Survival Scrapping...

Okay guys. I did a quick search and found no entries regarding survival preps in relation to scrapping.

Are any of you preppers?

I keep copper and brass as my least valuable precious metal. I have sizable (for me) cans of copper fittings and densely packed items (probably 100# or so) and brass 300#'s or so. The dense buckets just get stowed for a big run up in prices. I consider these a SHTF put away for troublr.

My scrapping basically funds my SHTF preps. It is not the only income stream, but is is one of the legs on the stool. Scrap, garage sales, Craigslist and E-Bay are what I use to prepare for my future.

I will also hang onto lead as a SHTF prepping item. I don't have a ton, but if I get lead, I hang on to it. I figure lead is a very important component in one of the most precious metals you can get; copper jacketed lead.

I also consider my garage sale shopping as a scrapping pursuit. I buy brass and copper items for < scrap value and drop them into the appropriate pile. I buy LP gas and have 200#+ as I consider fuel an important preparation for hurricanes and power outages. I buy old furniture and refinish, old routers and reprogram, old items and relist and sell.

I do not consider myself a prepper.

I do consider myself an opportunist, and an investor of commodities.

Take all your brass,copper etc and sell it. With the proceeds buy gold and silver in various sizes. Ounces,half ounces, 1/4 ounce rounds and ingots. This is the only currency that will be worth anything when the SHTF. You can even have gold from electronics refined and poured in the form of shot so you can measure what you need when you need to purchase something.

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Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

Take all your brass,copper etc and sell it. With the proceeds buy gold and silver in various sizes. Ounces,half ounces, 1/4 ounce rounds and ingots. This is the only currency that will be worth anything when the SHTF.

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I believe toilet paper will still hold intrinsic value. Would you recommend using some of the proceeds to stock up on toilet paper?... Oh yeah... and bacon... Just this toilet paper and bacon and that's all I need... and this water purifier... Just this toilet paper and this bacon and this water purifier and that's all I need... and this gas....

I prefer to keep honing my skills as a beer brewer. Screw gold. Alcohol was once a major commodity and will be again if SHTF

Do not know if I would be considered a prepper or not. If combining parts from one machine to another to make it work, saving non ferrous for the best price, or tying to learn as much as possible to be self sufficient are elements of a prepper, guilty as charged. Built a solar collector based on the information from this forum and cut my own firewood for heat. Learning how to raise a garden and can food. More for learning than survival, but the bases are covered.

Now the truth. I print hard copies of information found on the internet in case something happens to our power grid. Yes, I might be a prepper or a scrapper. Your choice. A scrappers lifestyle is one of self sufficiency and one of survival.

If you dont have TP then it really hit the fan.;(

Not a prepper but I think you would need to have those items already in place. The metals would be needed to replace things you need. I also would rather carry around 5 ounces of silver worth $100 than 40 lbs of copper worth the same thing. Also precious metals are easier to hide and store taking up much less space.

I would hoard lead before I did gold.

I won't shoot gold, or hold it to any value other than a luxury.

copper and brass have more functional value than any precious metal

I've become pretty interested in this prepping stuff but never really done much with it. I do save most nonferrous now, mostly because I plan to take it all in at once when I need cash. I do know a lot of things about self sufficiency though. Like growing a garden, cutting wood, trapping/snaring, hunting, fishing, canning, and most importanly Scrapping!

Not really a prepper but we do live by the seasons. The spring, summer, and fall are spent prepping for winter. We put up enough food, fuel, and supplies to carry us through till spring. It's definitely a certain lifestyle.

Right now ... i'm busy getting the firewood put up before the cold weather sets in. The goal is to have seven to eight cord in storage before the end of October. Come hell or high water at least we will be warm this winter.

We have three different generators so the power supply is adequately covered.

We're using up the last of the food in the pantry & freezers. It will be time to shop the store sales pretty soon.

Have had at least 1700 rounds on hand at any given time for the last fifteen years. Firearms have been test fired and cleaned.

Don't have anything on hand for PM's. ( We got our life savings wiped out when the recession hit back in 2007 ) I guess the ammo, canned foods, or cases of TP could be used for barter & trade if things ever did go completely sideways. We're not really planning on that happening all of a sudden though. The harsh winters here are a more immediate concern.

