kerosene 1 of 2

KEROSENE

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note: I posted this in a comment yesterday.  "Fun filled fact. An M1 Garand was fresh out of the factory 2-4 MOA specs. Just like the no.1 Enfield. The no.4 Enfield was 1-2 MOA. Everyone loves the Garand and says the Enfield is a sloppy shooter. That says different, doesn't it? Or course, full disclosure, second hand info from a YouTube vid. But the guy did seem knowledgeable."
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note: how can you not love 'Ol Remus at Woodpile Report?  This guy is funnier than most stand-up comedians.  "Sometimes Mr. Reed's "check engine" light comes on without him noticing it."
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A short while ago a minion brought up the joys of kerosene lanterns.  I responded with my normal “LED’s rule, fool” ( I was an advocate of LED lighting when it was a niche item on hardly anyone’s radar-so much I was dubbed by one reader as “the LED guy”, similar to my use of “druid dude” or “Yuppie Scum Survivalist Guru” ).  And yet, nothing should ever be cut and dried, should it?  There is a place for everything and everything has its place.  I detest semi-automatic weapons because of the logistics.  That doesn’t mean they cannot be used in a proper unconventional way.

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We were discussing the best manual saws.  The Kunukian Prepper ( Canadian Prepper on You Tube ) introduced-or at least popularized-the Japanese saws that are like most things from Nippon ( except Subaru-bad experiences with those cheese dinguses ).  They cost a kings ransom and then, after time, the quality is so high they end up costing you far, far less as they just never seem to break.  They make cross-cut saws look weak and befouled in comparison, from minion reports. 

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This got me thinking about saws, again ( I thought I had completed this phase years ago ).  I knew the ones I had were crap and wouldn’t last long, but looking at the Japanese saws, no matter how good, just seemed to be an investment commitment I was unwilling to undertake.  I only have sagebrush for wood here, and you can take them out with a Mattock or a pry bar or even reverse twist them and uproot them.  I thought an ax would be sufficient, if I even needed another tool.  Which got my brain into the Butt Simple tool concept.

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It is far better, long term planning wise, just to go Butt Simple.  Even if you are using extra energy calorie-wise, you are using less resources to make or maintain the tool.  This is a trade off that wasn’t uncommon.  We are so used to the opposite, investing in a tool regardless of its resource use, to save the minutest amount of human effort.  This is a little bit because of an aging affluent consumer and a lot to do with the elites automation to take away as many jobs as possible to control us better ( the money they throw our way in welfare or similar is just conjured out of the glittery fart unicorn reality anyway ).

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We, you minions and I, fight this paradigm all the time.  I say, turn the damn bolt.  You hate bolt actions because everyone used the Mauser action, which was the VHS to the Brits Betamax.  Not as good but popular, and a stiff action is considered the norm.  Using a darn semi because you are too lazy to turn the bolt ( I know, I’m being sarcastic-no need to remind me of the tactics you are attempting to emulate ).  I say, four friggin minutes to grind half your days calories with the cheap Victoria grain mill.  You say, NO, I want it in thirty seconds, and if I have to spend $300 and buy back-up parts to do it I will!

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Yes, yes, I know we are all getting older.  We cannot do like we used to.  But while that is a reason, it shouldn’t be an excuse.  You still have to force yourself to perform a minimum amount of labor.  I can’t install an elevator down to my underground hovel-I need to navigate those steps regardless of arthritis or other ailments.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t invest for the loss of muscle use aging brings.  I’m saying there should be a cut-off point where you draw the line between coddling and necessary compromise.  Instead of buying an electronic chainsaw and more solar panels to power it, a cheaper solution that requires SOME manual labor ( the Jap saw ), even if it is less than swinging an ax.

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Perhaps, instead of felling a tree a day as you would in your youth, you still use an ax as a geriatric but you only chop a little every day.  No matter how old I get, I’m sure I can still haul a gallon or half of water.  I don’t need the tank for gravity to make getting water labor-less.  You save a lot of money this way.  Not that it is about SAVING money, it is about getting more for the same amount of money. 

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Like, instead of spending two grand on a rifle you spend $200 on it, then buy junk land and ammo and a beater RV.  You still spent two grand, you just bought a crappy rifle instead of a perfect one, and got more tools for the same investment ( obviously, these prices are pre-2007.  I finally sold my Texas land, the $300 lot I got in 2005 [ with $250 title insurance Title America screwed me out of, the bastards-at the time I was making too much to trade money for aggravation so I never fought them on it ].  I think now you’d spend five times more for it.  Junk land seems to increase universally in price in bad times. Which should be a warning to you to buy before it is too late ).

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Anyway, Butt Simple has as much of a place in your preps as High Tech does.  Instead of just back-ups to current tech tools, you should also have two lower tiers as well.  Current tool, its back-up, a 100 year old tech tool, and then a medieval tech tool.  So, with lighting, you have a lot of LED’s ( assume sloppy Chinese manufacture ) with its necessary infrastructure, then kerosene lanterns, then plans for candles.  As the minion stated, kerosene can be your Forever Lighting.  It is one step up from lowest tech, with a minimal amount of stockpiling needed.  It has almost zero vulnerabilities unlike LED’s.

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Yes, it has a bottleneck of More Than Cottage Industry tool construction.  It isn’t as Butt Simple as candles.  But it is close enough.  It is similar to buying a twenty pack of frensel lenses for ten bucks.  It is nominally higher tech than cottage industry can manufacture but it is a nominal fee for bypassing more laborious fire starting.  A single roll of cotton wick is all you need for five years of lighting, assuming you make bio-diesel at your farm.  We’ll go into all that tomorrow.

END ( today's related link http://amzn.to/2CLYWfi )

 

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