Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

I've got a very heavy-duty lidded plastic crate buried deep in the allotment shed. It holds 12 litres of bottled water and a go-bag inc a change of clothes, basic washkit, travel towel and a spare pair of glasses in the prescription-before-last. It's 1.25 miles from the flat.

I also have copies of all my important documents and proofs of what I own (for proof-of-loss for insurance in event of total loss of flat's contents) plus some spare clothes and toiletries at the parental home (45 mins away by the car I don't have, lol).

I have a tiny workplace locker which has some back-up medications in it, not room for anything more than the size of a purse.

The lottie shed also contains a candle lantern and some candles and some t.p. - could shelter inside the shed in event of an emergency. Small first aid kit up there, too, and soap, a towel and several anti-bac hand gels.

Karmacat

NewShadow wrote: »

Have you considered cotton bags (specifically for me, old cotton pillowcases)?

Clingfilm traps moisture and works via static - both things which are bad for electronics. Cotton or muslin blocks dust but allows air circulation.

Its the air circulation that would be the problem, I'm pretty sure - the items in question, once wrapped in clingfilm, would be out of circulation for the duration of the emergency. A phone or something like that, I'd put it in a sandwich bag, one of the ones that could be sealed. Though thats my own idea, not a recommendation from vulcanic authorites so may be wrong.

[Deleted User]

Have been thinking (OH NO I hear you all say!!!) and a really useful skill which none of us have mentioned in all our debating and cogitating is CHARCOAL MAKING. I know how in principle and have seen a charcoal burn set off, half way through being monitored and being unloaded at the end of the cooling period but have never had a go, bit complicated and smoky for an urban back garden. Why I think it would be useful is many of the historical fiction books I read constantly make reference to braziers of charcoal used to warm rooms, cook over and in the still room, along with a metal foot warmer in the shape of a stout metal box with a perforated lid both indoors min very cold weather and to warm you when travelling in a horse drawn vehicle. Charcoal is cleaner to cook on and gives a greater heat than plain firewood to warm a room. I know a couple pf places that actually do a 'Learn how to' course which might just be jolly useful.

NewShadow

My parents made charcoal when I was younger. I learnt enough to be able to make charcoal sticks for drawing and char cloth if needed.

Industrial scale - it's a faff, dirty, and dangerous. Plus if making it long term storage is an issue.

Short term SHTF - stockpile anthracite and just burn the wood.

DawnW

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Have been thinking (OH NO I hear you all say!!!) and a really useful skill which none of us have mentioned in all our debating and cogitating is CHARCOAL MAKING. I know how in principle and have seen a charcoal burn set off, half way through being monitored and being unloaded at the end of the cooling period but have never had a go, bit complicated and smoky for an urban back garden. Why I think it would be useful is many of the historical fiction books I read constantly make reference to braziers of charcoal used to warm rooms, cook over and in the still room, along with a metal foot warmer in the shape of a stout metal box with a perforated lid both indoors min very cold weather and to warm you when travelling in a horse drawn vehicle. Charcoal is cleaner to cook on and gives a greater heat than plain firewood to warm a room. I know a couple pf places that actually do a 'Learn how to' course which might just be jolly useful.

My DD teaches at a college, and does charcoal burning with her students at least a couple of times a year. She uses a charcoal burner which the college bought a few years ago. It is quite big (though not THAT big), and as you say, it is too smoky to do it in a suburban back garden. However, on a smallholding or in a woodland it would be easy enough to set up It takes a couple of days to do a burn, and they usually stay out overnight to keep an eye on it (a bit of an adventure for the students). The kiln / thing is made of metal, and just sits there when not being used.

nuatha

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Have been thinking (OH NO I hear you all say!!!) and a really useful skill which none of us have mentioned in all our debating and cogitating is CHARCOAL MAKING. I know how in principle and have seen a charcoal burn set off, half way through being monitored and being unloaded at the end of the cooling period but have never had a go, bit complicated and smoky for an urban back garden.

Charcoal is lighter and more compact to store and transport.
You can use charcoal to fire a furnace to smelt aluminium and to make pig iron. (I suspect a skilled smith might be able to go a lot further with iron, but most would need to move to coke to move beyond grey iron (if they can get that far). But pig can be turned into wrought iron with a charcoal forge and wrought is a useful material.
If you've already got steel then charcoal braziers can be used for working rivets.
Its a useful tool, but serious production consumes a large amount of forestry, still SHTF it would seriously moderate the technology dieback.

[Deleted User]

Had a little read up on storage for charcoal and the opinion is that proper wood charcoal stores better than briquettes. It has to be kept scrupulously and absolutely dry which means NOT storing it in an outhouse/shed/garage where it will pick up the damp even in secure containers because of condensation. Best storage idea was to collect the little silica gel sachets and store those in the sealed container with the charcoal in bags inside a rigid container in a dry and warm environment. I'd make sure it was completely clean and keep it in the storeroom over the garage which is totally dry.

Karmacat

Thanks for that, MrsLW - I've been following this, and finally remembered I have a 5kg bag of charcoal sitting in my airing cupboard, where it will stay nice and dry forever (unless there's a leak, yikes). It's meant for fuel in an emergency, but in an even worse emergency its meant for the first level of a DIY water filter. I had to search for it for a long time - the stuff you get in most shops seems to have additives to make it catch light quickly. Great for the bbq, but awful for a water filter. This stuff was made in a wood about 5 miles from where I bought it, with the maker's name printed on the bag, and guaranteed to have no additives of any kind. Thought it was worth a fiver to have the insurance for the water filtering.

[Deleted User]

Have to share a conversation had on the bus this morning with a village friend in her 80s who was off to London for the day. We were talking about heating the house as the weather can't decide if it's going to warm up or not so one day we run the stove/central heating in her case and the next it's too warm so we don't, and we got round to talking about wood for the burner and processing it in the old fashioned way with the log splitter and saw and she was musing on how things had changed in her lifetime. When we'd stopped being nostalgic and sharing recipes for making stove black with the soot and some lard (really!!!) she looked at me and said ' Well my dear, if everyone did things the old fashioned way and didn't have all these new fangled electronic gadgets to do the work for them they'd all be much fitter as a result and it would save them a small fortune in paying Gym fees wouldn't it?' CRACKING!!!!

She actually said (without knowing I'm a prepper) that she was quite worried about how these people will cope if there is ever a problem that meant their electricals wouldn't work as they don't have either the skills or tools and equipment to make a good life should that happen. Not just us who are tuned in to the possibility then is it?

RAS

Slightly bonkers but there is an excellent book on cutting and drying wood by a Norwegian author.