2. Isn't it too soon to start prepping? The Antitech Revolution is nowhere near happening.
3. What makes this preplist different than any other?
4. Is it possible to destroy the tech-system without the need for prepping?
Bodyweight exercises AKA Calisthenics
Growing your own food (permaculture)
Chapter 4: Combat and Self-Defense
/TKG/ preplist is a list of essential items, skills and knowledge that will be required to survive in the post-tech world, concentrated in a single text document.
Technology and civilization have never been developed up to the point that they are today. A lot of people have lost the necessities for survival and have become dependant on technology and civilization. This holds especially true for city-dwellers because they live in an entirely artificial environment. The purpose of the preplist is to present the basics of survival in the post-tech world.
It's never too early to start prepping. Modern civilization and the tech-system are much more fragile than you think they are, and it is entirely possible for them to collapse before the Revolution even happens. And also, without the necessities for survival, the revolutionaries would only dig their own graves if they were to succeed in the Revolution.
The /TKG/ preplist minimizes the importance of technology for survival. Since in this context the definition of technology is very arbitrary, for the sake of clarity, by 'technology', the preplist will mainly refer to organization-dependant technology, as defined in the "Two Types of Technology" chapter of ISAIF, as well as any piece of technology from or after the Industrial Revolution. Of course, technology won't be eliminated entirely, as this would be suicidal. However, the usage of technology will be minimal and eliminated in fields where it is possible to do so.
No, because technology and civilization are the only reason why it's possible to survive without the necessities of survival. If you're in the deep waters and you're going to take off your safety vest, you better be sure to know how to swim.
So, without any further ado: /TKG/ preplist!
No amount of hoarding will help you survive if you yourself are unable to survive. You have to improve your physical and mental well-being if you wish to survive in the post-tech world. This list will show you the methods of self-improvement and their benefits:
This one is a no-brainer coming from an antitech movement. By 'tech rehabilitation', we mean the process of de-addicting yourself and making yourself independent off of technology. This is very simple: reduce your usage of technology as much as possible. Technology should be used only as a method of improving yourself (like learning a new skill or reading a book from the Internet) and of entertainment if you're weak-minded (this, of course, should be improved at gradually to not needing tech-induced entertainment at all).
If you're a smoker, alcoholic, gambler, druggie, gamer, porn-watcher or other forms of an addict, stop being one. Not only do all of these ruin your health, they greatly ruin your character, too.
Porn is the absolute worst of them all because unlike the other addictions, this one is completely free and unregulated. Therefore, it brings the most harm to you in the shortest amount of time.
Masturbating is acceptable as long as it is infrequent (once a month, tops) and you don't ejaculate, but you should try to not to that, either, for your own good.
This type of training is preferred to weightlifting for a number of reasons. They are more athletic by nature than weightlifting and you have more freedom and independence with them than with weightlifting. The only equipment you need for this type of training is the gymnast rings (and a place to hang them on). They will greatly optimize your training and will offer you possibilities that other forms of training are not able to.
And remember: you're training to improve your strength, endurance and stamina, NOT to build muscle mass. Muscle mass should be a consequence of strength and endurance training and not a goal of its own. From a survival perspective, a big, bulky body brings a lot of disadvantages to you, like needing a lot of water and protein to maintain it, and having a hard time getting in a cover in a gunfight.
Those who are overweight will be referred to at the next chapter, titled "Nutrition".
Scientifically proven to greatly improve your immune system, this is a non-negotiable exercise for any self-improver. Wim Hof himself has a YouTube channel with a lot of information about his technique (and a follow-along video), so we don't feel the need to go into great lengths about it. We will only say that you should do it every day for 10-20 minutes, most preferably in a cold environment with clean, unpolluted air.
Orthotropics are a technique of improving the oral posture for improving your facial looks and health. The basic premise of orthotropics is to breathe through your nose, keep the entire tongue of the roof of your mouth, lips sealed and molars slightly touching. Here, we are only interested in the health benefits. Orthortropics open up your airway, which brings a lot of health benefits (improved breathing, less likely to catch a cold or have a plugged nose etc). The time for the results to appear depend on age, genetics and the effort (with the only instant result being the disappearance of the double chin), and vary from between a few months to about three years.
