Buy It/Build It
 

All -

I've only been here a short while.

However, what I perceive is that about 95% of this forum is

About buying stuff for when,

And if,

TSHTF.

I grew up in an era ( I know, I'm showing my age here)

When your first choice was to build it rather than buy it.

And that goes all the way from cutting and splitting cordwood to forging

Chisels to growing food to spinning wool to knit socks.

I do know for sure that if TSHTF the first thing to vanish will be the

Modren commercial/industrial supply chain.

So even if you got gelt, ain't no supply chain to spend it on.


To me, this is a top-tier strategic choice.

Your comments?


scyth

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

Productivity improves from specialization (to a limit). The reason why people live in groups and specialize is because it's easier and more effective for one person to be the baker, one the butcher, one the farmer, etc.

It really depends upon (1) how much your time is worth and (2) what your skill is at building it yourself. If you try to make your own shoes you are going to get a far inferior product than one that is made by a robot in china. Also how much time would it take for you to do something yourself as opposed to buy it? If it takes you 8 hours to make a pair of shoes and you make $50 an hour, are the shoes you end up with that are homemade worth $400?

These things must be taken into consideration, but your point is well-taken that too many people take it for granted that buying it is always cheaper: it isn't. For many people, especially with the coming economic turmoil, simple things like growing their own food is going to be WELL worth it.

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

when you know how to build it then you can at least make the decision
on whether or not to purchase or build.

for me i tend toward building it myself if the cost is close to purchase
because then i at least have the knowledge to repair and maintain.

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

What Cassius has said is very true. However, when TSHTF what to do then. You won't be able to buy stuff at the store anymore. The people who have kept these skills alive will prosper. Those who have no skills will not do as well. I like to do many of the things you have mentioned during my free time as hobbies. What else would I do? Watch TV.

Hopefully my philosophy will not be in vain. But if by chance the world doesn't collapse and fall into ruin, I have still enjoyed myself with my hobbies.

I really do hope the world doesn't TTS as that would make my life even better.

S

I like to think of myself as a Jack of all trades, Master of one!! And that would be my primary job.

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

Gonna build your own chainsaw? Live far enough south sos you don't have to worry about that freezeing to death stuff? Mind you, that heating the typical McMansion is going to take 6-8 cords of wood per winter. That's a lot of chopping with your home-made axe.~~~~~~~~just a rant

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

Hoot -

There is a thing called a "misery whip", in

Addition to an axe.

Its that long single or doublehandled timber saw.

I don't live in a McMansion,

But I put up 4-6 cords every year,

Because we heat with wood.

I've got a couple Collins axes I picked up when

I was like 20 or 21 years old.

I'm 58 now.

Alder, doug fir, spruce, cedar (for kindling).

And, I flat out like living in the extreme NW corner

Of the NorthWest.

"Gonna build your own chainsaw?"

Exactly my point.

scyth

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

My own perspective is to buy it and save it until such time as I need to build it. I have a nice collection of hand tools, nails, an other assorted stuff but until the grid dies I'll keep using my circular saw.

The downside to this philosophy is that, when I need to build it I'll have everything (hopefully) but the techniques that come with the longtime application of pure manual labor.

Hopefully being a well equiped amatuer will carry the day.

To be completely prepared for TSHTF, you'd have to live each day like it was 1880. I'll do it when and if I have to. I'll even prepare for it to help smooth the transition. But don't expect me to give up modern conveniences until such time as its foisted on me. The last time I did laundry, by hand, was Desert Storm.

Anyone on this board using a scrub board in place of a washing machine?

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

It's nice to build things if you know how, but it's often cheaper to get things from someone who knows how to build them right on the first try.

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

+1

hopefully, if/when the grid goes down,
i have prepared myself, physically and mentally, to continue day to day living
( and my entertainment and constant worry, will be watching the sheeple cope with TSHTF )
but as Argentsum said above, until the grid dies, i'll keep using my gadgets and gizmos

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

Learned a lot of the old ways growing up from Grandfather. He was 60 years old when I was born. He'd laugh at me, kept me humble, but then he'd take the time to show me, and that stuck to me.

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

At my BO place - the main generator is a lawnmower engine driving an old car alternator. It also powers the water pump up to the tank from the well, and except the alternator which is 1960s (previously an old car generator), it was all built in the 1930s. Yes, I have bigger and better generators and pumps, but my grandfather built this setup from scrap and it still works perfectly. He taught my father, and my father taught me, how to improvise.
Because when you are stuck on an island for two weeks due to the lake being frozen, you don't have a choice. Use what's around you. I also have a misery whip, although I don't use it - chainsaws are faster and easier of course, but it is kept oiled, and just needs sharpened to bring it back to the same working order it was when it was made.

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

And here it is, the fantastic piece of machinery!

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

The problem with making stuff is that in many instances, you can't make it as good and cheap as factories in China can.

Besides, unless you can take off all your clothes and walk naked into the wilderness and survive reasonably comfortably while making everything you need, you're not really self-sufficient.

-end-

Re: Buy It/Build It
 

Toolmaker / metalsmith here. Rebuild a smallblock or hammer out a blade. Milling machine, lathes, grinders, and back-up generators to run them.