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Grandpappy's Survival Manual for Hard Times, Third Edition

Copyright © October 1, 2018 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.

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Click here and you will be taken to the Amazon web page that features this book.

ISBN: 978-1-7327883-6-7
Type of Book: Paperback
Book Size: 8.5 inches by 11 inches
Number of Pages: 500
Number of Full Color Pictures: 476
Number of Black and White Pictures: 12
Number of Sketches and Illustrations: 41
Normal Price: $79.95

Note 1: Approximately 4 percent of the information in the Third Edition is unique and it has not been posted on the "grandpappy.org" website.

Note 2: This book is eligible for Free Shipping if your total Amazon order is $25.00 or more. However, you must choose the Free Shipping option that will appear on your final checkout screen before you transmit your order. If you do not click on Free Shipping then Amazon will charge you a shipping fee for this book.

Note 3: This book contains 500 pages and 476 full color pictures. The 500 pages and the 476 full color pictures are the reason the normal retail price of this storybook is $79.95 because large books with color pictures cost a lot more to print than smaller books without color pictures.

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Book Description on Amazon.com

This is the Third Edition of this book and it contains all the information in the First Edition and the Second Edition plus all the hard times survival information posted on the "grandpappy.org" website since the Second Edition of this book was published. It also contains some information that has not been posted on the "grandpappy.org" website.

This book contains practical advice on how to survive an economic depression, or a natural disaster, or a manmade disaster that disrupts commerce. During these types of events there will be no welfare services because the government will be broke. And there be no charity handouts because nobody will have anything to spare. The only person you will be able to depend on will be yourself. That's the purpose of this survival manual -- to provide you with the knowledge of what to do, why to do it, and what to reasonably expect as the result.

This survival manual contains information of timeless value. It is the type of book you will pass on to your children and grandchildren. The reason is simple. This book contains detailed instructions on how to do all the following tasks if you should ever need to:

1. How to make soap using rainwater, campfire ashes, and animal fat. The instructions in this manual are unique and the process that is described is not the method your ancestors used. It is a scientifically superior process that was developed by an engineer.
   
2. How to make (cast) your own lead bullets using the wheel weights off the wheels of old cars in a junkyard.
   
3. How to construct a high quality bow and arrows using a knife plus the appropriate raw materials you can find in nature.
   
4. How to find water and how to make that water safe to drink in a variety of different environments.
   
5. How to grow food from seed and how to grow seed from that food. Once you understand how this process works then you can provide your own food for an unlimited number of years into the future.
   
6. How to preserve food for winter consumption without electricity or food canning jars using three simple old-fashioned methods.
   
7. How to build a safe temporary shelter to protect your family from the weather and from predatory wild animals. This is not the type of shelter that is described in wilderness survival manuals.
   
8. How to build an underground log cabin for long-term survival if the need should arise. It is easy to find information on how to build a traditional underground home but this manual explains the best way to use pine logs to build an underground "cabin cave."
   
9. How to build a simple solar power generator for about $246 so you can easily recharge the batteries in your cell phone, radio, flashlight, and portable computer.
   

This survival manual is a true bargain at its current price.

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Preface to
Grandpappy's Survival Manual for Hard Times, Third Edition

This book contains suggestions and alternatives for you to consider so you can make the best possible choices for the continued comfort and survival of your family during hard times.

The book will not tell you exactly what you should do. This book does not assume to know your family's specific circumstances, or what skills and abilities you and your family members possess, or what special needs you or your family members require. Only you know the answers to these questions and therefore only you can strategically customize a strategy that would have the maximum chance of being successful for you and for your family.

This book assumes you are an intelligent individual who is capable of making your own decisions. It assumes you simply want to know what the current options and alternatives are, along with the specific advantages and disadvantages of each alternative. Once you have all this information in your possession then you know you can make the best choice about which options would be the most logical ones for your family's long-term survival during hard times. The author of this book cannot make that decision for you. That is a decision you will need to make for your own family based on your intimate knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of your family unit.

This book presents a variety of options for you to consider in the areas of water and food procurement, gardening options, personal hygiene alternatives, practical battery operated electronic equipment, practical information on the importance of fire, a reasonable summary of the relevant issues related to firearm selection, how to make your own ammunition at home, and a common sense discussion of the pros and cons of a variety of different long-term survival strategies.