There is a YouTube channel "Orthotropics" by the creators of the technique: John and Mike Mew with a lot of information on it.
Alongside your body and mind, your character must be strengthened as well. Do something that makes you uncomfortable. Take a cold shower. Tell your friend or a family member about a deep fear, trauma or regret you have. Eat a food you never ate before or you don't like the taste of. Breaking your comfort zone is the best way to improve your character, and the benefits of doing that are having more self-confidence and courage.
Apple a day keeps the doctor away! This chapter will discuss various types of food and beverages, their effect on the body and what your diet should consist of. The methods of growing your own food will be discussed in the next chapter, titled "Settlement", the medical value of foods will be discussed in the chapter titled "Medicine", finding food in the wilderness (including hunting and fishing) will be discussed in the chapter "Foraging" and methods of preparing and preserving food will be discussed in the chapter "Cooking and Food Preparation".
By this term, we mean any and all organic, non-processed foods, which can be either homegrown or found in the wilderness. This includes fruits, berries, vegetables, grains and animal products. These are the best possible foods you can eat and are what most of your diet should be consisted of. Most of these foods are short-lasting, so if you have no way of preserving them, eat them immediately.
This includes any food that is processed or comes in a sort of packaging. These are essentially more long-lasting and less healthy and nutritional alternatives to natural foods. Have in mind that the packaging itself may have other uses after the food it was preserving is eaten, and should NOT be thrown away.
This includes all foods that have the reputation of being highly unhealthy (not limited to just foods from junk food restaurants). Because of their unhealthiness and low nutritional value, these are practically worthless. Eat only if you are starving and there is nothing else to eat.
The only essential beverage. Copper or silver can be used to purify the water from bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms, and as for the dirt, use alternating layers of grass, sand and charcoal in a funnel-like vessel (primitive versions can be made out of a bark with a knife, held together some sort of a cordage, like a rope or a vine) as a filter. Water can also be purified through destilation, but this is not recommended, because this method removes a lot of salts and minerals in the water which make it nutritious.
Certainly healthier than other beverages, but because of their lack of fibers and easiness of drinking and digesting, it's better to eat fruits.
Drink only if necessary. Because of the high sugar levels and easiness of digesting, they should be avoided.
All forms of alcohol have other uses better than nutrition (medicine, weaponry, trade etc). Drinking them is a waste in most situations.
Same as alcohol. Some car mechanics use them as cleaning liquids and are sometimes even more effective than actual detergents. That should tell you about their nutritional value.
Your food is fuel, not a hobby. Eat when you need to eat, and only when you need to eat.
Eliminate sweet foods from your diet (desserts and anything high in sugar). You don't need them.
Eliminate bread and other dough-based meals. Bread and dough have almost non-existent nutritional value. For example, it's possible for pigeons to starve when they eat nothing but bread.
Never, EVER, waste food.
If you are overweight, you don't need to make any major changes in your diet other than removing unhealthy and high-caloric foods, and should instead focus on exercise. And of course, since you didn't become fat overnight, you won't stop being fat overnight, either.
If you are skinny, the only thing you need to do is to start building muscle and increase protein intake.
Don't underestimate the usefulness of your smell. If the food has a strange scent, think twice before eating it. You don't want a sick stomach.
If you encounter a water source and it's very foamy, don't drink it. It likely contains chemicals you don't want to consume.
When eating canned fish, pour out the oil. It's probably soy oil, and you don't need that.
A nomadic lifestyle will be very unsustainable. You must find a place for you and your tribe/family to settle if you already don't have one. This chapter will discuss the most ideal locations and terrain to settle in, the construction of your house, the organization of your tribe/family and ways of growing your own food.
You should settle in a secluded area, as far from cities as possible. The closer you are to the wilderness, the better. Your settlement should be near a body of water, most ideally near the source since it's the cleanest there. Make sure that the soil itself is stable and on high ground. The soil should be fertile, so you can grow your food there. If there is wildlife nearby, it would be wise to do some hunting, but know your limits (will be more addressed in the chapter titled "Foraging").
Mountains would be ideal because of their secludedness and difficult access, but if you lived on a plain your whole life, think twice. On the mountains, even walking can get you tired easily. If you're not used to the terrain, it's unlikely you'll survive.