I try to be, but living in an apartment and not making a lot of money makes it difficult. I know there are people on here with similar interests to prepping(shooting, precious metals) there are some intersections between the community. That said, I frequent another forum Survivalist Forum Survival Gear SHTF and TEOTWAWKI Articles, it is great for all prepping info and more, I have searched the site looking for fellow scrappers and haven't found much.

I remember the saying "A army walks on its boots" or something like that.

It started me thinking, one of the things that would be worth a lot in the future would be quality boots.
Not just any boots, but ankle covering, quality leather, thick layer soled hiker boots, with laces.
Any size would do if its for barter, just as long as they are quality, and cheap. Like second hand store $6 size 10's plus or such.

From reading a scifi book years ago, a running source of currency could be Silver or Gold wire.
At a set dia, a length can be cut off for any denomination.
By manufacturing this wire from scrap peices, with a embossed engraving down one side, a currency could be made as you, or 'they' would buy it from you as a reel of wire.
When they barter and end up with a bunch of short lengths, that people wouldn't trade with.
You step in and 'buy' their silver wire, melt it down, redraw it back into wire, emboss your 'mark' into its side, after taking your 'cut' as/ for your profit.
Because you are familiar with Silver and its makeup, and how to check its purity, and can make the wire, and emboss it.
You end up acting as the 'banker' and maker of currency. Huge profits.......

I don't sit on scrap period , I quickly sell it and reinvest my money . This mentality stemmed from having to purchase a large majority of my inventory . If I have items sitting around then my money is not working for me . I also have noticed that my organization and space in the shop have increased . But wih my current situation it's all about diapers and formula I stockpile those now .

If SHTF..... i'm just gonna go to wal-mart for the big SHTF sale.;)

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Originally Posted by NHscrapman

If SHTF..... i'm just gonna go to wal-mart for the big SHTF sale.;)

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Will we have to use a SHTF-EBT card for that?

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Originally Posted by t00nces2

Will we have to use a SHTF-EBT card for that?

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I'll be using my SHTF-BFH ;)

I'm going to be putting some of my money into more silver soon, though. The prices are on the low end and it might be time to make a buy

I would be a little cautious about investing in PM's these days. The last two "panics" didn't pan out.

Pre- Y2K PM's were dead flat for years.

The 2012 end of the world predictions caused gold to spike at around 1900.00 USD /oz but once the moment of truth passed it dropped like a rock.

I suppose one opinion is the same as the next but it looks to me like we've hit the crest of the inflationary side of the recession and have entered into the deflationary phase.

It's a big IF

If we are going into a deflation then money will get harder to come by and prices will drop. That would include PM's and other commodities.

I would spend a % of your scrap profits on things you can and will use. Btl water, wood, propane, charcoal, batteries, liquor, first aid stuff including feminine hygiene items, flashlights, generator, ice chests, gun, ammo, bow and arrows, coffee and more. Yes you could barter your copper scrap but the same could be done with any coins depending on there composition and or face value or forex exchange.

It's a toughie because if you're going to prep you need at least a year supply of everything. You might have hard currency but if the ship hits the fan and the supply chain gets cut those things simply won't be available to buy no matter how much money you've got.

It's just a guess but the minimum bid to prep these days has got to be at least 25 thousand dollars. :(

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Originally Posted by Scrappah

It's a toughie because if you're going to prep you need at least a year supply of everything. You might have hard currency but if the ship hits the fan and the supply chain gets cut those things simply won't be available to buy no matter how much money you've got.

It's just a guess but the minimum bid to prep these days has got to be at least 25 thousand dollars. :(

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That is probably true but what if you need to be on the move? You just can't sit in your house and defend yourself forever can you?

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Originally Posted by hobo finds

That is probably true but what if you need to be on the move? You just can't sit in your house and defend yourself forever can you?

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I don't think we should go there HF. It's pretty grim. It's bound to upset folks.

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Originally Posted by smashing

I prefer to keep honing my skills as a beer brewer. Screw gold. Alcohol was once a major commodity and will be again if SHTF

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I have made a couple batches of wine... Mead actually. Turned out pretty good. Have to wait quite a while for it to taste good, though.

