Tire Sandals Part 5

*

Done. Took 4-5 hours of dedicated hard labor to make, I could probably cut it down to 3 on my next pair, using the exact same footprint that these ones have, plus the wood chisels I began using late in the game. Comfy? Sort of. Nothing my chiropractor would condone, but nothing I couldn't get used to in a pinch. Good for off-the-pavement travel, probably. Next project - bike inner tube moccasins for babies? Maybe!

Happy Devil's Night!

*

This Is Urban Warfare

*

*

Tire Sandals Part IV

*

Almost there.
*

Saturday Notes

*

Above: Scored this diving watch off a freecycle table. Waterproof to 200 meters. Lense is scratched but that's OK. Cut off the skankified watchband, forgot to keep the metal buckle pieces. Oops. Scrubbed the watch with hot water and a toothbrush, cleaned up nice. Cut a new wrist band from inner tube, not sure how to attach the ends. Note: Install new watch battery. Below that, a single link from a chainsaw chain can be used as a cord lock.

Above: All free, and almost good to go.
*

Dead serious when I say that roughage will make you crap better and also make you feel damn good inside.
-
Saying it once again: The key to improving gas mileage is to ease off the gas. Go slower, don't accelerate quickly, coast before using the brakes, keep your speed low on the highway & use cruise control.
-
A friend's daughter dreamed that a big, big earthquake hit while she was at school. She was at the table doing art with her classmates and the sound of screaming filled the air. Then the room started shaking really hard and she and her friends ducked under the table. The girl's a kid, not more than 8, the dream scared her badly.

So, I'm rearranging things in the house to EQ-proof a bit - threw away a bunch of jars, double-rubberbanded the kitchen cabinets closed, in the process of moving stacked things to the floor. Also gonna stock the Beast with some food & case of water & keep him gassed above 3/4 tank for the near while.
-
Awesome backpack ammo box innovation by some soldiers out of Ohio: VIDEO LINK HERE. This invention has been a long time in coming. Let's hope it goes mainstream.

*

A Strange & Archaic Military Relic

*

The 1980's German Bundeswehr Military "Fallschirmjäger-Messer" Paratrooper Type 4 FkM Gravity Knife - ever heard of it? It might evoke some faint sense of memory, but you've probably never seen one in the flesh. They are relatively hard to find these days, but a persistent internet search will bring them up. Check out the photos below:

It's a biggie! Plastic handle, metal tip, a folding marlinspike on the side, blade secreted in the handle. These puppies were designed to cut parachute rigging and untangle paracord. They appear to be relatively well constructed.

Another view, showing the locking lever at the front/top of the handle.

Blade extended and locked in place.

Blade retracted.

These are cool knives. The blade simply falls out when you point the handle downward and press the locking lever forward. Then you pull the lever back and the blade locks in place. Or, you can flick the blade out. Not a high-quality blade, but it sharpens right up.

*

Tire Sandals Part III

*

I sweated a pound or two carving these buggers out.

Now I've got a lot of detail work to do. Need to cut all the tabs down evenly, then thin out the tabs, then carve strap slits in them, then install the straps and buckles. But they might require a lot more finessing than that...they are shit-house strong and crude enough that I have no idea how my feet will actually fit in them, or if I will even be able to walk in them. Hang on. OK, check this out, below:

See how they don't sit flat? Yeah. They are tire-shaped. Mm-hmm. OK, one last photo, to give you yet another perspective:

Enjoy your evening, folks.
*

Ripper Pistols

*

OK, so they aren't all technically pistols, and "Ripper" is a term I made up myself. But I think these tools are awesome. I mean, what they give you is a LOT of firepower in a very small package, and if TS ever HTF and the American suburbs turn into the proverbial frying pan...am I right, or am I right? These photos were all snagged from internet forums. I don't know if any of these weapons are legal anywhere, but it's a good guess that none of them are legal in CA unless they are single shot, with a zero-round sled instead of a magazine.

Love the front grip.

My fav. A pistol with 100 assault rounds in it...yet, it could still use a front pistol grip. And some sights. And who am I fooling, a recoil-absorbing stock. OK, not my fav.

My NEW fav. My idea of an assault rifle. Now THAT'S concealable. AND it rocks-and-rolls.

