Higgenbotham wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2023 2:13 am
In the link to Charles Hugh Smith there was a photo of him holding a Skil Saw. I rebuilt dilapidated houses full time for 8 years and can therefore imagine what it might be like to keep deteriorating houses livable in a future with lack of supplies and materials. The tools I thought I needed or happened to have going into it were mostly not the tools I ended up using or taking out of it. When doing rebuilds, probably 90 percent of the time it was faster to cut by hand due to it being piecemeal work (a rotted joist here or there, for example). I broke 2 or 3 spade handles digging old bushes and trees out until I bought a spade at True Value that could handle the work, which I still have (likewise, I about gave up on sanding the gray wood off old siding because 3M sandpaper wasn't up to the job, but True Value brand sandpaper was - the sanding was done with a power drill). All the putty knives I had were hard to use until I found one that did everything well. Can't remember where I got it but it has slightly rounded corners and the right thickness and sharpness. What I'm saying is don't just buy anything as in hand saw, check, got one, now I'm good. Reading these posts made me think I don't want to be without lots of hacksaw blades. Will probably check what I have and buy at least a hundred. If things really go haywire there may be a need to cut sections of PVC pipe out of abandoned buildings and the blades might be good for barter. The 2 photos below show houses I bought with sinking front or back porches for around 12K in both cases. Since the structure was good, the rebuild on the front porch was done with hand tools except for the bolt on post. The stair stringers were cut by hand. The back porch was a tear off and therefore more like new construction with the joists and 4X4s being cut with a Skil Saw due to quantity, plus trimming the decking with a Skil Saw. A power drill was used to drill the bolt holes. All the post holes were dug to 4.5 feet by hand. The front porch was done for about 1/10th the cost of the back deck and half the time while requiring very little in the way of power tools.
The house in the second photo had an old cistern out back that had collapsed, so the back porch was unsalvageable partly for that reason. But that brings something up. Most or at least many houses built 100 years ago had cedar shakes on the roof and a cistern in back. Nowadays, with asphalt shingles, any rainwater collected will be contaminated with hydrocarbons from the asphalt. Whether or how rainwater should be collected off asphalt is covered on other sites, so no need to get into that here.
That brings something else up though. In a collapsing world lacking supplies, deteriorating asphalt roofs are probably going to be the main problem with housing. Once one starts to leak, I know of no good way to get more than another few years out of one. If I find myself in that bind and no way to get new shingles, I guess I'll have a few years to figure it out.
A high quality pair of nippers comes in handy. When doing tear outs or salvage, if nail heads break off or for finishing nails the nippers can be used to quickly pull nails out from the other side. A good quality crowbar is essential. Several pipe wrenches of various sizes, including a big heavy one will be useful. Propane torches are useful. These are used frequently. Here are some things that may happen once in a blue moon but for which the right tools are necessary. A bolt head twisted off on a boiler once leaving the rest of the bolt inside. An easy out will help remove the rest of the bolt. If a piece of metal pipe breaks off leaving the rest stuck inside, cut crossways with a hacksaw blade and twist it out once it's been cut through completely. Cutting crossways across the threads will not ruin them.
Another thing that comes to mind is an old Craftsman belt sander will have metal gears in it whereas about late 80s the metal gears were replaced with plastic and those will strip under heavy use. Buyer beware.
I have about 5K worth of hand tools in old dollars and will go through them and add anything I forgot.
Speaking of fire or building collapse, I rent a secure garage within walking distance (not in a storage unit facility).
While the periphery breaks down rather slowly at first, the capital cities of the hegemon should collapse suddenly and violently.
