If things got really bad, what skills?

[Focused Gunfire]

Integratedj, I hope that you find the cause of this and that it not something real bad. Also if a doctor gave me a non life saving drug with a list of side effects like that, I would have said F that too. Anyway.

Practice, the more you know the more your worth. Roger that. Have done some stuff, like fishing, but other things not so much. Here is a list so far of the helpful topics out there.

First Aid, CPR, and stitches
Food storage
Foraging for good, vitamin diverse food, and avoiding the bad
Be healthy, have extra eye glasses and such
Know how to defend your self and others
Carpentry; already have a book on this, need more practice
Metal work, like what?
Trapping
Fishing
Hunting and butchering
How to start fires
How to make things like soap, rope, and candles
Gunsmithing
Reloading
How to build a good shelter with minimal tools
How to fix machines
Lock picking set and book, any recommendations?

I have to say that is a good list of knowledge to have. But what about looking into how the local natives lived before the white man? Maybe the ways of the depression era or before electrical energy was in common use? Would looking into one of the sciences, like chemistry, be worth the time in your opinion?

Thanks for all the help you have heaped into this thread. Thank you for taking time out of your day to help a stranger. And of course thank God for a free internet where we can talk about this kind of stuff.

[Integratedj]

Hey, lists are awesome...

Metal work= Learn how to weld. It doesn't have to be pretty, but at least learn to stick things together really well (Don't wear contact lenses while welding).
Also a rough knowledge of different metals properties and what to use them for. I would also add that you should learn to make a forge. It's really not that hard to do. I need to make a new one, but my old one was just a bunch of leftover concrete blocks and our local clay.

If you have power, vacuum motors are great for feeding oxygen. If no power, learn how to construct a Bellows.

Keep a hammer and an Anvil at your house. I won't drag one around with me, but if at home they come in handy often.

For lock picking, youtube has a ton of how to videos.
I hate to say this because I work in security, but look up "bump key". Thank 60minutes for the crazy number of hits on those videos and how many thug bitches do this now. They work great though, and much faster than any pick set I've seen.


We get results from the Doc nest week. Thanks for the kind words all.

[O.S.O.K.]

Just thought that I would add a little here - don't think anybody's mentioned "tinker".

That is, being able to fix all kinds of stuff = stuff that isn't being resuplied - toasters, electric skillets, lights, radios, etc. - stuff.

Also - blacksmithing.

Furrier (shoeing horses...)

Animal husbandry (no, not what you're thinking Swampy )

There would be lots of skills that would be needed in a melt-down situation...

Leadership is another biggy if you're in a "social" situation - which almost all of us are.

[Dr. Gonzo GED]

I don;t know.

I'm damn resourceful when it comes to making necessary tools out of bits of scrap. To the point that I can improvise just about any of the seven "simple machines" on the spot with whatever is lying around.

The same flexibility goes to practical problem solving and logistics.

This is all vague however, until you find yourself in a spot with me.

Otherwise, I just have a bizarre collection of practical knowledge. Martial arts, distilling, crafts, improvised munitions and explosives (more useful for starting fires with odd household chemicals than for fighting in my mind...) just to name a few...

[swampdragon]

Just thought that I would add a little here - don't think anybody's mentioned "tinker".

That is, being able to fix all kinds of stuff = stuff that isn't being resuplied - toasters, electric skillets, lights, radios, etc. - stuff.

Also - blacksmithing.

Furrier (shoeing horses...)

Animal husbandry (no, not what you're thinking Swampy )

There would be lots of skills that would be needed in a melt-down situation...

Leadership is another biggy if you're in a "social" situation - which almost all of us are.

I understand...lol

The farrier was just here today actually.
He took one of my horses for training for the next few months and trimmed hooves on the other three.
Knowing how to properly care for and breed livestock is a great advantage.
I have 24 head of cattle out on my land now.

[HDR]

There would be lots of skills that would be needed in a melt-down situation...

As no one has them all; they will either do without or back to the barter system.

The bitter pill to swallow is a shtf warrior will be low on the list of needs..

[O.S.O.K.]

The bitter pill to swallow is a shtf warrior will be low on the list of needs..

Well, I certainly hope that's the case - otherwise we're talkin mad max.

[Gunner1558]

Real SHTF situation?

Butchering, tanning hides, making moccasins, blacksmithing, distilling alcohol,

Learning to do things that others will want you to do for them. If you can fix things for people who can't fix them, you will always be able to barter your skills.

[HDR]

Well, I certainly hope that's the case - otherwise we're talkin mad max.

Filling the stomach will be the number one priority and that is not a hope but a fact.

There is a reason most hunter-gatherer people in the TV documentaries are thin and none of us know how to survive as well as they do.

[Uncle Scary]

Making soap and candles would be good barter skills. So would making and repairing shoes and boots. If a person could find a way to synthesize a broad spectrum antibiotic (like penicillin), they would be the Bill Gates of the post apocalyptic world.

[Schuetzenman]

What would you tell someone to learn is they asked you what would be best to know if SHTF? I am thinking about getting some books on gardening and food storage, but what other subjects would be worth looking into? Could you guys recommend some good, easy to follow books?

Gardening, sure. How to can food, sure. How much to know depends on how far and big you plan for the Shit to hit the fan. Taken to it's logical extreme you might want to know; how to tan leather using the brains of the animal and a smoking fire. Black smithing, know how to build a forge and work metal into shapes. How to create traps and snares to catch small game. How to build a spinning wheel and how to make thread / yarn from animal wool or plant fibers. Weaving would go along with that one. How to refine feces; barn yard animal waste, bat guano for potassium nitrate. And just in case the Bic lighters run out, learn how to find flint and use it to make a fire.

[HDR]

Food growing and processing skills (ie. milling wheat) will be important also.

No matter how much you have it won't last as long as you'll need.