The kits come with a Needle Driver, forceps and a pair of scissors along with a sterile field, gloves and 2 sutures.  They also come with the step by step pictorial guide that you can see in the picture.  These are very nice kits and the price is fantastic!  If you would like to order them, send an email to DrBonesClass@aol.com and let them know what you would like to order.  There will be shipping on top of the cost, of course.

Dr. Bones also showed me that he had a full instructional video on suturing – for entertainment purposes of course – that covers how to establish a sterile field, how to suture and how to tie suture knots.  It’s a very well done video, so if you’re wanting to learn check out the video below and then go get some pig feet to practice on (you can get them at most grocery stores in the gross meat section)!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Finally, my brother sent me a picture of what his scalp currently looks like.  You can see that it healed up very nicely and has a very minimal scar.

(click on the picture for a larger image)

To help with this, I have a couple books that are very detailed and show step by step how to process multiple types of game. My favorite one is Basic Butchering of Livestock & Game by John Mettler.  I also really like Deerskins Into Buckskins by Matt Richards, this book has excellent instructions on brain, soap and egg tanning.

To help me make sure I’m up to speed with processing animals, I’ve decided to do it from home for a while.  We just did a pig in our garage a few weeks ago and we’ve got two elk tags for this season.  I plan to process both of those here in the garage.  To get ready for that, I’ve been reading both these books.  I’ve also been watching instructional videos on Youtube.

The biggest issue I hear people mention about home processing is the amount of time and energy it takes to process.  I totally agree!  While watching videos on processing deer and elk, I came across these three videos which show the entire process being done VERY quickly and was quite impressed by them!

If you are squeamish at all about blood and guts – don’t watch these videos!  They show people skinning, gutting and cutting up deer – extremely quickly.  I wish I had this kind of skill!

Skinning and Gutting:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Skinning (a different method):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Deboning:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Course Information

GOLD PROSPECTING FOR FUN OR PROFIT

Only 5 percent of the world’s gold has been discovered. With gold currently trading at over $1500 an ounce, panning for gold has made a real comeback. Learn new methods of panning gold that you can use 12 months of the year. Fee includes prospecting equipment you take home with you. No early registration discount. CEUs: 0.15 Hours: 1.50

At $39 this seems like a bargain for an evening of instruction on what could be a fun and profitable hobby. Here is a Link to the course. I hope to see you there!

That’s when my car Preps came to the rescue!

I grabbed my puncture repair kit from the truck, pulled out the rasper tool and shoved it in the nail hole while twisting it left to right and up and down.  When I extracted it, the tire verified I’d done a good job by beginning to leak at a much faster rate!  I quickly grabbed the needle tool and pulled a patch strip from the patch card and threaded it through the eye of the tool.  Then I applied the rubber cement to the patch strip and shoved the needle tool deep into the tire.  Once there were just a half inch or so of the patch sticking out, I extracted the tool by quickly pulling straight back on the needle tool.  The split in the eye of the tool gave way and left the patch in the hole while letting the tool come free.

The rubber cement needed to set for a minute and I needed to refill the tire with air.  So, I grabbed my 12V mini air-compressor from the truck and plugged it into one of my cigarette lighters and turned it on so it could start building up air.  By now the rubber cement should have set up well enough so I grabbed my leatherman and cut the hanging ends off of the patch.

Finally, I hooked the compressor up to the valve stem and filled it back up with air.

In less than 5 minutes I was able to plug the puncture, refill the tire and get back on the road.

Being a Prepper is awesome!

My Blued Hawken

Gun ownership is a long-term investment which requires proper maintenance and cleaning in order to keep your guns working at their peak performance. A primary concern with long term storage of any gun — especially those stored in humid climates — is corrosion. Preventing corrosion is a multi-step process, starting with proper care of your firearm in the field, and followed with proper storage.  However, even if you take all the necessary precautions and care possible with your firearm, and even in the best of situations, if you use it corrosion or wearing will probably happen. How you deal with the results of such wear is the purpose of this article.

Most people when they imagine a gun will of course picture one that is “black” to most people. But of course my fashion-sense (my wife) would be quick to point out that it is actually a dark navy blue color when closely inspected. This color comes from a controlled corrosion called “blueing” in order to treat the metal so that bad corrosion doesn’t happen.  Alternative treatments such as parkerizing or Tenifer exist, but are more expensive. Also many people will opt for other metals and alloys such as stainless steel for increased protection.