Please let me explain why I believe I am qualified to write a book such as this one. To begin with, I am not one of those people who simply writes about hard times and who has never really experienced hard times. I spent approximately six months living deep in the backwoods of Maine with my wife and our three small preschool age children from June to November of 1975 while I was building a rustic log cabin using pine trees that grew on the 12 acres of land we had purchased. I wore a 6-shot revolver every day while I was building our cabin in that primitive wilderness environment. I hunted with a bolt-action rifle and I used steel traps to capture wild game animals. We cooked our meals over a campfire every day. After returning to "civilization" in late November of 1975 I continued to study about pioneer life and hard times survival. Since 1975 I have personally tested a wide variety of "textbook procedures" and I have discovered which ones are truly reliable, and which ones are almost completely worthless from a practical perspective. Therefore I have accumulated a tremendous amount of practical hands-on knowledge and experience on this topic. And it has all been tempered by my actual experience of living a primitive existence in the backwoods of Maine during the summer and fall of 1975.

My primary objective for the past 40 years has been to discover practical reliable methods that could be used in a long-term survival situation when a family did not have the option to conveniently replenish their supplies on a regular basis.

The chapters in this book were not simply copied from another source. Although some of the information in this book can be found elsewhere, most of the information in each of the chapters is from my own personal files and it is based on my own personal life experiences.

One of the advantages of receiving hard times survival instruction from an old man is that he no longer has the desire to prove that he can survive on a day-to-day basis with nothing more than a good knife, a good rifle, and the will to survive. An old man more fully appreciates the comforts of civilization and the advantages of modern technology. Therefore he will employ as much of that technology as is reasonably possible to make the living conditions for his family as enjoyable as possible. If this is also your objective then this book could help you achieve your goal.

Respectfully,
Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E. (Grandpappy)
October 1, 2018