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Originally Posted by hobo finds

That is probably true but what if you need to be on the move? You just can't sit in your house and defend yourself forever can you?

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I won't move. Yes I will stay here forever. If I were to driven from my home, I would have nowhere to go. This is not a challenge, it is just that I will back myself in a corner and fight to the death to keep my home.

copper is easy to work with at pretty low heat and a small sledge. and with heat and oil can be made almost as hard as iron. You won't be able to run to the store to spend your kugerand for milk and bread.

Barter and valuable experience will be the ticket of the day. I save some lead, some copper, some angle iron like bed rails, some pipe and, some universal brackets.

remember the rule of threes. 3 days no water, 3 weeks no food, 3 months no shelter and your dead.

If the s never hits the fan, you can always sell your stuff. You lose nothing by always being prepared, and it is the only insurence I know of that costs so little and can give so much just my .02

I live on an island off the coast of Maine. It's pretty remote here.

It wouldn't be a very good quality of life but we would get by. There are at least 20 fresh water deep wells within a half mile of my home. There's all kinds of game. There are deer out on my front lawn every night. As a community we land over a million pounds of seafood every year. The house is well built and the generator building was designed to withstand winds up to 120 MPH & the interior is fire rated.

The basics are present.

It's hard for me to figure the scrap though. Got plumbing fittings in brass,copper,galvanized,& Black Iron going from 1/8" up to 2". Plenty of galv. & black iron pipe and the tools to thread them. Similar with flat steel,box,sheet, angle & channel but i see it as more along the lines of stuff that i use every year to make or repair things. It's handy to have around when you're in the middle of a project and the hardware store is closed.

Personally, I think you're better off investing in ammo. Lots of ammo. Lots and lots of ammo. And when you think you have enough? Buy more.

Everything else can come second.

But then, after ammo, I would go with some sort of water filtration system.

Then maybe something solar panel related.

Then gardening materials, books, seeds, etc.

Then bitcoins :p

I don't know if anyone has mentioned salt. The one thing my, otherwise self-sufficient, grandparents couldn't source in their small community was salt. It was vital for pickling and preserving meat. They grew their own food. Within their village, they could get iron tools re-forged, clothes mended (or spin linen and wool), shoes made etc. They would barter grain for flour and trade labor for the use of horses and wagons.

im on the survialist forum so yes iam a prepper

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Originally Posted by olddude

copper is easy to work with at pretty low heat and a small sledge. and with heat and oil can be made almost as hard as iron. You won't be able to run to the store to spend your kugerand for milk and bread.

Barter and valuable experience will be the ticket of the day. I save some lead, some copper, some angle iron like bed rails, some pipe and, some universal brackets.

remember the rule of threes. 3 days no water, 3 weeks no food, 3 months no shelter and your dead.

If the s never hits the fan, you can always sell your stuff. You lose nothing by always being prepared, and it is the only insurence I know of that costs so little and can give so much just my .02

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You forgot 3 minutes no air and 3 hours no warmth...

As yall can guess I am a little paranoid as a result of my military service. Seen with the ol eyeballs just what happens when S really does hit the F.

As a mechanic/repairman type of everything from computers to air conditioning to my first trade as a diesel mechanic...I will say this, your most valuable resource is always you. Patriot, you do exactly as I do, make hard copies of valuable information you happen to mine. I also have an expansive collection of tools for a variety of jobs. I've taken to doing things a certain way as a means to learn to do without. He who has the means will survive, that's a fact. Proven time and again by those who don't survive when things go bad.

Specifically, as a scrapper...your valuables are not in what you look at as having a weighted value but as functionally valuable. Copper pipes, solder, lead, aluminum extrusions, iron bar stock, pipe and so on in various lengths. Fittings, even wood has functional value. Screws, nails...THESE are things that will never get cheaper and will always give you the leading edge in barter. Besides all that...gold and silver are just too...risky. Having it on your physical person almost means you need security, and while that sounds doable the fact is, your adding risk in a situation you could avoid all together.

Pipe, fittings, screws, bolts and nails. If nothing else, keep your workbench well stocked. Ohhh and wire, cannot have enough wire.

