My knife on the cover of Tactical Knives Mag!

WELL THAT WAS NOT EXACTLY A LIE! It was laying on the cover to be exact.
I guess rather or not I'm a liar depends on how you define the word ON.

Time for another shot from Wikipedia:

Perspective in theory of cognition is the choice of a context or a reference (or the result of this choice) from which to sense, categorize, measure or codify experience, cohesively forming a coherent belief, typically for comparing with another. One may further recognize a number of subtly distinctive meanings, close to those of paradigm, point of view, reality tunnel, umwelt, or weltanschauung.

To choose a perspective is to choose a value system and, unavoidably, an associated belief system. When we look at a business perspective, we are looking at a monetary base values system and beliefs. When we look at a human perspective, it is a more social value system and its associated beliefs.

The reason that I'm blogging this today is that I am seeing allot of "perspective tweaking" going on in all lines of communication recently.  Maybe it is the upcoming election season or the general state of unrest around the world.  Rather it be one candidate against another, or religious ideals, or personal choices.  There seems to always be a right and a left, a black and a white.  Both sides are exploiting the gray and then refusing to acknowledge that a gray even exists.  As you move around day to day and gather bits and pieces of misinformation about the state of the world; remember to look back and analyze that information.  If it seems too one sided, seek confirmation on that particular issue.  People still have the right to make up their own damn mind about issues based on their own personal beliefs and experiences.  When you get one group distorting all the facts and ignoring legitimate, relative, supporting information then you have attempts at mind control. 

I request that before you debate an issue, whatever it is.  Do some research, form YOUR OWN opinion, confirm what you believe are the facts and then respect the decisions of those that have come to a different conclusion.  If you can not do this, what place would you have in the repair of our broken down machine?  Eventually the MACHINE is going to have to go in for servicing and repair.  Those propaganda peddlers will have no place in the new and improved version.  That is unless you continue to accept the BS, and let others make decisions that affect not only you but your entire way of life.  Make a difference, start now or the only perspective you will have is on your knees.  I am not here to say anyone is wrong for believing what they believe.  However, you are wrong if you believe what you are manipulated into believing.  The next time someone is trying to convince you that chocolate is better than vanilla or Chevy is better than Ford, simply ask them to PROVE IT, OR KEEP YOUR OPINION TO YOURSELF. 

Keep that in mind as the three ring election circus is about to begin. 

Norseman 

New SQ shipping soon.

I just wanted to bring it to everyones' attention that the new issue of Survival Quarterly will be shipping out in the next couple of days.   If you have been putting off ordering a copy, now is the time to get it done.  This is a special tribute to our friend and mentor Ron Hood.  It is filled with stories and remberances from lots of people that knew him well and knew him only a  little.  If you never had the pleasure to meet the man himself then that oppertunity has passed.  You can however get an inside look at his unique personality and learn about how the entire Hoods Woods Legacy began.  You are not gonna want to miss this issue!

Did I mention that it is a limited edition, I know life gets in the way and procrastination is king sometimes.  Not this time, dont miss a chance to get personal with the Woodsmaster.  NUF SAID! 

Norseman

Special Edition Tribute to Ron Hood

Limited Edition
Survival Quarterly Magazine
Pre-Order Now

Place your order now to pre-order this Special Limited Edition of Survival Quarterly Magazine.

This issue is a stand-alone issue and there are only a limited number available for purchase.

Help celebrate Ron’s life and legacy. Read stories from Ron’s life from Karen, Jesse, Family members and friends and other professionals in the industry. You will get a glimpse into Ron’s world. This Tribute Issue will allow you to see what a truly unique and inspiring person Ron was.

In this issue we share private stories about Ron as well as never seen before pictures of the Hoods.

This issue is due to ship by Nov 1st. Remember there are only a limited number of these issues available so get your order in before we sell out…..

Click here to pre-order:

http://survival.instantestore.net/pd-ron-hood-special-edition-tribute.cfm

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Most valuable "after disaster" skills

A while ago I received an email from a reader that was retired and wanted to venture down a new career path.  He wanted to be sure that his choice of careers would be valuable after the disaster, whatever that may be.  He asked me about gunsmith and at first glance that might seem like a logical choice.  Ill cover a few that I think would have value then Ill go back a revisit the gunsmith trade.

1. In my opinion number one would be medical training.  Not a specialist like a brain surgeon, I mean something more like a Nurse or EMT.  Those trades are more suited to trauma and immediately saving lives.  You have to look back at your priorities when picking a trade, and maintaining life and health, is numero uno for survival.  After developing those skills it would be handy to have the ability to use natural remedies and herbs for healing and wound treatment as well.  A person with this kind of training would be of the greatest value to the rebuilding of society or to the lone colony that is putting things back together while building a new life. 