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Table of Contents

Chapter		Page
	Section One: Introduction
1	A Simultaneous Worldwide Depression, and a Worldwide Famine, and World War III	1
2	A List of 20 Common Mistakes That Should Be Avoided	7
3	Sensationalism	9
	Section Two: Basic Survival Strategies
4	Why Prepare for Something That May Never Happen?	16
5	Realistic Self-Sufficiency	18
6	How to Start Preparing for Hard Times	20
7	A Simple But Effective Survival Plan	29
8	Trade and Barter Items	33
	Section Three: Water
9	How to Build a Very Effective Water Filter System for Approximately $75	34
10	How to Find Water and How to Make Water Safe to Drink	36
11	Pasteurization of Water	55
12	Water Filter Recommendation	56
13	Water Storage Containers	58
	Section Four: Food
14	Food Acquisition and Food Storage	61
15	A 30 Day Emergency Food Supply	69
16	An Affordable One-Year Food Supply and a Really Cheap One-Year Food Supply	73
17	Freeze Dried and Dehydrated Food	77
18	Beans: An Important Survival Food for Hard Times	84
19	Wheat Berries, Corn, and Oats	96
20	How to Get the Best Value When Buying Fresh Meat	99
21	Pure Salt, Table Salt, Sea Salt, and Sea Salt Grinders	105
22	Black Pepper, Peppercorns, and Peppercorn Grinders	107
23	Coffee, Coffee Pots, and Coffee Bean Grinders	109
24	A Suitable Environment for Long-Term Food Storage	112
25	Some Practical Places Where You Can Store and Hide Your Emergency Food	118
26	Some Simple Options for Heating Canned Foods	123
27	Solar Ovens, Camp Ovens, Reflector Ovens, Dutch Ovens, and Cast Iron Cookware	125
28	Meat Grinder	132
29	Grinders for Wheat Berries, Corn, Oats, and Dry Beans	134
30	Summary of Six Shelf Life Studies on Canned Food and Dry Food	136
	Section Five: Gardening Information
31	During Hard Times Should You Know Some Basic Gardening Skills?	137
32	How to Maximize Your Harvest from Your Vegetable Garden	138
33	How to Select Vegetable Seeds, How to Grow Vegetables. and How to Rotate Corps	144
34	How to Grow Your Own Vegetable Seeds	152
35	How to Harvest, Process, and Store Vegetable Seeds	160
36	How to Grow Fruits, Nuts, Grapes, and Berries	162
37	How to Grow Fruit Trees From Seed	172
38	How to Preserve Food Using Three Simple Old Fashioned Methods	175
39	How to Convert Human Waste into a Safe Garden Compost Fertilizer	179
40	The Advantages of Mulch in a Garden	183
41	Anthills: A Simple Solution	184
	Section Six: Shelter
42	Use Common Sense to Compare Your Current Location to Another Location	186
43	How to Select the Optimal Retreat Location	190
44	The Advantages and Disadvantages of Recreational Vehicles and Campers	195
45	How to Build a Safe Temporary Shelter	198
46	Grandpappy's Wilderness Cabin Cave	206
	Section Seven: Clothing and Shoes
47	Clothing	216
48	Shoes and Boots	222
	Section Eight: Personal Hygiene
49	Personal Hygiene Items	224
50	Toilet Tissue	226
51	Regular Bowel Movements and How to Wipe When There is No Toilet Tissue	228
	Section Nine: Emergency First Aid and Home Remedies
52	Emergency First Aid	229
53	How to Survive an Epidemic or a Pandemic	232
54	Aspirin	233
55	Herbal Home Remedies	236
56	Colloidal Silver	238
57	Home Remedies for Insect Stings, Ticks, Chiggers, Head Lice, and Skunk Deodorizer	239
58	Summary of Shelf Life Studies on Medicine	245
	Section Ten: Technology
59	Rechargeable NiMH Batteries and a Solar Battery Charger	246
60	Flashlights	254
61	Vacuum Food Sealer	256
62	Two Way Communication: Cell Phones, Satellite Phones, Two-Way Radios	257
63	The Basics of Shortwave Radio	259
64	The Basics of Solar Power and How to Build a Portable Solar Power Generator	261
65	Alternate Energy Sources	266
66	A Simple Explanation of the GPS Coordinate System	271
	Section Eleven: Basic Skills and Supplies
67	How to Build a Safe Fire and Why Fire Is So Important	273
68	How to Start an Emergency Fire Using the Gunpowder from a Bullet	277
69	Firewood, Fireplaces, and Cast Iron Stoves	278
70	The Different Types of Candles and How to Make a Candle Using Animal Fat	284
71	Grandpappy's Homemade Soap Recipe	286
72	How to Make a Primitive Clay Pot and How to Cook in a Clay Pot	297
73	How to Make Charcoal, Maple Syrup, Brown Sugar, and How to Coil a Rope	301
74	How to Build a Simple Sundial	303
	Section Twelve: Extremely Useful Items
75	Practical Items for Every Day Carry (EDC)	305
76	An Emergency Backpack or Bug-Out-Bag (B.O.B.)	308
77	Bicycles for Emergency Transportation	312
78	Basic Hand Tools and a Few Other Very Useful Items	321
79	Entertainment During Hard Times	323
	Section Thirteen: Financial Strategies
80	Simple Easy Strategies on How to Reduce Your Living Expenses	327
81	Investments: Cash, Silver, Gold, CDs, Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate, Precious Jewels	329
	Section Fourteen: Firearms
82	Self-Defense	334
83	Should You Own a Firearm?	336
84	Should You Have a Concealed Carry Firearm License?	338
85	Firearm Safety Rules	339
86	Bolt-Action Rifle or Semi-Automatic Rifle?	340
87	How to Hit the Target Bull's-Eye	348
88	Should You Install a Laser Sight on Your Firearm?	374
89	Cost Comparison: Factory Loaded Ammunition and Home Reloaded Ammunition	379
90	How to Make Your Own Ammunition	381
91	Henry AR-7 US Survival Semi-Automatic 22LR Rifle	406
92	Pellet Rifles: 22 Caliber and 177 Caliber	408
93	Black Powder Rifles	410
94	Comparison of Handgun Calibers for Self-Defense	413
95	Firearm Recommendations	416
96	Affordable Gun Cleaning Solvent and Gun Lubricating Oil	419
	Section Fifteen: Wilderness Survival
97	The Three Most Important Wilderness Survival Items	420
98	Compass Instructions and Alternatives	423
99	Homemade Bow and Arrows	427
100	How to Catch Wild Game Using Professional Quality Snares and Steel Traps	430
101	Gill Nets: The Easy, Efficient Way to Catch Fish	435
	Section Sixteen: Social Breakdown
102	Hard Times and Acceptable Behavior	442
103	Are You Prepared for a Worst Case Breakdown in Society?	444
104	The Basic Rules of Survival During Hard Times	451
	Section Seventeen: Community, Charity, Pets, and House Guests
105	Community Involvement and Long-Term Community Survival	459
106	Charity During Hard Times	463
107	Pets and Livestock	466
108	Practical Suggestions That Can Help Maintain Harmony with Long-Term House Guests	470
	Section Eighteen: Conclusion
109	What to Do Right Now if the Hard Times Have Begun and You Are Not Prepared	478
110	The Solution to Hard Times	487
	Index	489
	About the Author	494

Click here and you will be taken to the Amazon web page that features this book.

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Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com