Keep the construction as simple as possible. If unnecessary, don't use concrete and/or bricks. Base your house on the model of Ted's cabin, and if your tribe/family is numerous, build several of them.
Don't use paint, stryrofoam and polyurethane foam. They poison the air you breathe. Styrofoam is especially dangerous because it's flammable and a major eco polluter when it combusts.
It should as homogenous as possible. Racially, ideologically and in any other form. The more homogenous the tribe, the more likely it will live in harmony and without infighting.
The only field where the tribe should be diverse are the skills. There should be at least three tribesmen specialized in one or more of essential skills (will be discussed in greater detail in chapter "Skills").
Make it numerous enough to make sure your descentands don't interbreed (min 50), but small enough to sustain each other (max 150).
Other than some basic gardening techniques, the writer lacks knowledge on this subject, and can for now only recommend a YouTube channel "Marie Cachet" which contains a lot of information about permaculture (and survivalism in general).
Just because your settlement is secluded does not mean it will stay that way. Always be ready for an encounter, pleasant or not.
Take care of your children. They are weak and fragile, and even a regular cold can be devastating for them.
Now that you have a permanent place of living, you gotta make sure you can protect it. This chapter will discuss all forms of combat, weaponry, traps and tactics to protect your settlement. Ways to craft, maintain and optimize your weapons will be discussed in the "Skills" chapter.
Guns and ammo will be hard to acquire in the post-tech world, so don't fire your guns unless you have to and you know what you're doing. Get firearms with the longest range you can get. Set all your guns to manual (non-automatic) fire.
Use shotguns for home defense (slugs for long-range, buckshot for close-range combat).
There are many advantages of using bow and arrow compared to firearms. They are more silent and arrows can be crafted easily. All you need to do is to sharpen a stick of thick wood and add a feather for the aerodynamics. A bow should be made out of wood flexible enough to pull the arrow, but tight enough to fire the arrow with an explosive force. Don't have the bow 'stretched' for longer than two seconds, because the tension is lost and the arrow is not fired with as much explosiveness as it could be.
Certainly the one with the most variety. From knives to warhammers, there are many variations of melee weapons to choose from. Because of the variety, the types will be discussed separately.
The easiest ones to wield, and the one with the most variety. Butterflies, switchblades, karambits and traditional daggers, whichever you choose to wield, the basics are the same: aim for the upper torso (rib cage and the neck), avoid thrusting (unless you're certain you will hit) and instead use swings, because they're harder to dodge.
The smaller they are, the easier they are to use. If the user has no skills with melee weapons, the sword is the best choice of arms. The light weight of swords gives the wielder a lot of mobility and agility. Make sure to have a strong grip on the sword to not get disarmed by the enemies' strikes.
These are a good choice, should you choose the non-lethal way of taking down your enemies. There's variety here, too: bats, crowbars, batons and many others. Although it's harder to kill with these than with blades, make no mistake: these are devastating if you know where to strike. Livershot (right ribcage near the bottom) and kidneyshot (a bit above the hips, to the side) can paralyze, if not knock the opponent unconscious, while strikes to the temple or neck are lethal with the right power.
It's not recommended to use these against blade-wielders because blades are lighter than blunts, and therefore you'll take a hit before your opponent does.
The long range of spears offers a lot of advantages during the battle. If you strike the arm quickly enough, you can disarm your opponent without worrying of getting hit. However, while the blades are too light to disarm the spear-wielder, the same does not apply to blunt weapons. A hard swing by the blunt will easily knock the spear off your arms, especially if you have a bad grip on it. You should hold the spear with two arms, both of them as far away from each other as possible, but not too far as for you to not be able to thrust or swing properly.
Although the thrust is the most effective way of using the spears, the swing should not be underestimated, either. Target the torso for maximum efficiency.
The heaviness of the blunts combined with the sharpness of the blades. These are excellent weapons in combat IF you have the strength to swing them. Usage is identical to the usage of blunts.