This works due to the difference between normal corrosion (Rust) and this controlled corrosion. Normal oxidization (as seen here) comes from the chemical recipe of Fe₂O₃, which produces the familiar flaky, red remains of iron. Alternatively people discovered that you can create a very thin black oxide of iron that turns out to a similar, but different enough Fe₃O₄. The purpose to this is to create a layer of something between the oxygen and water that can bond with iron to create rust. This alternative oxide does just that.

Obviously the process works sufficiently in that it is the most common way to get a firearm, but it is definitely not perfect. Several methods of blueing exist nowadays, and can be performed inexpensively. But it is not perfect, no matter what method of application.

The thin layer of oxidization will over time wear off leaving bare metal open to attack. Beyond just allowing rust to happen, do you really want something you’ve invested so much money in looking worn? Thankfully the process is easy enough that it is something you can, and should attempt at home.

For my purposes, I currently had two firearms that I needed to take care of. One is from World War II, an old Russian Mosin. It saw use long before even my dad was born and thusly need to be cleaned up a lot. In order to practice though, I decided to start with another gun, a Hawken Rifle built from a kit (oh yeah, I need to post about that adventure). This was a clean(ugh, it already had some rust spots), new barrel that had never been treated. Of course, if your firearm bears any resemblance to the pistol pictured above, do not attempt to reblue and shoot. If you have that deep of damage your metal is probably brittle, and unsafe.  Reblueing is for restoring surface damage and wear, it is not a magic fix-all.

Now, before continuing I will say that if I wanted to be truly historically correct I would attempt to “brown” the Hawken rifle. Browning (not the brand) is a process of heat oxidizing that was more commonly used in the mountain man era the gun is from. However this kit rifle isn’t going to be perfectly accurate, and blueing is a slightly better, and much easier process.

To begin with, I needed a way to treat.  The first blueing on your firearm was probably done by some nice machine, and if a bit nicer might even have used a heat, or acid bath treatment to create a deeper, more even coat on your gun. This would be a bit difficult process to do at home of course, especially if you were simply trying to maintain a firearm in a less than optimal situation. Alternatively you can get very simple kits that include the basic chemicals you will need, and they can be applied with cotton swabs. This of course is the solution I was looking for.

After taking the time to read a few howto’s online, and then actually going over the simple instructions, I set out to blue my first gun. I did this knowing full well that my first attempt might not turn out very nicely, and I might be setting myself up for a lot of work undoing what I’d done, so I can retry. The steps though, are really quite easy. Before you begin remember that you will be working with caustic chemicals, so wear old clothes that you don’t care about, use gloves, and eye protection.

1. Take your gun all the way apart. If you dont’ know how, take the time to learn. You should know that already if you have any interest in blueing a gun.
2. Clean! Get the metal as clean as possible with normal cleaning materials.
3. Strip it clean – You need a blue/rust remover. Wear gloves, and scrub deeply
• If the gun is already blued, get rid of what’s already there. Anything left will cause spots or uneven colors
• If you are doing spot treatment make sure the area around the scuffs or rust are also stripped.
• Remove the rust. You are just wasting time if you leave any rust on the metal. If some is under your blueing, it’ll just grow like cancer. Or more aptly like the rust in any old car after dealing with Utah winters.
4. Clean Again! This time, your kit should have come with a deeper cleaning solvent, and probably some steel wool. You want shiny metal and nothing else (yes fingerprints matter)
5. If there is *anything* besides shiny metal, repeat the previous steps
6. Blue. Yeah, this step is actually quite easy. My kit had a tube of gel and a swab, and I’d just apply to the metal for 60-90 seconds, then rinse.
• Don’t do too much at once. You have to rinse with soapy water, and you don’t want it on too long so just do a small chunk at a time.
• Try to have clean cutoffs between sections. You are striving for even colors so make it easy to not double cover areas
• Coat evenly, try to keep it smooth.  The gel doesn’t always like to go smoothly, so use the swab so spread it.
7. Let Dry
8. Polish with finishing grade steel wool
9. Polish with a gun oil

Following those steps gives you one “protected” piece of metal. Depending on how closely you look at my picture there you might note that I do have some uneven bits in the color.  After a few minutes it actually became hard to tell unless you were looking closely.  It’s a job I’m satisfied with for my first time, but I know I can do better later.  I’m glad I played around a little, and I know that it’s much easier than I had originally thought. I’m looking forward to cleaning up the mosin now. I’m thoroughly convinced that blueing is an easy skill to learn, and a necessary part of any prepper’s skillset if they wants to keep their firearms in the best condition possible.

