Articles | Page 53 of 264

15 Mar 2018

Should a Prepper Carry a Neck Knife?

Should a Prepper Carry a Neck Knife? That is a good question. In the guest post below the author will discuss some pros and cons. For myself, as the owner of this site I wanted to add my thoughts as I carried a neck knife everyday for 15 years – even in places that did not allow concealed weapons (its a tool right)… For utility and easy carry a neck knife is hard to beat. If you have a good design. I have tried bad designs of heavier knives and friction fit sheaths and ended up loosing my knife. For self defense there are better options. It can be hard to draw (without practice) and if you are on the ground being pounded the knife is in a perfect spot to be used against you. You can also be choked with the lanyard. The featured image shows a young lady wearing a neck knife on a breakaway lanyard made by Knives and Lanyards.com. You should check them out

If you know what you want and work around the cons, then a neck knife is a great tool – now on to the article:

Preppers and survivalists are always discussing survival knives and that they might actually be the most important gear you carry. Not many discuss the importance of where you wear your survival knife though. Throughout history man has worn a knife from a chain around their necks.

This includes Native Americans and Vikings. In modern times Mors Kochanski who is recognized as the granddaddy of bushcraft and who actually wrote the book on bushcraft uses a neck knife and even more recently Cody Lundin from Dual Survival fame also wears a neck knife as their primary knife.

In this article I’ll go over what are the pros and cons of a neck knife.

Pros of neck knives

Because it’s so small and light, it can easily be used as a back up blade if your primary blade breaks or gets lost. Your blade might be your most important piece of equipment you carry so always having a decent back up blade is handy
Sitting on the ground or on a log with a knife on your belt can be annoying
If it’s worn on the inside of your shirt, you’ve got a hidden knife that others won’t know about unless they give you a hug. Even though there are better weapons when shtf the neck knife could be used as a weapon of last resort
If needed, most neck knives can be switched to be carried on your belt
It allows you to not have to wear a belt which means you have more flexibility in the pants or shorts you choose to wear
If you’re walking through a creek or small stream and it goes to about waist height, if you’re wearing a neck knife it won’t get wet
They’re inexpensive so preppers with a tight budget can afford them as a good backup knife

Cons of neck knives

If it’s worn on the outside of your shirt, it can get in the road every time you bend over which is annoying
It it’s worn on the inside of your shirt, it’s hard to get to quickly
If the chain is made out of beads it can pull at your chest hairs and I’m not a fan of having my chest hair pulled out
It’s not practical to have a big knife dangling around your neck because it will just get in the way. So if the knife is small it doesn’t lend itself to heavy duty tasks like chopping or batoning but if you’re primary chopping tool is an axe or machete you can get away with carrying a small bladed knife as your blade to do the finer tasks like processing game or whittling wood
When you re-sheath, you’ll need both hands
If the chain is not a break away type of chain it can be a choking hazard if worn on the outside of your shirt
If it is a break away chain, the chain could snap at an inconvenient time meaning you’d end up carrying the neck knife on your belt or in your pocket.

Neck knife wrap up

I’ve always loved redundancy so I always carry a back up blade when I’m in the woods. Neck knives are an inexpensive way to have a decent back up blade on your person at all times. To find out more about neck knives for survivalists check out the ultimate neck knife guide by Top Survival Weapons.

15 Mar 2018

How to Choose Binoculars

Here is an info-graphic on how to choose binoculars from Binoculars Today. I hope this is useful to you. I don’t normally post infographics, but this one seems to have some useful information for you.

It talks about what the numbers like 109×50 mean. It also gives some information on lens coatings and prism types.

This info gives some good basic information, but if you want to know more you can visit their website, or look at the book I linked to at the top left of this article.

When I was an older boy scout we organized a large capture the flag event and spent months preparing to win the contest. It was during that time that I learned that a good pair of binoculars gathered light and made it easier to see at night. It wasn’t night vision by any means. When the moon is out providing some ambient light binoculars can help.

I hope this picture will help you better know how to choose binoculars. Good binoculars can make the difference in many outdoor and prepper activities. You should have a decent set in every prepper kit you own.

How to Choose Binoculars

Infographics by http://binocularstoday.com/

14 Mar 2018

Lucifer’s Hammer

Lucifer’s Hammer is a classic in prepper fiction – The plot of the book contains several interesting twists that are useful to begin a prepper conversation. For instance – if you have a BOL (Bug Out Location – aka cabin in the woods) what would you do if you arrived during a disaster to find it was occupied?

In this book the catastrophe was a comet striking the earth. While unlikely, it is plausible. There really isn’t anything in this book that is outside the realm of possibility – which is rare in science fiction…

Good read, I enjoyed it. It might be a good book to pass on to those you care about that don’t care about prepping – it may just let them realize how much you care for them and are looking out for their well being.

I am dealing with one of the issues in Lucifer’s hammer now. I have a guy that is living on my Bug Out location with the agreement that he works on the land as a payment for rent, and I supply the livestock and seed and he tends to them and produces his own food so that in the event of a disaster we are already up and running, but he has decided he doesn’t have time to do the work – which is almost as bad as taking it away when it is needed.

13 Mar 2018

Light Infantry Tactics: For Small Teams

Finally! Step-by-step tactics for teams of three to 30 members. Tired of collecting a library of military manuals just to teach light infantry patrolling tactics? Military manuals are notoriously confusing and boring! Light Infantry Tactics: For Small Teams gives you good advice in easily understood language.

If you have never served, or like me, it has been a while, Light Infantry Tactics is a good way to get basic knowledge.

While it does not include information on MOUT (Urban Warfare), it has a lot of good info on patrolling, hand signals, and other basic skills.

I would not say that this book would come even fractionally close to replacing actual military skills the idea that someone who has not served can gain some technical knowledge by a book is a long standing principle. The Swiss military wrote the book Total Resistance so that bankers, clock makers, and school teachers could fight an occupying force and survive long enough to defend their homeland.

I keep this book, and others like it, in my library so that I can periodically refresh my memory on the skills I learned in the Marines.

This is a good book for that.

12 Mar 2018

Invisible Resistance to Tyranny

When I saw Invisible Resistance to Tyranny in the Paladin catalog, I knew I had to have it. Laws are becoming more oppressive and politicians show a disregard, disrespect of, or ignorance toward our Constitution and the principles behind the document.

I wonder how much longer sites like mine will be “tolerated”.

However, I was a little disappointed in the book because the majority of the information is just plain common sense if you think about this type of problem.

I did learn from the book, and It has a place in my library, but I have to wonder if someone else has written a book on this topic that covers the material a little more thoroughly.

That being said the concepts in Invisible Resistance to Tyranny are things that you need to think about and determine what it is you are willing to tolerate as a American citizen. I would not expect any life altering revelations or a lot of practical information from this book, but it does have value. How much would depend on how much you gain from reading vs contemplation.

If you want a more enjoyable read, and one that has more action items, I would choose Claire Wolfe’s 101 Things to Do ‘Til the Revolution and/or Don’t Shoot the Bastards (YET)