Ridley "Store-and-Ignore Disaster Supply Box" - would you buy one?

[Lloyd Danforth]

Chewing gum, playing cards, cigarettes, anything to help get people through a trying time and decrease irritability and social friction.

I'm guessing a guy who won't risk a 2% iodine bust isn't going to include a couple of joints

[J’raxis 270145]

re-selling iodine over 2% tincture or in solid form is illegal and carries up to a ten year penalty.

If you dilute whatever you have down to 2% so you can sell it, wouldn't it be relatively easy for the purchaser to just re-concentrate it afterward?

[J’raxis 270145]

It just occurred to me that it would be useful to have people sign on to be community activists and store larger quantities of disaster-preparedness items, much in the same way that Defender of Liberty suggested that people form a network for the Porc food bank.
http://newhampshireunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=10750.msg215498#msg215498

It would be much more cost-effective to buy things like salt and ascorbic acid in commodity-chemical or vet-supply quantities, and have them stored in a dry shed/garage/basement/attic so that they can contribute to disaster relief.

Apartment dwellers, and new incoming Porcs are likely to be hit the hardest due to space, income, and other limitations.

I agree with buying it in large quantities, but then storing it all in one place, or with one person responsible for it, is a bad idea. Putting all of your eggs in one basket, so to speak...

[penguins4me]

Don't forget "The Daring Book for Girls."

I was just trying to learn to whistle with two fingers from that book, but couldn't quite get it.  :-\

Don't be discouraged; keep practicing!

Before I finally learned how to whistle properly (sans fingers, in my case) I spent two weeks making constant "pppfffffbbbbbbtttbbpppt!" noises around my parents' house after I'd stopped riding my bicycle around town to talk to a strange-looking man who was hanging around outside the beauty school near the old railroad tracks... In hindsight, perhaps not the wisest decision - but I can whistle!

I'm suprised my parents are still (mostly) sane.

[Kat Kanning]

LOL   Will keep working on it.

Reminds me of the story when I was a kid and my friend and I found a dead body in an old car by the railroad tracks.  Scared the heck outta me.  But then when we came back with adults, it was just some drunk relative of my friend.

[Bald Eagle]

I agree with buying it in large quantities, but then storing it all in one place, or with one person responsible for it, is a bad idea. Putting all of your eggs in one basket, so to speak...

Well, the idea was to have Dave sell the basic kits, and have a community of SHTF activists store bulk items as a backup.  Everyone gets their own egg, but then we have stores - in the real sense of the word - that carry baskets of eggs.  That way the stores of goods are in the hands of porcs and not under the control of someone who will be easily subjected to government rules or threats of force.

There are often copies of Armarego & Perrin's Purification of Laboratory Chemicals available on Ebay or advertised in places like sci.chem.  I would recommend that people buy as many copies of that and Vogel's Textbook of Practical Organic Chemistry and its Inorganic Chemistry companion as possible.  If TSHTF, we're going to be needing to unformulate useful things from common household items, or make them from dirt.  And we're probably not going to have a whole lot of time to figure out how.

[porcupine kate]

Dada your kit also needs
toothbrushes
dental floss and or a dental pick
basking soda.

The backing soda and salt make a pretty good toothpaste substitute for your kit.

[Dave Ridley]

sorry for the slow repsonse lately.  I am trying to absorb the ideas and fit some of them into what will be the small space...

but don't wait for me to get prepared, I have a lot of steps to perform before I'll have anything ready.   your high degree of interest just gives me the mandate to get started and lots of new ideas.

[COG]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but here is a pretty cool video on making a "Metal Candle" http://www.metacafe.com/watch/851881/make_metal_candles/

[yonder]

If you include alum, include it in block form.  It also makes a handy dandy deodorant.

Most men nowadays are using the latest Gillette or Schick multi-blade monstrosity which has cartridges that have an engineered short life expectancy.  Heck, woman like to shave, too.  It would probably be handy to offer a SHTF shaving kit which includes a "safety razor" (aka DE or Double Edge razor) and a bunch of blades for it.

Personally I went one step beyond that and I'm now shaving with a straight razor.  No need to ever replace the blade (the one I've got is a hundred years old or so and doing well).  I did this in part because now I have one less "consumable" to worry about.  I can still look clean shaven months or years after the onset of a long-term major crisis.   

