I knew we were in trouble the moment I saw the Black and Decker battery-powered adjustable wrench. I’d encountered screwdrivers with dead batteries, saws without extension cords, and drills with easily over-heated motors, but an electric wrench?
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Even the Craftsman electric hammer wasn’t as frightening as a AAA-powered wrench. What was the world coming to? Since that time I have considered what essential but simple tools have crawled their way out of the primordial tool box and evolved into electric-powered, motor-driven, battery-dependent versions that grind, drill and saw through anything in seconds as long as their copper circulatory system has a steady flow of electrons. If the Grid goes down
Most people have experienced the failure of an electric screwdriver and have quickly remedied that situation, so manual screwdrivers were too obvious to make this list. But how about the other essential non-power tools necessary to rebuild society, or at least repair your domicile after a hurricane or civil war? Here’s a list of 10 non-power tools to have handy when the grid hits a speed bump.
Best Non-Power Tools For Survival: Top 10 Picks
1. Cross-cut saw: Very few people today have tried to cut through a large tree with a handsaw, and with good reason.
Cross-cut saws come in one and two person versions that differ by length and handles. If you live in a place where you know you will need to cut trees, the two-man version is best. For some strange twist of physics, twice the manpower is more than twice as fast. But if space is an issue, the one-man version is smaller and a makeshift second handle can be bolted onto the end of the blade if needed.
Here are our recommended cross-cut saws for survival:
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2. Hacksaw: Most of us are quick to grab our reciprocating saw like a Milwaukee Sawzall (the Kleenex of such things) for just
Useful hand hacksaws come in two classic sizes, 10 inch blades and 12 inch. The standard looking solid-frame hacksaw uses a 12 inch blade while the mini saw uses the 10 inch. For the price, I recommend at least one of each, and you can use 12 inch blades on the mini versions, but it’s easy to break the non-supported portion of the blade if you’re not careful. And even if you do snap it in half, just keep using whatever piece fits in the saw. Check out this recommended hacksaw:
- Solid metal frame of the hand saw is designed for tension up to 225 lbs.
- The handsaw has 12-inch fixed blade length and 4.375-inch cutting depth
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3. Standard Hand Saw: This is the traditional looking saw with a wood handle attached to a slightly triangular blade
As the teeth get smaller, it is easier to cut because less material is removed with each stroke. So the there is a tradeoff between cutting speed and necessary muscle. If you are in a region with harder woods, go for a tooth count above 10. If your world is more of softer woods like the pine forests of the west, then fewer than 10 teeth per inch will serve most needs just fine. Either way, the high-carbon steel will rust and pit if left alone outside.
Here is our recommended hand saw for survival:
- ► EASY TO USE: Our pro hand saw is designed for precise cutting including dovetails, miters, and...
- ► DURABLE CONSTRUCTION: Induction-hardened teeth that stay sharp up to five times longer than...
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4. Large Hand Drill: Hand-powered drills seem to be something that has fallen off the radar of most folks due to their
Larger hand drills come in two popular designs. One looks like a bigger version of the standard small hand drill which is little more than a vertical shaft with a geared-crank wheel attached to the center, a handle above it, and a chuck below it. The other design called a brace drill looks like a bowed shaft of metal with a chuck on one end, a spin-able knob on the other and a rotating grip in the middle. Either design will allow you to place a considerable portion of your body weight on the shaft while drilling, but the cost of the more complex geared version increases exponentially as it goes up in size.
Brace drills are much less expensive and often have a ratchet mechanism like a socket that allows drilling in confined spaces where a complete revolution of the offset handle is not possible. Most brace drills have chucks that take up to half-inch bit shafts, but reduced-shaft wood bits give your brace drill up to a two inch diameter drilling capacity assuming you have a bit that size, let alone a need for a hole that big and the time to drill it.
See the recommended large hand drills:
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5. Small Hand Drill: Most household drilling jobs will settle for a hole one-quarter inch in diameter or less which just so happens to be the capacity of smaller hand drills. It is very easy to snap off small drill bits when using a larger drill so small hand drills are essential if your drilling needs require holes pin to pencil-sized. Small hand drills do not generate as much torque as the larger versions, so both small and larger hand drills are necessary since one size won’t drill all.
Most of us, myself included, have many powered options when it comes to drilling holes and driving screws.
Check out the most recommended product below:
- Hand drill offers better control while drilling
- Works with 1/4-inch bits
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6. Battery-free Battery Tester: These days, batteries can sit on a shelf for a decade and still have some useful juice left in
A battery tester that does not itself use a battery won’t give as reliable a reading as a powered tester, but still it is a helpful reading for most situations. The powered versions can test the battery under load, but most folks use a tester to give the thumbs up or down to any given battery. Just make sure the particular tester you have can test all the batteries you use including 12v CR123 and 3v button cells.
Check out our recommended battery tester below:
- SMALL & PRACTICAL - Simple but effective battery tester checker for home (BT-168) , compact size and...
- BATTERY TESTER FOR ALL BATTERIES - The universal battery tester works with standard and rechargeable...
Last update on 2023-12-03 at 17:02 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
7. Battery-free Circuit Tester: Why would you need an old-school
If you plan on building an off-grid solar panel array, you will need a multimeter with decimal-level voltage and amperage capabilities, but for encountering the errant wire or circuit box the old design works fine. In fact, you can go years on traditional battery-powered voltage detector, so toss one of those in your 72-month bag as well.
- One person operation for wire and cable testing
- Transmitter with output cables terminated in modular RJ11 phone connector
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8. Hand-powered Grinding Wheel: From plow blades to hatchet
The spinning inertia of a hand-powered grinding wheel is only enough to do very small tasks. For any job of substance, the cranking must accompany the grinding so for those times, which happens to be all the time, an additional hand or two is helpful. And spinning the grinding wheel might be the most post-apocalyptic fun a kid can have.
Due to the extremely high chance that a speck of stone or metal will fly into your eye, your kid’s eye, or your dog’s eye, exercise caution by putting a transparent barrier between any living cornea and any remotely conceivable missile trajectory launched from the other side. If you need to use a hand-cranked grinding wheel then I sincerely doubt a hospital is just around the corner.
9. Hand-powered Air Pump: In case you didn’t know it, you can use a bicycle air pump to inflate a car tire. It will take you
Here is our recommended affordable air pump:
- Pumping to 120 PSI, Air Center Plus features a user-friendly mid-barrel gauge, comfortable co-molded...
- Compatible with Shrader and Presta valves, the dual easy indicator pump head turns green to signify...
Last update on 2023-12-03 at 17:02 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
10. Scythe: In addition to being an authentic Halloween prop, the scythe
Long after the lawn mower engine has seized and the push mower’s blades are too dull and chipped to cut anything, the scythe will keep going since using only the tools listed above, you could easily build yourself a new scythe from little more than a solid branch and a leaf spring.