It's very unlikely you will ever find yourself in a situation where you will need hand-to-hand combat skills, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Make sure to have your knuckles conditioned beforehand. Knuckle pushups are ideal for this. Do these pushups on various surfaces to increase the knuckle endurance. The progression should be carpet-wood-tiles-concrete-asphalt. Do the knuckle pushups on one surface until you are able to do as many knuckle pushups as you can do the regular ones before moving onto another surface. You can easily inflict permanent damage to your knuckles if you overtrain, so know your limits.
Learn a martial art. Boxing, kickboxing, karate, taekwondo, kung fu, muay thai, lethwei, anything is useful. Don't limit yourself to one style. Mix the pros of multiple styles and choose something that fits your fighting capabilities.
While targeting the head is a no-brainer, the rest of the body shouldn't be underestimated, either. We've already discussed the weak spots of the torso in the "Blunt weapons" section. Legs have two weak spots: a bit above the knee and the hamstrings. If you kick the opponent in the right spot with sufficent force, you can inflict permanent damage to the knee, while a good strike on the hamstrings will knock the opponent off his feet.
When punching, use leg, hip and torso rotation for maximum punching power. Punching is mostly about shoulder strength, so make sure you train it before fighting.
When kicking, strike with your shin, not your foot. Just like the knuckles, the shin should be conditioned for fighting. Make sure to have enough strength in your abs and your glutes (gluteus medius and minimus, specifically) for stabilization purposes, as well as flexibility in you hamstrings if you seek to strike at higher spots.
Use your head! Headbutts can be devastating if done properly. The Lethwey method of a headbutt is the most powerful one. Make sure to target the jaw, teeth, or temple, as they are the weakest part of the face. Also, use this against opponents taller than you, since it's easier to hit the weak spots.
A YouTube channel that does a great job at explaining hand-to-hand combat is "fightTIPS"
Shields won't be that useful in the first 50 or so years of the post-tech world. Later, when most of the modern combat equipment "runs out" and the combat becomes more based on primitive weaponry, these will be essential. Use large shields for outdoors combat, and small shields for indoors combat.
Booby traps of all sorts are easy to make and useful to defend your settlement. The traps should be designed to injure, not to kill. This is desirable from both ethical and strategic perspectives. Ethically, you can never know who ends up in a trap, and strategically, an injured fighter is a bigger burden on the enemy group than a dead one.
Know that, unless you are a guerilla genius and have a militia of excellent fighters, there is no guarantee you will win any battle, with or without casualties.
Use long-range weapons as much as possible. If the enemies are armed with mostly primitive weapons, use firearms to scare them off, if you don't want to kill them. You don't have to fire a single round: the mere sight will frighten them.
Exploit your enemies' weaknesses. Send blunt-wielders on spear-wielders, spear-wielders on sword-wielders and sword-wielders on blunt-wielders. Don't charge on your enemies, and instead, use the terrain to your advantage. The marksmen (archers and firearm users) should not target the opponents that are in a direct battle against an ally, since the ally may be hit by accident. Instead, the marksmen should aim at the enemy marksmen or enemies that are not yet in a direct battle.
If the attack is anticipated, hide your troops all around. Marksmen are especially dangerous when they attack from all sides.
Spar regularly. The battlefield is a place where you don't want your skills to be rusty. If you're a marksman, go to a shooting range regularly. If you need training in the post-tech world, use blanks if you have them, otherwise sustain yourself from shooting, and instead use bow and arrows.
The women and children should hide during the battle. If the women insist on fighting, it's ideal for them to be archers or wielders of small firearms. If they have no choice but to engage in melee combat, they should use light blades.
You've defended your settlement, but your tribesmen are wounded. You need to know how to mend their wounds and heal them. In this chapter, we will discuss items that can be used as medication, methods of healing and ways to avoid injury and disease.
Antiseptics are items which stop or slow down the growth of microorganisms. They should be applied to open wounds to prevent infection. Best natural antiseptics are honey and alcohol (the purer, the stronger, the better).
Hemostatics are items which stop the bleeding. These are highly valuable for combat and post-combat medication. The best, most common natural hemostatic is the yarrow (Achillea Millefolium).