A SHTF shaving kit should also have a cheapo boars hair shaving brush ($6 at the local pharmacy) and a puck or two of shaving soap (Williams Mug Soap, $1.50 a puck at the pharmacy or about a buck a puck in case lots).  That should be enough shaving gear to last a looong time if you go with the safety razor.

I'll broach the subject of family planning.  What happens when a young lady can't get her prescriptions filled anymore?  Hope someone has a backup plan.

There are so many consideration for long-term SHTF.  Everyone's priorities are going to be different.  I'm inclined to believe that anyone who thinks this far ahead would rather put together their own kit than purchase one pre-made.  After all, how many people out there in mainstream America are even putting together their 72 hour kits that EVERYONE has been urging them to have?

[Dave Ridley]

Bald you mentioned that butane lighters are better than matches.  By this do you mean that you can start more fires with less money?  Do you mean you can start more fires with less space taken up in the kit?   Do you mean that stored butane is less of a fire hazard?  Do you mean that it is longer lasting in storage?   

what specifically are the  advantages of butane over matches? 

assuming butane is hands down better than matches I would probably lean toward putting these types of lighters in kits along with an appropriate amount of butane:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Coleman-Disposable-Butane-Lighters-Maroon-Fire-Start_W0QQitemZ110208634185QQihZ001QQcategoryZ16036QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[inertia]

Don't forget the condiments.  This is more of a joke:

http://www.allthepages.org/images/blog/badcondiment-lg.jpg

Based on this, you could totally store-and-ignore cheeze wiz, baco bits, salt, aspartame, saccharin, and maraschinos.   

[Bald Eagle]

Matches get wet, the compound can crumble off the end of the stick, you can only burn them for so long before they burn down to your fingers and you have to light another one and start again.

It's harder to do creative things with matches than with a butane source that you can cahnnel through a tube or a burner, or pre-mix with air before igniting.
Matches aren't wind-shielded and don't burn very hot, plus they smell and you don't want that to build up in an enclosed space while some nimrod is trying to light a fire.

Real, good-quality wind-proof lighters have adequate butane for remaining lit for long periods, have a special coil that keep the flame going even in heavy wind, and can be use to heat things hot enough to solder.  They are durable, easy to use, and are odorless.  They produce an intense, non-luminous flame that won't attract as much attention from predators as the sudden flare-up from lighting a match.

By all means, include a waterproof container of GOOD QUALITY (test them) waterproof matches, and possibly some of those paraffin-saturated sawdust firestarting sticks.

But I'd feel godlike in comparison if I were supplied with an ass-kicking lighter and a canister of butane to refill it with.

If you wanted to go whole hog, you could include a piece of magnesium metal, and some small containers of glycerin and potassium permanganate, both of which have been sold commercially as fire-starting kits.  Scrape off some magnesium shavings to really boost the initial flame produced and jump-start the fire, or drip some glycerin onto a small pile of finely ground KMnO4 to create a small intense flare that leaves behind a hot slag.

Maybe we can set up a small emergency-preparedness seminar at PorCfest and do some demos.

Bald you mentioned that butane lighters are better than matches.  By this do you mean that you can start more fires with less money?  Do you mean you can start more fires with less space taken up in the kit?   Do you mean that stored butane is less of a fire hazard?  Do you mean that it is longer lasting in storage?   

what specifically are the  advantages of butane over matches? 

assuming butane is hands down better than matches I would probably lean toward putting these types of lighters in kits along with an appropriate amount of butane:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Coleman-Disposable-Butane-Lighters-Maroon-Fire-Start_W0QQitemZ110208634185QQihZ001QQcategoryZ16036QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Dave Ridley]

Question RE: sterno

I'm thinking of adding sterno to the store and ignore disaster kit. 
I'm trying to decide between buying the six hour wick sterno
and the 2 hour wick sterno...
do you guys know if one is superior to the other, if there is a difference in burning temp, etc?   looks like the 6 hour wicks cost you roughly  25% less per hour of burning, but the total amount of fuel you get is a lot less per dollar.

Also do you think there is a superior solution to sterno, which should go in the kit instead?

[Dave Ridley]

bald thanks for the reply; what do you and others consider the most appropriate lighter to include?  what's the best type of butane to include?