I know all these people who claim to be preppers talk about is guns, bullets, food...etc. I'm a believer in personal value. If your the guy who can rewire a car or truck...or a house...or the guy who can weld with CAR BATTERIES well...want to guess how much more value you have over a stack of silver coins? Trade your time and skill, first and foremost.


And well...one last thing. A person with my level of training could and probably would take everything from a so called prepper. Your defenses are only as good as the person manning them. It's simple ignorance to think you could possibly survive with just you and yours in mind. Communities survive, neighborhoods survive...individuals suffer.

I agree on having ammo, but for it to come first over EVERYTHING is kind of silly.

You can't eat your ammo.

You can't drink your ammo.

You can't be healed with ammo.

You can't shelter in ammo, unless you want to live in a house made of things meant to be shot an that explode when near heat sources.

An while your ammo could keep you warm, but..is that really practical?

Is ammo on the list sure is. So is food, water, medicine, etc.

Good luck saying you'll just hunt for food, cause if the **** hits the fan like everyone says nature won't be much better. Wildlife will die in a nuclear assault, or you know asteroids falling from space, or super volcanoes, or or..<insert end of the world theory here>.

Not trying to rain on the survival parade, I also believe in being prepared, but again..I can't eat shot gun shells an bullets.

Jus' saying.. ;)

Sirscrapalot - You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it. - Bill Cosby

To a point you can but you need a back up group.

Info: It takes 600 lbs of food per person per year. Most people think they can just hunt for meat, probably won't happen, soooo don't forget one table spoon of olive oil or, protean type oil or fat per day ,per person.

People in the wilderness areas starve to death eating only rabbit, they don't have enough fat.

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Originally Posted by MattyNoNeck

I'll be using my SHTF-BFH ;)

I'm going to be putting some of my money into more silver soon, though. The prices are on the low end and it might be time to make a buy

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It is time to buy, not a doubt in my mind. I have been buying for months. At spot mostly, some under (hard to find someone selling for under spot unless you are the only buyer at an estate auction). But definitely paint some green silver if you have a little extra you can live without. I try to do $200-$300/month, good number is 10% of your income, but I am settled in around 5%, but even 1% is better than nothing.

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Originally Posted by armygreywolf

As yall can guess I am a little paranoid as a result of my military service. Seen with the ol eyeballs just what happens when S really does hit the F.

As a mechanic/repairman type of everything from computers to air conditioning to my first trade as a diesel mechanic...I will say this, your most valuable resource is always you. Patriot, you do exactly as I do, make hard copies of valuable information you happen to mine. I also have an expansive collection of tools for a variety of jobs. I've taken to doing things a certain way as a means to learn to do without. He who has the means will survive, that's a fact. Proven time and again by those who don't survive when things go bad.

Specifically, as a scrapper...your valuables are not in what you look at as having a weighted value but as functionally valuable. Copper pipes, solder, lead, aluminum extrusions, iron bar stock, pipe and so on in various lengths. Fittings, even wood has functional value. Screws, nails...THESE are things that will never get cheaper and will always give you the leading edge in barter. Besides all that...gold and silver are just too...risky. Having it on your physical person almost means you need security, and while that sounds doable the fact is, your adding risk in a situation you could avoid all together.

Pipe, fittings, screws, bolts and nails. If nothing else, keep your workbench well stocked. Ohhh and wire, cannot have enough wire.

I know all these people who claim to be preppers talk about is guns, bullets, food...etc. I'm a believer in personal value. If your the guy who can rewire a car or truck...or a house...or the guy who can weld with CAR BATTERIES well...want to guess how much more value you have over a stack of silver coins? Trade your time and skill, first and foremost.


And well...one last thing. A person with my level of training could and probably would take everything from a so called prepper. Your defenses are only as good as the person manning them. It's simple ignorance to think you could possibly survive with just you and yours in mind. Communities survive, neighborhoods survive...individuals suffer.

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This this this

The only things that will matter are tradable goods and services. No one will want to trade you for your shiny gold and silver if there's no where to use it. Skills and products and friends are all that's needed. And Ammo.........

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Originally Posted by smashing

This this this

The only things that will matter are tradable goods and services. No one will want to trade you for your shiny gold and silver if there's no where to use it. Skills and products and friends are all that's needed. And Ammo.........