Birchwood Casey Perma Blue Liquid Gun Blue Kit Md: 13801.

New Birchwood Laboratories Inc Bc Barricade 6oz Aerosol Contains Fpr Wipe Off Corrosive Fingerprints

The host, Marjory Wildcraft is also not shy about referring the viewer to the books that they consulted when learning and direct you to them for more in depth information. This is in contrast to many other “experts” I have seen over the years who keep their information close to the vest. Marjory appears to genuinely want to provide information to help others get on the path to self sufficiency by sharing everything they can fit in to the 2 hours of video on the DVD.

DVD Section Summary

The DVD is broken down into a number of chapters that cover the 2 hours of content. I’ll include some brief information on each section.

Section 1: Overview about 4 minutes in length

Just like it says, this a basic introduction, describing the makers, their property and philosophies.

Section 2: Water about 10 minutes in length

An old saying is that without water you are nothing. Water is king, especially here in the high desert of Utah. This section explains the main sources for getting water and which ones are best for food production. Marjory and her family have tried several different ways to collect and store water, some of which worked better for them than others.

Section 3: Garden about 20 minutes in length

This is one of the longer sections of the DVD. While there is plenty of good general gardening information here but I would recommend that for anyone outside of their area of Texas you look into getting information focused on your specific are. Many of the techniques demonstrated can be used in most climates, but the plants and specific processes needed, fertilizers, local pests, etc. will need a local perspective. Your local Universities Extension program likely has an Agricultural department with this information publicly available. Here in Utah, the Utah State University Extension office is a great source.

Section 4: Rabbits about 9 minutes in length

One of the primary meat sources for the family are rabbits. This is a relatively short section explaining why the family chose rabbits, how to house them, what breeds they chose and why and mistakes that you can avoid.

Section 5: Home Butchering about 18 minutes in length

This section is not for the squeamish. It centers around in depth video instructions on killing and butchering a rabbit. Hide tanning is also mentioned, but is not well covered. After this there are still pictures of the process to butcher chickens with a brief mention of other animals like raccoons, deer, elk, etc. that could all be sources of meat.

Section 6: Poultry about 8 minutes in length

This section provides a decent introduction to chickens, their predators, and some problems to look out for. Marjory outlines what breeds they use and why. Some Polyface Farms influence can be seen here as well as they rotate the chickens through different areas to help improve and maintain soil quality and to cut down on weeds and insects.

Section 7: Dogs about 5 minutes in length

The creators of this DVD are clearly sold on the benefits of having dogs in your life, mainly to fend off unwanted animals. They make some pretty convincing arguments. A short section is included on training, but as with most topics covered here, if you want to really get started in using working dogs, further research will be required, but this touches on some of the basics so you know what you are working towards.

Section 8: Perennials: Orchards, Food Forests, and Edible Landscaping about 18 minutes in length

This section has some really useful information, but again your best bet is to consult with your local University’s extension program to apply what you see in the DVD to your area. The types of edible foods that you can grow in your climate can vary greatly from those presented in this DVD or in books on the subject so do your homework on what works where you live.

Section 9: Other Essentials about 11 minutes in length

The second to last section contains information that the DVD creators think is important but doesn’t fit well in a previous section. There is plenty of good information here and is too varied to give a brief accounting of.

Section 10: Thanks about 4 minutes in length

As you might expect, this is the section where the creators thank those who helped in producing the DVD.

Bonus Material

Throughout the DVD Marjory references different books and documents for those seeking more detailed information on a particular subject. Included with the DVD is a CD-ROM loaded with many of the referenced documents in PDF format. My copy had 65 PDF documents included ranging in subject from Solar Food Dehydration to Insecticides to Hide Tanning. While I haven’t spent a tremendous amount of time reviewing the documents, they seem to have been compiled with care to supplement the information provided in the videos for those wanting more information. Often during the course of explaining what the document covers, Marjory will give a location to download the document. This is a good resource in case the information on the CD bonus disc were to become out of date.

Closing Thoughts

This DVD provides a quick introduction into many aspects of self sufficiency. As with any brief introduction, further research will be required. Having this documented example of an integrated home/small farm food production system has the potential to save you time and money by following proven, working examples.

