since Biden has taken the helm. The American once trusted agencies are now weaponized to limit the Americans freedoms. Taxpayers are required to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s an less to God.
Mass shootings are a product of the RINO’s. No not the political RINO’s.
The Religious In Name Only’ socialists. People like Biden, Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, The Congress Squad types.
Quit voting Demoncrat for GOD’s sake!
Hillary caused the Trump persecutions, Trump called for the troops and law enforcement to quell the potential Jan 6th, leftist rioters. Yet Pelosi then speaker of the house, rescinded those orders. So the Demoncrat’s planned riot’s would take place. As to cause Trump from running in the 2024 presidential election coming soon.
Who are you voting for in 2024?
Faith healer. Voting isn’t real.
It’s an illusion to make you thing there’s democracy and it keeps you distracted and pitted against each other.
All politicians are appointed, if decent people get into politics they go nowhere because they aren’t willing to sell their soul to satan.
They wouldn’t let us do it if it made a difference.
Is it Oddi or Adie? Voting is an American birth rite, right to our Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence documents stuff.
So you believe the Jan 6th political prisoners should be locked up. While the Antifa an BLM rioters go free walking the city streets?
The A’s & B’s have done worse, destroyed cities, burned, looted and murdered innocents Americans. Yeah sure, it’s an ILL-delusion in your mind.
Tell that to the living disabled American Veterans who fought for America’s freedoms.
So you have the right to be a fool or not, to speak your mind in public without being persecuted. At least for now!
Adie is one of the people who stayed home, didn’t voter for Trump. It was a protest vote for Biden the terrible tyrant. Open them dam borders to fentanyl and child sex slave traffic, yes you go girl!
There are illusions in life not in your delusional thinking. We still believe in truth, justice and the American way!
Spanky. You’re right I didn’t vote for trump.
I’m English you numpty. I live in England
You are rather twisted a little loony, from cherry picking portions of the Bible you think is real. It is good to raise your head up and look around to see what is happening in your life. God, Jesus did not say live by the Bible die by the Bible.
We must have a balance in life too.
Those in the first and second parts of the Bible did not have real written scriptures to read. Many of those stories were past down generation after generation by verbal stories.
As anyone that has played “The Telephone Game,” we know the original message is different at the end. The last person to say what was the original message is not the same.
So before the handwritten to the Gutenberg Press these Bible stories may not be truly accurate in meaning. Through all the language translations in several countries. By the hands of religious and political motivations along the way.
God and Jesus knew the true understanding also comes from the heart, mind, body an soul in the personal wisdom and belief of God in private prayer.
Be careful what you “speak” or type! What a man sows, he will also reap…even the curses about God. You know not what you do/what you say! I feel so sorry for the curses you are declaring over YOURSELF when you curse God.
Climate change or no, we should all be prepping and learning new skills everyday. In the Bible, for example, Joseph saved entire nations by prepping because of the warning vision that God gave him of dire famine coming for 7 years. He saved that region’s “known world”; and he did it because he was close to God and worshipped him. Thus, God gave Joseph the wisdom and foreknowledge of what to do out of His loving kindness, let alone God raised him up to be the Prime Minister of Egypt!!
Bible thumper’s never cease to amaze me. They crawl out of the nooks and crannies to expound on Bible verses they memorize. But do they truly know the meaning behind these verses or are they just feeling superior to the rest of us?
16 tons and deeper in debt – Biden economics. Most teachers are 80% Demoncrat voters and most Christian’s are Demoncratic voters too.
Do you know the torah
Sixteen Tons
Tennessee Ernie Ford
Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man’s made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that’s a-weak and a back that’s strong
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one mornin’ when the sun didn’t shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded 16 tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said, “Well, a-bless my soul”
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one mornin’, it was drizzlin’ rain
Fightin’ and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol’ mama lion
Can’t no high toned woman make me walk the line
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
If you see me comin’, better step aside
A lotta men didn’t, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don’t get you
Then the left one will
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
Just Great – Thanks Samo, now I can’t stop singing Sixteen Tons in my head (one of several T.E.F. songs on my iPod Nano)!!! I’m a Huge Tennessee Ernie Ford fan and of course Sixteen Tons and The Ballad Of Davy Crockett are my all-time fav’s.
Typical White liberal probably a milquetoast gendered wannabe male. Your going to one of them left on earth for those seven years of Hotel California days to the end. Babel on my friend.
asinine comment …
but ‘merica.
A hand drill is a necessity, as is a cross cut saw. Also, you may want-to seriously consider an adze, a pitchfork and a scythe and/or a sling blade. Chisels are another must-have imho. One thing I disagree with … the push mower thing. The last thing you’re going-to want-to-do is keep a manicured lawn (which would attract bad guys) and as far as harvesting grass hay with it it goes … yeah, no.
Some very points that I have to totally agree with you, Gallo. Still there is a couple of VERY ESSENTIAL tools that are not mentioned and that is a hand wood-splitting maul ( I recommend at least 2 mauls in case one breaks) and a few splitting wedges which is a whole lot easier to split wood than using an axe.
@Gallo Pazzesco:
FINALLY! A comment on the post!!!
THANK you!
Good suggestions…
However, you might want to see what is in your tall grass and be aware of people sneaking up on you….I’d mow it in order to do that…..
A tool that I wouldn’t do without is a hand-crank food strainer for making jellies, tomato juick and sauces as well as turning apples into apple sauce quickly and without electricity. I use mine all the time.
A garden tool I have that I absolutely love is my broad fork. It will cut through our dry rocky summer soil. We use our scythe a lot as well.
You mean your god Jerry, the god of this world is satan.
Read Genesis it explains how and why satan is the god of this world. That’s why there’s such cruelty and evil.
My God is the almighty God the creator of everything.
Us believers in Lord Jesus Christ await his return when he will defeat satan remove all the demons and evil influences and we will live under his rule for 1000 years at which point. satan will be released from his prison, those that want to stay sinful will be thrown into the lake of fire along with all of his demons.
God will then destroy this world with fire. He will create a new heaven and a new earth and we will live as he intended us to live, in paradise for ever.
All you’ve got to do is believe in Jesus Christ, in his sacrifice for our sins and the promise of his return.
You obviously know nothing about faith or religion.
Believe it or not, one of the first preppers was NOAH, God gave him a task, and while he first doubted it, he completed it. Prepare for the uneventful, you never know whats in store for tomorrow
I have been a prepper for some time now, I have most of the hand tools including a singer tredle sewing machine, hand saws, brace bits, axes and hatchets and many other things, the woman of the house does a tremendous amount of canning and food storage, all grain is vaccum sealed and stored in sealed five gallon containers, the canned goods are now to a point that they need to be used or will be lost to spoilage. so I am working on a hydrogen gen. for my generators , I have 50 acres of wilderness property to bug out to if I need to. Not completely ready, but getting there. I live about 30 miles downwind from a nuclear power station so I got a plan of action on that count also
What the heck happened to this post? Hijacked by political and religious outbursts.
I thought the article was insightful and useful. Heck, the only thing on that list I don’t have are a bellows and a hand-water pump… those don’t work so well for deep-water wells, and it’s not like one can just swap out the electric pump for a hand-operated one. Fortunately I live in an area where we get almost 50” of rain a year.
This is a good article on hand tools to make sure you have on hand no matter what problems may happen.