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It will get to the point where the currency will collapse before anything else, and you can use gold and silver to trade for those other things then. It is not going to go from the all mighty dollar to "SHTF" in 3 days, and if you believe that wal mart will be open on Monday and you will be defending your hoard of copper and lead with an arsenal of whatever from the people coming to invade you on Tuesday, you need to turn off the TV.

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Originally Posted by phred59

It will get to the point where the currency will collapse before anything else, and you can use gold and silver to trade for those other things then. It is not going to go from the all mighty dollar to "SHTF" in 3 days, and if you believe that wal mart will be open on Monday and you will be defending your hoard of copper and lead with an arsenal of whatever from the people coming to invade you on Tuesday, you need to turn off the TV.

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That's not it at all. There are many ways society can collapse and I believe it will be faster than many people think. Hell - the wrong basketball team wins the championship or a person gets shot by someone of a different color and the city melts down. How do do you think people will react on a national or global incident? I'm not saying to forget about money completely but it shouldn't be your primary. Food water shelter defense and mad skills will be more important IMO. Unless it's fast zombies -} then we're screwed......

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Originally Posted by olddude

To a point you can but you need a back up group.

Info: It takes 600 lbs of food per person per year. Most people think they can just hunt for meat, probably won't happen, soooo don't forget one table spoon of olive oil or, protean type oil or fat per day ,per person.

People in the wilderness areas starve to death eating only rabbit, they don't have enough fat.

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Rabbit starvation is a bit of a myth. The people who starved eating rabbit were starving themselves on a mountain in the dead of winter and were eating rabbits who were also starving due to the extreme winter conditions. A domesticated rabbit has plenty of fat to feed a person and as a protein source, that person is in no danger of starvation or malnitrition.

Ayuh !

Life is a dangerous place to be.

You will never get out alive. ;)

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Originally Posted by smashing

That's not it at all. There are many ways society can collapse and I believe it will be faster than many people think. Hell - the wrong basketball team wins the championship or a person gets shot by someone of a different color and the city melts down. How do do you think people will react on a national or global incident? I'm not saying to forget about money completely but it shouldn't be your primary. Food water shelter defense and mad skills will be more important IMO. Unless it's fast zombies -} then we're screwed......

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IMO you should have everything on hand but the american dollar. an alternate currency, a 3-6 month stock of supplies (at least), and a way to defend yourself and your family (including your possessions that are keeping those people alive) should you HAVE to. This includes a way to make your property self sufficient, water, heat, food... all needed if SHTF. And those without, will certainly be looking for yours at about 2-4am.

What happens after the first three to six months ? Once your supplies run out you're in the same boat as everyone else.

Nobody is thinking in terms of sustainability.

Take the cities for instance ..... The natural infrastructure below ground can't support the population density of humans above ground. In order to be " in balance " with what nature can provide for food & water year after year you need to be way out in the country. You need to think about fishing or farming as a way of life. Maybe not too much different from the homesteaders living in Alaska these days.

Imagine the cities & suburbia ...... everything from food and water to the other necessities of daily life has to be brought in by the truckload EVERY SINGLE DAY. Disrupt the supply chain and you've got millions of people with no food or water, on foot, spreading out from population centers like a swarm of locusts devouring everything in it's path.

It's pretty horrible when you think about it.

The government has plans to block the major roads to prevent that from happening. Most of the refugees would be stopped before being allowed to overwhelm the rural areas where they might stand a scant chance of survival beyond the first year after TSHTF.

It's not pretty, but it is the reality of the situation.

I have two sustainable diet plans, one is obviously foraging, the army forced me to take a "survival" course that also somehow involved evading, torture resistance and escape...i thoroughly enjoyed it, something about having a hard to break will about things.

Also...I will readily admit that eating pets is on my list. I've ate dogs before while deployed...where'd yall think they got that tasty meat from for those flat bread sammiches ;) ((yea...i knew and still ate it)).

In wisconsin considering the situation with deer management...and fish, and everything that seems to thrive up here...if the population reduction estimates are right and we lose 80% in the first year then food will never be an actual problem. Heck it's no problem now, canning, butchering chickens and lame horses, old heifers and stuff...nobody in this state is going to starve if they are willing to work to eat...period.