Don't know what this is.

It looks real, though. That a grenade launcher down below?

Wow. Beta Mag, front armor AND a chainsaw handle. SWAT entry weapon, perhaps?
Good Lord.

I think I figured out why I like these little rippers so much. They remind me of the old Tommy guns the gangsters used to use back in Prohibition, the ones with drum mags, dual grips and the stocks removed. These are like space-age Tommy guns. They are designed to kick out the jams.

*

Unrelated: Why doesn't someone start a company that designs, builds and sells weapons for survivalists? A whole range: muzzle loaders, pistols, rifles, etc. They could incorporate unique elements into their weapons, such as storage compartments for survival gear, multiple barrels, and multi-caliber adapters and such. Maybe one day. We'll wait and see.

*

Tire Sandals Part II

*

Not very precise, but bigger than it needs to be.

Built like a fucking tank tread.

Suprisingly fun and easy to cut the sandal out of the tire. Used a razor blade. The devil will lie in cutting the tabs to size, thinning them, and chopping out the slits for the webbing. I'll flip the pattern over to trace out the left sandal. This is a very heavy duty sandal, it looks and feels like it will last for 15,000 miles.

Tire Sandals Part I

*

Yeah.

Maybe.

More like it.

Gotta trace my foot now and make a pattern.
*

Here's a strange little story, pulled from the Tire Sandal link in yesterday's last blog entry:

He punched discs out of tires to make bicycle tires (for those who were lucky enough to still have a bike.) You bought enough of the discs, drilled or burned holes in the center, and ran a sturdy fence wire through the holes. To mount these 'tires' one twisted the fence wire until it was tight enough take up any slack. It was a very hard ride, especially on the old cobblestone roads, but it was better than walking for some people.

Very innovative! He is referring to people in Germany improvising bicycle tires after WW II, when there were no new tires to be had. Necessity IS the mother of invention.

*

Repurposing Old Tires & An Epic Bosnian SHTF Story

*

Spotted a tire on the sidewalk in Bezerkeley. Must have been an old, old spare, never used, kind of dirty but no tread wear. Full sized. NOT a steel belt radial. Brought it home. Hosed it down, sprayed it with non-chemical cleaner, brushed it lightly, hosed it again, let it dry. Cut across it with a Leatherman blade. Pounded the edges of the tire off the rim with a rubber mallet and a small pry bar. Cut thru the metal bands in the tire's edges with bolt cutters. The steel wheel/rim will make a good hose reel once it is bolted to a vertical post. The tire itself will be cut into sections and turned into sandals. HERE is a good website for instructions on how to make tire sandals. Photos once the sandal process starts.

*

Found this LINK on SurvivalBlog today. Holy shit, what a story. Kind of like Leningrad in WW II, but also kind of worse, in a sense. I'm going to take the liberty of cutting-and-pasting the text into this blog, to spread this guy's story. It is something all preppers should read. Here goes (unedited, verbatim):

selco

Join Date: Sep 2011

Posts: 118

Thanks: 105

Thanked 2,721 Times in 112 Posts

OK, i wanna share with you my own experience. (be patient with my English, i am from far away)
I am from Bosnia, and as some of you may know it was hell here from 92-95, anyway, for 1 whole year i lived and survived in a city of 50 000- 60 000 residents WITHOUT: electricity, fuel,running water,real food distribution, or distribution of any goods, or any kind of organized law or government.The city was surrounded for 1 year and in that city actually it was SHTF situation.

We did not have organized army or police force, there was groups of defenders, actually anybody who had a gun, fight for his own house and his own family.

Some of us was better prepared, but most of families had food for couple of days, some of us had pistol, few owned AK-47 when all started.

Anyway, after one month or two, gangs started with their nasty job,hospital looked like butchery, police force vanished, 80 percent of hospital staff gone home.
I was lucky, my family was big in that time (15 members in one big house, 5-6 pistols, 3 Kalashnikov s) so we lived and survived, most of us.

