Category: Gear
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18 Survival Gear Ideas at Hobby Lobby
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes Some of the most useful survival items are sitting on shelves in places you’d never think to look. If you’re resourceful and you what you’re after, you can walk into an ordinary store and come out with a cart full of gear that’ll help you patch, repair, build, and organize…
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Metmo Fractal Vise Review: Engineered Perfection
Reviewing precision engineered eye candy is always a smidgen difficult for me. Those of you who have read my review of Metmo’s overbuilt mini screwdriver know that I am a sucker for precision machining and the Metmo Fractal Vise isn’t changing this anytime soon. I suspect, most of you reading this are the sort of……
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How to Power 12-volt Gear Without a Battery, Inverter, or Charge Controller
I’ve shared something similar years ago, but the video below is about using a Buck converter to directly transform solar panel power into 12-volts; it’s a follow-up on an earlier video of his, but the idea is simple: place the Buck converter inline between the panel and your appliance, and you’ve got power. Granted, he…
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Pocket Survival Gear is Overrated
I used to carry a lot. A Leatherman Wave, a pocket knife, my own version of an Altoids tin loaded with wilderness survival gear, a wallet stuffed with extras like bandages and folded duct tape, and more. I once carried wallet survival tools, assorted items on my keychain (which ended up causing problems with the…
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Keychain Pill Holders for EDC
One item I recommend somewhere (maybe in my survival course or perhaps one of my books, though I can’t quite remember off the top of my head) is a simple keychain pill holder. I’ve never purchased one myself because I’ve never felt the need to until recently. So, I bought a pair that looked decent…
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50 Tools for Off Grid Living
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes Laura Ingalls didn’t have a power drill, but I bet you her life would have been a lot easier if she did. Listen, your homestead isn’t going to collapse and crumble without having every single one of the tools on the list—at least not right away. But over time as…
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Trump’s New E15 Fuel Rule Could Quietly Wreck Your Homestead Equipment
Why More Rural Americans Are Hunting for Ethanol-Free Gas Before Summer Hits You pull up to the gas pump on a hot July afternoon. The cans in the truck bed are empty because the generator needs to be topped off, the chainsaw has been working overtime on storm cleanup, and the tiller’s about to head…
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The 2026 Hybrid Survival Kit: Smart Tech Gear With Analog Backups
At a Glance: The Hybrid Survival Kit High-tech gear buys you speed, but cold weather and grid failures turn expensive electronics into dead weight. Low-tech gear is bombproof, but relying only on old-school tools makes you too slow when every second counts. The Hybrid Survival Kit: Pairing every piece of fragile digital technology with a…
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TSA-Approved EDC Tools of 2026
The Bottom Line: Can you bring EDC gear (pocket-sized) on a plane? Yes, but you must move past marketing hype and follow strict federal guidelines. To successfully clear a checkpoint, your everyday carry items must: Contain zero knife blades (folding, fixed, or hidden). Feature hand tools that are 7 inches or shorter when fully assembled.…
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Thinking Outside the Survival Equipment “Box”
I was browsing through a thread on Survivalist Boards a while back and it got me thinking about the nature of our survival gear again. We often get caught up in the latest or the most expensive gadgets, but some of the most practical advice comes from people using everyday items in ways they were…