The information in the DVD is optimized for southern climates, particularly the makers specific region of Texas. Viewers from other regions should also find it educational and useful, that being said, this is of course an introduction into many varied concepts that relate to self sufficiency. I don’t think it can be said enough, integrating all these ideas and concepts into your life will take some hard work, research and trial and error. The results should be well worth it however.

Giveaway Information

The producers of this DVD have kindly provided us a copy of this DVD to giveaway to one of our lucky readers. To enter, post a comment about this article letting us know what you would like to learn from watching the DVD. We will select one winner at random from all the comments on Friday June 17th and send them their own copy of this preparedness DVD.

Image from KresimirPregernik

When I moved to college in Idaho as a teenager, I had a really quick introduction into a new world of snow and ice. While the snow I grew up with was wet and heavy, and usually melted away pretty quick in the moderate temperature. Idaho however introduced me to the bitter hard-freeze that left our campus with an amazing array of forms of ice that were completely new to me. I, as with many of my fellow students, became intimately familiar with this ice while performing the splits, or landing on my back when trying to hurry between classes.

In that time, I saw a few people that had some nifty attachments for their shoes allowing them to get traction on the ice.  Along the lines of higher end crampons used in ice-climbing, they strapped on over any shoes and allowed the user to dig into the ice a bit more.  Over on one of my favorite sites (Instructables) there are some instructions for creating a simple version of these yourself.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Ice-claws/

The following is some information which may prove useful for your review, in preparing for a future earthquake that affects us at a substantial level.

First, as a summary of the situation here in Utah living along the Wasatch Fault, this 10 minute video by the Utah Geological Survey is a great starting point.

One question you might have is whether this succession of small earthquakes is indicative of a larger one in the near future. Here’s one answer on that:

For instance, in California, if you look at the US Geological Survey (USGS) website, you can count hundreds of earthquakesthat aren’t even felt, occurring with great regularity. If these little earthquakes are precursors to big earthquakes, then we’d constantly be having large earthquakes. On the other hand, small earthquakes suggest a certain level of fault line activity and pressure building up, and scientists regularly suggest that we must all prepare for the Big One, since it could occur at any time. Thus you can say little earthquakes are precursors to big earthquakes because they do suggest that eventually, at some point in the future, a big earthquake is likely.

Before an Earthquake

To be prepared for future earthquakes, FEMA lists the following as recommendations:

• Repair defective electrical wiring, leaky gas lines, and inflexible utility connections. Get appropriate professional help. Do not work with gas or electrical lines yourself.
• Bolt down and secure to the wall studs your water heater, refrigerator, furnace, and gas appliances. If recommended by your gas company, have an automatic gas shut-off valve installed that is triggered by strong vibrations.
• Place large or heavy objects on lower shelves. Fasten shelves, mirrors, and large picture frames to walls. Brace high and top-heavy objects.
• Store bottled foods, glass, china, and other breakables on low shelves or in cabinets that fasten shut.
• Anchor overhead lighting fixtures.
• Be sure the residence is firmly anchored to its foundation.
• Install flexible pipe fittings to avoid gas or water leaks. Flexible fittings are more resistant to breakage.
• Locate safe spots in each room under a sturdy table or against an inside wall. Reinforce this information by moving to these places during each drill.
• Hold earthquake drills with your family members: Drop, cover, and hold on!

During an Earthquake

1. Remain calm! Think through the consequences of all your actions.
2. Stop, drop, cover, and hold on to something sturdy, where you are.
3. If you are indoors. . .
   • stay indoors.
   • take cover under a heavy desk, table, bench, archway, alongside a sturdy wall or in a narrow hallway.
   • stay away from and out of windows and all other forms of glass, elevators, stairwells, and doorways with doors, (doors can swing closed, causing injuries).
4. If you are outdoors. . .
   • stay outdoors.
   • move away from buildings, roofs with clay tiles, antennas, or satellite dishes, large trees, signs, power lines, and any other utility wires or buildings on stilts.
5. If you are in a crowded place. . .
   • stay away from overhead walkways and do not rush for a doorway.
   • take cover and move away from display shelves holding objects that can fall.
6. If you are in a high-rise building. . .
   • get under a sturdy desk or table away from windows and outside walls.
   • stay in the building on the same floor. An evacuation may not be necessary.
   • be aware that the electricity may go out and that the sprinkler systems and fire alarms may go on.
7. If you are in a moving vehicle. . .
   • stop as quickly and safely as possible, and stay in your vehicle.
   • try not to stop near power-lines, bridges, tall fences, or gas stations.
   • watch for road and bridge damage before proceeding.
8. Hold on to small children and pets. They scare easily and may try to run into dangerous areas or situations.
9. Do not use any open flame during or immediately after an earthquake in case there is a gas leak.