I remember US Air force dropped MRE every 10 days (god bless USA for that) as help for surrounded city, it just was not enough.Some of houses had little gardens with some vegetables, most did not.
After three months rumors started abouth first deaths from starvation,deaths from low temperatures, we stripped every door , window frame from abandoned houses for heating, i burned all my own furniture for heating, lot of people died from diseases, mostly from bad water (two of my family members), we used rain water for drink, several times i ate pigeons, once i ate rat.
Money did not worth sh..
we traded things, black market worked, few examples: for 1 corned beef can you could have woman for couple of hours(sounds bad, but it was reality) i remember, most of that womans were just desperate mothers, candles, lighters,antibiotics,fuel,batteries, rifle ammo and of course food, we fight like animals for that.
In situation like that lot of things change, most of people turned to monsters, it was ugly.
Strength was in the numbers, if you were alone in the house, you ve been probably robbed and killed, no matter how well armed.

Anyway, war ended, again thanks to America (and again god bless USA for that)
It is not important witch side had right in that war.
It was almost 20 years ago, but believe me, for me it was just like yesterday, i remember everything, and i think i learned a lot.
Me and my family are prepared now,i am well armed, stocked and educated.
It is not important what going to happen, earthquake,war, tsunami,aliens terrorists, important thing is that something gonna be.
And from my expirience, you can not survive alone, strength is in the numbers, be close with your family, prepare with them, choose your friends wisely and prepare with them too.

And at the end, this is my first post, and my English is not so good, so don t judge me too hard.

*

Gadhafi Gets Iced & Other Shite

*

"Dragged from hiding in a drainage pipe, a wounded Moammar Gadhafi raised his hands and begged revolutionary fighters: "Don't kill me, my sons." Within an hour, he was dead, but not before jubilant Libyans had vented decades of hatred by pulling the eccentric dictator's hair and parading his bloodied body on the hood of a truck." - SIRTE, Libya (AP)

And so another megalomaniac dictator bites the dust at the hands of the people he brutalized for decades, saving us all the agony of listening to his insane posturings during an expensive and lengthy show trial. Best of luck to all Libyans, who seem like cool people and fought the good fight to its triumphant end.

*

Sold the remote bug out homestead. Time to move on to the next adventure!

*

There were two earthquakes today, both underneath Berkeley.

It would behoove all Californians to pay respect to Neptune from time to time. Lord of oceans and earthquakes, he is truly our local deity.

*

Fuck.

•

Goddamnit, there are a LOT of mass shootings occurring in the fucking United States these days. There was the beauty salon rampage in LA a couple of days ago - 8 dead, 1 wounded to date. There was the Quarry rampage in the South Bay a few days ago - I think 7 people were shot. As I've previously mentioned, there was the Carson rampage a month or two ago, with about 8 dead. And that's just what I can remember off the top of my head, locally. For fuck sake! This shit has become normal. Let me repeat that: This crazy shit has become normal. Get it out of your head that it is all an anomaly, and we will be back to "safe-and-sound" soon. No, this is the path we are on, and it diverged from the American Dream some time ago.

Let me list the bumps in the road we are on: overpopulation, dwindling natural resources, peak oil, climate change, the growing global food crisis, the death of the oceans, impending ecosystem collapse, the drying up of the planet, the ever-increasing likelihood of global pandemic, ocean level rise, economic collapse, social collapse, increasing numbers of mass murders, the threat of world war, the ongoing demise of the US dollar, the continued disintegration of nation states, the rise of stateless cartels and multi-nationals, and the shrinking of the middle-class.

If you are not a survivalist by now, you are nuts, but there is still hope. You still have the chance to look around you, take stock of the world, and become sane by beginning your journey towards self-reliance.

Am I an expert on this shit? Fuck no. Do I pretend to be? Fuck no. Am I intelligent, observant, abreast of world history and world affairs? Fuck yes. Do I really give a shit if you are black, white, straight, gay, a hippie, a redneck, foreign, domestic, vertically challenged, a human centipede? No. What I care about is spreading the message so that it sticks. Wake up and get off your ass if you haven't already done so. Take stock of your life. Learn to garden. Arm yourself. Network. Get an emergency kit together. Pay off your debt. Increase your practical knowledge base. Realize that the best thing you can do for yourself and everyone around you is to stop relying on the systems that keep us afloat, because those systems are breaking or broke.

