consuming to invest 34

CONSUMING TO INVEST 34

Carpentry

Carpentry is going to be in demand again, as metal and plastics use fade.  And it will be commercially viable as there are enough specialized tools needed that few householders will possess them.  Because while today what passes for carpentry requires a lot of metal accessories and attachments, most of tomorrow’s will by necessity once again minimize them.  Think dowels instead if nails or screws, for instance.  Learn the old, old school way.

Knife Maker

While Chinese crap stainless steel knives are out there in abundance,  they are reserved for the lowest rung of your post-apocalypse economic ladder.  They mostly use such poor quality steel that they are both hard to keep sharp AND rust easier.  Fresh fabricated units will be in demand by those who can afford them and need them as life saving tools.  But you must avoid the temptation of using modern machines in their manufacture.  They won’t last.  Employ the multi-generational primitive knife making techniques. 

Potter

This one is easy, as the fuel involved in firing clay necessitates centralized ovens.  When fuel is scarce or dear, no one is going to have their very own oven in their back yard.  There will be plastics and steel from our time competing with you, but clay is once again the sustainable choice for the far future and will return as needed.

Bowyer/Flint Knapping

While bows might not make a huge comeback militarily ( hard to say how low we devolve with combat weapons-I’m of the mind enough capacity will remain for at least flintlock black powder arms, but even I’ll admit that requires a certain amount of optimism ), they will be needed for hunting since nitrates will remain dear given our denuded landscape and overpopulation.  Bow making is simple in concept and a single how to book might do, but of course long practice will be necessary.  At first steel scrap should be abundant, small pieces of little value for much else, but knapping might well come back as needed.  Have the knowledge of the technique and identification of the rock as back-up.  A bowyer might face stiff competition from domestic manufacture, but only where there are no craftsman anyway.  Your market in villages and towns, the poorer supplementing their protein, should be sufficient.

Carding And Spinning

Not the actual practice, but the manufacture of the tools, will be the commercial aspect here.  Every gal at domestic downtime at every home will be carding fleece and spinning yarn for the knitting and crocheting and weaving needed.  Some tools can be duplicated by carpenters, true, but there might not be.  Research the tools needed, stock up on the affordable ones, and figure out how to make your own.

Wheelwright & Wainwright

Building wooden wheels and wooden wagons and carts must have been a gold plated bitch.  Highly specialized and labor intensive, and absolutely necessary in any area with trade ( well, except perhaps the desert with its camels ).  Like a cooper, a lucrative field.

Last and final chapter in the book, next article.

 

END

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