Hydropack Water Purifier Review

Gear Review: Hydropack Water Purifier
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While at the National Prepper and Survialist Expo I saw a really cool product, and the vendor (Deployed Logix) was nice enough to give me this Hydropack Water Purifier to review and test out.  I have read about this technology before, but I have not had the opportunity to review it before.

According to the manufacturer:

The HydroPack was designed for its ease of use, simply put the filter into virtually any dirty water and the filter goes to work making a clean drink.

The self hydrating pouch produces 12-17 fl. Oz. of sports drink.

The filter uses a passive osmotic process so it never clogs, requires no pumping and filters down to the atomic level (3-5 angstroms – which is .3-.5 billionths of a meter) so the filter removes even the smallest viruses to the same purity of a complicated reverse osmosis machine.

  • Forward osmosis filter requires no pumping, works in any virtually and water, even muddy water. Produces a sports drink for improved hydration.
  • Meets or surpasses reductions for bacteria, viruses and cysts as specified by the EPA for water purifiers
  • Easiest of our filters to use, simply put the HydroPack into the dirty water and it starts producing a clean drink.
  • The highest purity level of any personal filter, non-clogging filter produces a sports drink for improved hydration.
I simply dumped the pack in a bowl of dirty water and went to bed, when I got up, I just stabbed the included straw into the inflated package and drank the contents.
It tasted like a sports drink, and I did not have any negative views on the taste – my wife even drank some.
I would probably keep some alcohol wipes in my kit to wipe off the location your going to insert the straw to reduce cross contamination, but other than that, I think this has a place in a bug out bag.  I would not keep these in bulk for bugging in due to cost, but I think they are very useful for on the go kits.

The Complete Guide to Sharpening

The Complete Guide to Sharpening
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In The Complete Guide to Sharpening, a well known tool maker shows how to sharpen different types of tools.  Being able to create and maintain an edge on cutting tools is a base skill for any homesteader, prepper, or DIY’erPresident Lincoln is credited with saying that if you have 2 hours to cut a tree, spend an hour sharpening the axe.  From personal experience having sharp tools is the difference between a pleasure to work and an injury.

Dull cutting tools are hard to work with and are dangerous.

Unfortunately, there is some knowledge you need to have in order to properly sharpen your tools.

The Complete Guide to Sharpening gives you that knowledge.  Every DIY library needs this book on the shelf.  Sharpening tools is a skill that all homesteaders need to posses.

Sharpening tools is not hard to do, just follow the instructions in this book and take your time to do it right.  Soon you will find yourself proud of the edge of your axe and you can cut down that tree in no time.

Right now I am trying to learn how to sharpen and reset the teeth on my band sawmill.

Gear Review: Valley Food Storage White Bean Chili

 

Valley Food Storage White Bean Chili
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Valley food storage is a great company.  They have a very high quality product as well the ability to buy storage foods À la carte or as part of a program.

You can buy their good tasting food storage foods (suitable for everyday eating also) in set ups like one week or one month increments.

There one month package is under $130 dollars which is at the lower end (but not the lowest) price of a comparison of the main food storage suppliers.

What sets Valley Food Storage apart is that they make healthier options are non-gmo, and have no artificial preservatives, fillers, or hydrogenated oils.

Besides the healthier options, Valley Food Storage tastes good.

When I made the white bean chili it compared very favorably with home made chili that I make on probably a weekly basis.

I would, and at the price, can afford to eat this companies food on a regular basis instead of just having a pantry of food I was not used to eating.

This is pretty important because a common saying in the prepper world is “store what you eat and eat what you store.”  I know I believe that, and I say it often.

However, life intervenes and that is not always easy to do.  Valley food storage does make that a little easier.

Quick and Dirty Transformer Design and Construction

Book Review: Quick and Dirty Transformer Design and Construction
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Quick and Dirty Transformer Design and Construction is a small book of48 pages.

Basically it reprints two articles for transformer builders:

1. Design and Building Transformers, Technical Service Bureau Bulletin D-111, 1938, second edition.

2. Induction Coils by Charles Underhill, extracted from Standard Handbook For Electrical Engineers, 1922.

Basic understanding of transformer design is a very useful bit of knowledge to have.  I used a very rudimentary understanding to create a spot welder by rewiring a microwave oven transformer.

I have also seen people create small power grids using home-built transformers.

If you can design transformers you can take the power you have and transform it to the power you need (within reason).

If you have high voltage at low amperage, and need low voltage at high amperage you can do that or the reverse.  It is really just simple math that this book easily explains.

I have this book in my library, and I use it as a reference, when working on circuits.  but it really isn’t something I use all of the time, but it is something I think would be invaluable if society ever had to rebuild itself.

Jackknife Lockpick Review

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While I don’t often need lock-picks, I do find the ability to pick locks fascinating.  There are groups and conventions dedicated to the mechanical skill needed to bypass locking mechanisms.

It take a keen mechanical mind to develop lock picking techniques.

This Jackknife Lockpick is a really neat way to keep lock-picks readily available for use.

Beware, some states have laws making it illegal to carry a lockpick set.  They are considered in some places to be “Burglar Tools”

Personally, I like the little shot of dopamine when I make the lock click open.

Lockpicking is a pretty neat skill to have, and I should probably do a video on it one day.  I like this Jackknife Lockpick because it is easy to carry around and is pretty handy.

Even if you don’t ever plan on picking locks to get them open, knowing what locks are easy to pick has uses in designing security systems around your home.  For one, after learning to pick locks, I found out how extremely easy a master lock is to pick open.  You would think they would be hard based upon their branding as being strong.

At one time I thought about opening a locksmith service, but it was right at the time the Dept of Commerce decided to protect the people that had services already by making it almost impossible to start your own without permission of the existing services. (apprentice program)