After an Earthquake

Expect aftershocks, and cautiously ensure everybody is okay. Move to a safer location in anticipation of further quakes. Also check for hazards (if you smell gas, turn off the main gas valve; if you have damaged electrical wiring, shut off power at the control box).

Additional Information

Some of the preceding information was extracted from this pamphlet which contains some very useful information on this and other topics. It is a great resource to print and keep on hand for consultation.

Very fine Steel Wool will act as a conductor and will carry the current from the positive to the negative end of a battery.  It ignites because it isn’t designed to hold and carry that current.  It doesn’t actually ‘burn’ in much of a usable capacity.  Rather, it incinerates and provides a flame for a short time giving you an opportunity to put a flame to your tinder.  Before you  get your Steel Wool going, you need to make sure your tinder is ready (I suggest using a Vaseline soaked cotton ball) to put the flame to.

There are several ways to do this, including rubbing a 9 volt battery on the Steel Wool itself – which works fine but burns up more Steel Wool than you really need to.  What I prefer to do is take a small amount of Steel Wool and roll it basically into a thick wire that is long enough to connect the positive and negative ends of your batteries.  Once you have your igniter rolled, hold the battery and one end of the igniter on the positive (or negative, doesn’t matter) terminal of the battery and with your other hand, connect the other side of the igniter to the other terminal on the battery.  You will almost immediately get a spark and flame from the Steel Wool.  As soon as you have an actual flame, touch the Steel Wool to your tinder and blow lightly if you need to.  Your fire should be started!

There are a couple small caveats here.  1) You need to use fine Steel Wool – that means buying 0000 or quadruple-ought Steel Wool.  Other types will work, but this works best.  2) You can use a 9-volt, 2 AA’s or combinations of other batteries.

Finally, the intent of this article is to show/remind you of an alternative method of starting a fire and some other cheap ideas of things you can store for fire making.  I’m not advocating carrying around Steel Wool – I’m advocating having as many possibilities to start a fire as you can.  I carry a couple lighters with me everywhere I go, but I’ve never carried Steel Wool.  One way to look at it is, in a TEOTWAWKI situation you may have friends and/or loved ones that didn’t prep as well as you.  They probably have a flashlight though – if you give them some Steel Wool out of your storage, you can gift them the ability to start a fire.

The following video shows the entire process from start to finish:

Bee Keeping is fun and relatively inexpensive.

Maple Mountain Bee Company is hosting another round of bee keeping classes over the next couple months. As you may recall, Bryan Esquivel of Maple Mountain Bees authored a guest post for us in the past about how he got started in bee keeping. You can find the article here.

These are free classes, held in Bryan’s home. If you have any questions on the schedule, please contact Bryan using the contact information below.

Beginning Class:

This class is aimed towards anyone interested in becoming a bee keeper. The first year beekeeper who is looking gain basic knowledge about bees, the problems, swarming, honey harvests etc.

Beginning Class Schedule

February 19 @ 9:00 am

February 26 @ 1:00 pm

March 5th @ 9:00 am

Advanced Class:

A more advanced class for beekeepers can attend the following classes if they wish. Some of the topics will include; swarm management/capture, disease awareness and management, looking for signs of problems, keeping your bees healthy.

Advanced Class Schedule

March 26 @ 1:00 pm

April 9 @ 9:00 am

May 7 @ 9:00 am

Each class will last approximately 3-4 hours depending on questions.

What you Should Bring:

Pen, paper, questions

Notes:

Please RSVP to Bryan to let him know how many people will be attending.

How to RSVP:

Contact Bryan Esquivel of Maple Mountain Bees with your name, phone number, email address and number of the students that will be participating. You are welcome to contact him via email, snail mail or phone.

General Contact Information:

Email:

maplemountainbees@q.com

Mailing Address:

Maple Mountain Bees
1475 North 900 West
Mapleton, Utah 84664

Phone Numbers

801-489-1286
or
801-362-1891

If there is anyone serious about getting bees please contact Maple Mountain Bees as soon as possible. They need to put a deposit down on the bees to ensure package availability for all new bee keepers.