Tourniquets are items used to wrap up the wound after it is properly treated, in order to limit the blood flow. While the regular bandages are most effective in this regard, any other type of cloth can be used if there are no alternatives. Make sure to tie the tourniquet tightly around the wound, but not too tight to stop the blood flow entirely (gangrene is easily the worst possible scenario in the post-tech world).
Surgical suture are items used to close major lacerations (cut wounds). A suture consists of a needle and a thread. The needle is inserted on one side of the wound and pulled through the other side of the wound. The process is repeated throughout the length of the wound until it's closed. The writer is not aware of primitive alternatives to standard sutures, so take care of them and use them only if you need to. Some sutures can be used over and over again by pulling the thread out of the wound after it's healed.
Splints are items used to immobilize the limbs in order to heal bone fracture. If the standard splints are not available, any item can be used as long as it's lengthy, hard and rigid and can be tied tightly around the broken limb.
The best one the writer is familiar about is cannabis oil. How to make cannabis oil and how to use cannabis to treat various diseases is all explained in a book titled "Medical Cannabis Healing" by Mark Sircus.
Disinfect and hemostate immediately. If there is an item within the wound, DO NOT remove it before you hemostate the wound. You'll only cause more bleeding. Afterwards, bandage the wound tightly. The deeper the wound, the longer it'll take to fully mend, and if an internal organ was cut, the chances of survival are drastically minimized, if not completely nullified. It would be ideal for the wound to be sutured before it's bandaged, but if limited resources do not allow for such course of action or the wound is small, it may not be necessary.
If the bullet is not in the body, treat the entry and exit wound as you would treat and other laceration. It doesn't matter which wound is entry, and which exit one, treat the worst one before moving onto the other. If the bullet is in the body, DO NOT remove it before the wound is hemostated. And even after that, be careful not to cause major internal damage. Use thongs to remove the bullet, or a knife if the thongs are not available. Should you choose the knife, be extra careful. If the bullet is in a limb, lift the limb above the heart, to limit the blood flow.
If the shot was fired from point-blank range and caused a burn, apply cold water and aloe vera. Honey can be used if aloe vera is not available. Don't use tourniquets because they will stick to the burn wound and reopen it when removed.
Disinfect IMMEDIATELY! Animal bites are very infectious and can do you a lot of damage! Make sure the wound is as clean as it can be, and then treat it like any other laceration. If the animal that bit the patient is venomous, apply the appropriate antidote (varies from animal to animal, study the local flora and fauna and appropriate medication).
Straighten the fractured bones and use a splint to keep them in place. Make sure that the fractrued bones are straight. If they are aligned the wrong way, they'll heal the wrong way, and if that happens, the only way to fix it is to break the bone at the same spot again and treat it properly this time.
Garlic is a sort of a universal cure in this regard. Don't eat too much, though.
Hygiene will play an important role in preserving your health and preventing diseases in the post-tech world.
Primitive replacements for soap are soapwort (Saponaria officinalis), wild chestnut, birch leaves and ivy leaves. To wash clothes, other than the previously mentioned plants, use can use white ashes or 3-day old urine. Clothes, other than using the sun or the wind, can be dried next to a campfire, with an added benefit that the smoked clothes can protect you from mosquitoes. During winter, clothes can be dried by leaving them outside on the cold to freeze, then saking the ice crystals off of the clothes, and then drying it next to a fire.
Improving the immune system (Wim Hof method, cold exposure, healthy diet etc)
When going to a battle, wear armor. Bulletproof vest, armor made of leather, fur or hide, anything is better than nothing. Ways to make primitive armor will be discussed in the chapter titled "Skills".
Improve your speed and agility in combat. The better they are, the harder it'll be for you to be hit by enemy strikes.
Make sure that your hands are clean as a whistle before healing, and use gloves if you have them.
If available, use medical herbs instead of pharmaceuticals. They are more reliable and more effective at healing, if you know what you're doing.
Wounds and damaged skin can be disinfected by exposing them to direct sunlight. Visible scars will remain, but health is more important than aesthetics.
If the patient is bleeding to death and all else fails, the only option that remains is cauterizarion. To cauterize, you need a hot, sanitized piece of metal (preferrably dull). With one hand, slightly squish the wound until it's closed. With the other, press the hot piece of metal on the wound and hold it for about 2 seconds. If the bleeding has not stopped, press the piece of metal on the wound again and repeat until the bleeding has stopped.