Your mission is to figure out how to rely on yourself.
•

Shots

• •

"Emerald City"

"Forest"

"Moonshot"

Smartphones take good low-rez, pixilated photos.
• •

Notes

*

Re-potted 2 dwarf citrus trees and an avocado tree yesterday, in large pots with quality hand-mixed soil and organic plant food. Also pruned them lightly and moved them into more sun. Am hoping they spring back and start to produce.

Gonna re-plant the wine barrel potato garden soon. 24 potato pieces next time, as opposed to 6 last time. Potatoes seem to grow vertically without branching to the sides. No reason to let any container space go unused, then.

Also, need to weed out the nettles in another wine barrel, as they have a white blight/mold on them. Will replace them with onions.

Time to pull all the strawberries and tomatoes, which will leave me with empty earth boxes and a whole lot of empty pots.

Mmmmph.

*

Franklin Armory

********************

Ooooh, neat. There is a strange, new me-kind-of-weapon in town: The CA-compliant Franklin Armory XO-26B. It is a crafty and innovative little beast, available in 5.56mm, 7.62mm or Bushmaster .450. It has an 11.5-inch barrel, flash suppressor, forward and rear pistol grips, and no stock. The real catch is that it is sold as a single-shot weapon, ie: it has a zero round sled mag, meaning that the magazine is a spring-less dud with 1-round capacity. The action is standard though, and does cycle when fired, ejecting the round just like a normal semi-auto. Note: The magazine is held in place by a bullet button. The version pictured below must not be CA compliant, as it has a 20-round magazine (or more probably, a 10/20 mag). The version I saw in a local store had the zero round sled mag, which was virtually the same size as a 10-round mag.

Of particular interest is the fact that this weapon is neither legally a rifle, pistol, OR Any Other Weapon (AOW) ... for some reason it skirts the definitions of all the above weapon classifications. Yet, it is still CA legal, "as long as its total length is at least 26 inches and it is not actually concealed on the person".

This weapon appears to be well constructed, with a fully operational charging handle, forward assist and (breech) dust cover (unlike some 22LR assault rifles). The components are name brand and high quality. The rear pistol grip has an internal storage compartment for a cleaning kit or other gear, and the forward grip is hollow. The rear piston tube is padded and meant to be placed alongside one's cheek when aiming. It appears, however, that it could be butted up against one's shoulder, like a stock ... I don't know if that would actually work, or if it would be CA legal. I DO know that firing the Bushmaster 450 this way would bruise the living **** out of your shoulder, though. That is one hot round.

If I owned this puppy, I'd fashion a cap for the bottom of the forward grip, and store survival gear inside both grips. I'd attach a loop-sling to the rear of the receiver, and hang the weapon over my right shoulder. Don't know how I'd carry ammo.

Note that this weapon does not come with any sights. I am informed that iron sites run about $80, but have not verified that. A red dot sight is always an option.

Here's to a CA-compliant weapon that very closely resembles a modified submachine gun. It must be fun as hell to play with.

Happy hunting, Californians!

********************

Container Harvest

*

Planted 6 potato eyes in a 1/2 wine barrel last November-December. Barrel was 1/2 full of soil. Mounded more soil around the plants as they grew up, til the soil level was raised 8 inches above the rim of the barrel (held in place by a ring of copper sheeting). Photo above shows the total yield after 10-11 months. Potatoes are unwashed because they will keep much longer this way. This year's yield is 2-3 times last year's yield. Next year's yield should be 3-4 times bigger than this. The key: Plant 24 eyes to begin with. And, increase soil fertility with compost.

Made lunch soup with some of the above potatoes and some homegrown onions (also with purchased organic produce). Yum!

*

Mendo Fugitive Killed

*

A sad end to a riveting, 2-month crime spree/manhunt. Aaron Bassler -- very armed and VERY dangerous -- certainly deserved the end he met, but he was a tragic figure nonetheless, long the victim of undiagnosed/treated severe mental illness. His death is as tragic as that of the 2 men he killed last month. I hope to read a book or see a movie about this incident in the coming years, as many of the themes in this story -- cultivating illegal plants on other people's land in Northern California, untreated mental illness, dropping out of society and living off the land, evading and eluding law enforcement for extended periods of time, foraging and stealing for survival -- are very interesting indeed.

Prayers for all who passed away - may their souls be at peace.

*