This is the first thread I have started as I am pretty new to the forum. Looking at the USA and the EU economic forecast is ugly. I see hard times with the currency continues to deteriorate. I am starting to stock up on Barter items. If you are too, what are you putting away ? Here are mine so far: USGI AR magazines - I bought some very cheap before the latest mess cigarettes booze Matches and disposable lighters Batteries Hard candy
There is a wealth of information in this thread: What would you barter with? Sounds like you're off to a good start, keep it up!
There are a couple of real good posts on Bosnia and Serbia that detail what was needed the most. Well worth your time to read it.
I am using the plastic bags that you suck the air out of with O2 absorbers. The Bosnia and Serbia threads gave me a lot of ideas, as did the bartering thread. A lot of people are relying on ammo , guns and magazines. I am looking mostly to comfort items and those that sadly are addictive but legal. My big fear is that in a bad situation , all the people that are addicted to drugs both legal and not legal.
I wouldn't want any of those "addicted to drugs both legal and not legal" to know that I EVEN existed, let alone, had the stuff of their particular ADDICTION..... OpSec Rules, in Post SHTF.... ..... YMMV....
Firestarters and flashlights. I'm lucky (or unlucky) enough to live in a city where I have easy access to a Harbor Freight store. Every couple months the send out some "super" coupons. My personal favorite is a cheap firestarter for $2.50, and a 2 pack of LED flashlights with batteries for $2.00. I buy a few each time the coupons come up, and store them away.
There are a couple time perspectives to all this. How one survives and deals with things in days after TSHTF will likely be different than months after. And the community and local will affect things significantly. While storing some things to barter may be useful in the short run as a form of currency, in the longer term I'm a bit less inclined to trade acquired stuff and would modestly favor bartering services and renewable items we can produce. Interestingly, Greece is producing some data points of human behavior maybe germane to a potential long term scenario. Barter has grown extensively. Many in that society including doctors, nurses, etc. continued working despite having not been paid for over half a year. Cities will be tough but outside those things might be different and possibly warrant a different approach. I have a small home machine shop I can run off grid and also an electrical engineering background. I can fix or build a lot of things. We live on a farm and we can produce various farm goods including honey and maple syrup. I'd rather be perceived as needing food, meds, etc. (even though we have stores) and people trading providing me those for my services than being perceived as having things and some follks simply wanting to forcefully divest me of those. It's hard to steal one's talents (though the government tries) and some people might find it advantageous for themselves to actually protect and preserve my talents. I'm trying to gently persuade my daughter into medicine or engineering for this reason. I think I like that space a bit better. AT
Have a good supply of lighters also but the back up is flint/steel kits. They throw almost a flame. A simple straw or bamboo tube makes a helpful fire starter w/o getting your eyebrows singed.
ok i have no clue what u r talking about with this arrow shaft and bamboo ... I have never used a fire flint thing .. is there a video explaining what u are talking about ?
When building a fire w/o matches/lighters you can use a piece of flint rock and a piece of steel to strike it with to produce sparks. Think flint lock rifles. Today there are tungsten rods that throw a big shower of big sparks. Build a "nest" of tinder and hit it with sparks usually will start a fire. Blow on it to get bigger flames. That is where the straw/shaft comes in handy. If it flares up you will get your eyebrows singed. As you put on progressively larger twigs/sticks the ability to blow under the flames produces almost a blow torch effect. Good thing to have in unfavorable fire starting conditions. Cedar bark and the very tiny dead twigs on the tree will get a fire started in awful weather. The Cedar has oil in it that will burn even when damp. Good trick is to prepare ahead of time by storing a bit of it in a baggie. Some folks simply stick a napkin/paper towel inside their shirt to keep it dry for bad weather. Am sure you can find a U-Tube on primitive fire building. You can get really primitive and go to a bow drill--just have patience and they will work.
HOLLOW arrow shafts. (There are still solids out there, some of us old timers remember and have some.)
LOL! I haven't used a solid shaft in many years, and the thought never crossed my mind. YES, hollow arrow shaft, allows you to blow into the small fire to accelerate it into a big fire. Also works well to restart a fire from coals.