While this method stops bleeding, it creates a burn wound with a high chance of incetion, even if a sanitized piece of metal was used. The procedure is painful, and the patient may feel agonizing pain for days after it.
No matter how good of a permaculturalist you are, chances are what you grow will not be enough to sustain you and your tribe. In this chapter, we will discuss tools and methods of hunting and fishing, how to find edible plants/fungi and how to differentiate between edible and unedible plants/fungi.
Rifles are ideal for hunting. Shotguns can also be used (slugs for big game, birdshot for small game). Other firearms are better used for self-defense.
Best possible choice of arms for hunting. These have multiple advantages compared to firearms and can be used to hunt any game, small or big. Some bows are even made for fishing. Keep the quiver in front of you, not behind you. Taking an arrow from the behind scares the game, while doing the same from the front doesn't do so.
This includes boomerangs, tomahawks, javelins and any other weapon which is thrown at the target. Best used against larger game and birds.
Only melee weapons fit for hunting. Best used against larger and less timid game, like boars.
The simplest trap you can make is the snare trap. There are many variations of it, some used to kill, some to simply catch the game, but they all have the same essence: a tripwire is pulled to either release a stick under the tension and execute the trap. If lethal, the stick is sharpened and hits the game to kill it. If non-lethal, the game has a rope tied around it's leg and lifted so it can't escape.
Fire can also be used to chase the game like bisons into a trap, or off of a cliff.
This includes small animals, like rodents, squirrels, rabbits or birds. Squirrels are the easiest to spot and the slowest of them all, therefore the easiest to hunt. Use traps, bow and arrows, throwing weapons, shotguns (birdshot) or small calibre rifles to hunt.
This includes larger animals, like deers, elks, mooses, boars, hogs, bisons etc. The more timid animals should be hunted with bow and arrow or large calibre rifles, while the more agressive animals like boars should be hunted with hunting spears or throwing weapons (preferrably javelins).
Animals like deers and elks are very timid, and they'll flee at the sloghtest sign of your presence. Stay undetected at all times, even after the prey has been injured. If you remain undetected, the prey will flee for around 100m before falling. It's blood is light pink and slightly foamy, and it's trace can be followed to locate the fallen prey. You can be certain that the prey is dead if it lies sideways with extended legs. If it lies on the stomach, it's merely resting and should be approaced with caution. The caught prey is the carried on the back to the settlement. Make sure that you body is conditioned for suck a task, as they can be up to 250kg heavy.
Boars are among the most dangerous animals for humans. They can easily kill their hunters, and a pack of them can destroy all the crops and kill all the cattle of a settlement overnight. To hunt them, keep the spear low and wait for the boar to charge at you. When it's near, raise the spear, so it pierces the throat and/or chest. Then quickly turn the boar on it's back, to make sure it can't do you any harm. Hunting boars with a spear on horseback on a clear terrain is also an excellent method of boar hunting.
While the fishing rods do the job well enough, some variations of bow and arrow and even javelin can be used. It's also possible to catch fish bare-handed. This, however, can be quite difficult, depending on the fish. A fish has more muscles in it's body than you do in your hands, so it can easily slip out of your grip and get away. Some fish may hit your face upon slipping out and causing injury. To prevent this, mercilesssly push you thumb in the fish's mouth (if it doesn't have sharp teeth) and squeeze it to the bottom of the river as hard as you can.
You can carry the fish you caught by inserting a wire throigh the gills of each fish you've caught and carrying it like a necklace.
When foraging for plants, make sure you can tell a difference between edible and inedible plants. Most of the poisonous plants have mutual characteristics (leaves grouped in three, milky sap, white berries, shiny leaves, almond scent), but this is not absolutely accurate, as there are exceptions. Stick to the plants you're familiar with and experiment only if you have to.
Like with plants, make sure to know the difference between the edible and inedible fungi. Here, there are even less universal rules, so the best you can do is to recognize more notorious poisonous types, like fungi of the Amanita family, Funeral Bell (Galerina Marginata) or Satan's bolete (Rubroboletus Satanas). Note that poisonous fungi are dangerous only when swallowed. Touching and even chewing them will do you no harm, so long as you don't swallow them.
Much like permaculture, foraging is region-dependent. It will not be the same in African safaris, South American jungles and European forests. Familiarize yourself with the local flora and fauna and study the methods of local foraging.
Stealth is your greatest ally while hunting. Be as sneaky and silent as possible, and camouflage yourself if you're able to. Learn the foxwalk. Hunt alone to increase the chances of remaining undetected.
Know your limits. In Nature, there is no such thing as an endless slaughter. Hunt what you need, and only what you need.
Respect your game and your environment. You hunt for survival, not for sport.
Familiarize yourself with the terrain, and don't stray off too far from your settlement. The wilderness is not a good place to be lost in.
If you hunt with firearms that use lead-based ammo, wash the hunted meat thoroughly. Lead has hazardous effects on the body, especially the central nervous system.
You've brought fresh meat from the hunt to your settlement, but you need fire to cook it. In this chapter, we will discuss methods of lighting, preserving and extinguishing a fire, as well as the range of it's practical uses methods of gathering fuel.
To light a fire, you need three things: fuel, air and a spark. For fuel, use tinder bundle and add small branches and bigger pieces of wood afterwards. Flint and steel are the best way to make sparks, but if flint is not available, use another hard material (rock, for example) to apply friction to some other piece of metal (so long as it's not stainless). Once you've sparked the tinder, blow slightly where it glows until a fire starts and then add bigger pieces of wood.
This one seems simple. Just keep adding the logs to keep the fire burning. But there's more to it than that. You need to make sure that you're getting as much from the fuel you combust as possible. This is what you should consider:
While combusting at high temperatures, raw fuels release a gas which does not combust entirely due to a lack of oxygen. The gas consists of 20% hydrogen, 20% carbon-monoxide and 3% methane. The rest are non-combustible gasses. Wood releases the gas while it combusts at 100 °C. To make sure the gas combusts as well, you need to add extra air to the fire. If air is added in such a way that the gas passes through the ember and nozzle of the stove, the gas lights up and combusts. Using this method, the effectiveness of combustion can be raised from 65-70% to 90%.
Wood should be dry, at 15-25% of moist. Freshy cut lumber should "lie off" for about a year. Lumber that is burnt on the same year it was cut is of reduced effectiveness. It has a higher level of moisture and creates a lesser amount of the forementioned gas.
Some stoves are more efficent at heating than others. The "Rocket Stove" is the best option, since it's simple and easy to DIY, and it produces more heat and less smoke than other types of stoves.
There is little reason to extinguish a fire in a fireplace in your house by any other method that waiting for it to burn out. A campfire in the outdoors, on the other hand, is another story. To extinguish it, wait for it to burn off until only embers are left. Then, use a shovel or a similar tool to cover the embers with dirt or sand until no embers are visible.
Heating
Lighting
Drying
Cooking
Smithing
Water purification
Food preservation
Charcoal production
Hunting
Repeling beasts and insects
Weaponry
Telecommunicaton
Cauterization
Cremation
Ceramics
Waste incineration
You main fuel will be wood, and therefore, this section will focus mostly on wood gathering.
If there are no tools at hand, the only thing you can do is to collect dry branches off of the ground. Needless to say, this is a very ineffective way of wood gathering long-term, since dry branches do not release as much heat as fresh lumber does, and you'd need 3-5x more dry branches than you would need fresh lumber.
If there are tools at hand, their selection should be considered. The chainsaw is loud and can be heard and located from kilometers away, so it shouldn't be used. Similar holds true for axes. The best tool for wood cutting would be saws, preferrably handsaws or bowsaws. The tree should be cut near the bottom, and the stump should be smeared with dirt and covered with leaves to make it look like it was cut months ago.
The lumber should afterwards be cut into quarters because it is easier to transport this way, and it also dies faster. If lumber was cut this way and stacked on a pile on an airy place, it can lose so much moist in one year that it becomes half lighter than it was when it was freshly cut.
If there are little to no dry branches on the ground, chances are that somebody took them, meaning there is a settlement other than yours nearby.
For oil lanterns, use inedible oils like the oil from common dogwood (Cornus Sanguinea) seeds.