2.  Along with the medical side I think that a dentist would also be highly prized when rebuilding a semblance of what we used to take for granted.  Think about the old west shows, a rough tough cow boy can be turned into a little boy by an infected tooth.

3.  Producers of food.  It took the world many years before we perfected the trade of farming,  It started with wanderers gathering seed and spreading them around as they migrated so they would have a reliable and familiar food source as they moved.  Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.  To have to relearn that skill without even having the basic knowledge of flora and fauna that fed the ancient wanderers would equal starvation. --Try this-- take some seed of your favorite fruits and vegetable, roll a few into a ball of mud and let them harden.  Next time you are out and about toss the little mud balls out into areas that look suitable for growth.  In time you will be producing food all over the place that you will be able to recognize and gather if you have to move out or live on the streets for a while.  It is a form of guerrilla gardening that takes almost no effort to do and the gain could be enormous if times get tough.

4.  Security specialist.  As you move up Maslows heirachy of needs farther than the immediate physical needs you progress into security needs.  Men and women with a security background have a tendency to not only notice but counter security risks that would otherwise go unnoticed.  If you have ever watched some of those after disaster reality shows, it seems that those fools can make anything they need in time.  Unfortunately they don't usually have any ability to organize people and priorities well enough to keep it.  Police, Military are well suited to this role and would likely be a highly prized asset to any community.  Likewise they can teach the "colony" how to defend themselves physically if the need arises and since most would have a good understanding of the effectiveness of different weapon systems, they could design a defense program that works but does not suck up all the resources to be effective.

5. Psychological professional.  The toll that this kind of stress would play on families and individuals is immeasurable.  Having a counselor or a chaplain, priest, psychologist would be a great asset to any community suffering post apocalyptic conditions.  It is the cheapest investment that can be made in people.  Sometimes people just need to get it off their chest and talk to someone.  Everyone may be experiencing the same traumatic circumstances but not everyone can process it and get past it without help.  Without help it can tear apart the structure before you ever get it reestablished.

Those are just my opinions and of course 100 people will have 100 different skills on their top 5.  Perhaps you may think differently, that does not make either of us wrong, it makes us unique and that is how society would be rebuilt, by unique individuals with different experiences that come together for a common goal.

As for the gunsmith role, kind of seems a little limited after looking at the above list.  And for that matter I would bet that if you only had one gun you would find a way to make it work before you dropped it off to be fixed, again, just my opinion.

Think about this and plan for the future, when it happens it is too late to get organized so you better have a skill that is worth something or you may just fail to survive the event.  Remember, Survival is not mandatory!

Norseman

Getting back to work!

 Well I have been in a funk lately, I am still trying to settle down into my new job (a lot slower than what I am used to) so im trying to stay busy.  I was extremely busy doing nothing and trying to discover something to do, of course hunting season is open and takes up a little time but that is not what I was looking for.  So I turned to my shop, my garage shop that is.  I have re organized it and started to set it up for some knife making.  I figure that if im gonna have to kill time I might as well make some money while I'm at it.  So I contacted a couple friends in the biz, namely Trace Rinaldi and Luke Swenson for their advise and tips on getting started.  So far their help has proved invaluable.  Since I know that the two of them would not sabotage me, and they both make world class knives, who better to mentor my efforts.  So today I got busy for the first time in a long time and I banged out two knives.  You can look back through my posts and see some of my earlier attempts at the trade.  Below is a few pictures of my humble shop and today's efforts.  They are not complete by any means but they are well underway.  They still need heat treating, and finishing to include a handle on the one.  I'm thinking I might give carbon fiber or G-10 a try depending on what I can get my hands on.  Here are some pics for you to comment on, any suggestions are more than welcome.  I am not afraid to learn or take criticism.

NM

This is my grinder station with a Craftsman bench grinder, Ryobi belt sander and a Craftsman wet grinder/sharpener.

 Here you can see my band saw, Grizzly 2x72 knife grinder, sand blaster and air compressor

 This is my Diamondback Ironworks forge,  this baby is wicked hot.

 My Smithy 3 in 1, mig welder and 12 ton press, surrounded by miscellaneous tool boxes.

 Here are today's projects, not done yet but well underway, the top one is my design that Luke Swenson produces.  I decided to give it a try for myself with a little extra file work.  I am making this one for my brother.  The bottom one is a two finger Karambit.  It takes a little practice but once you get proficient with it, it is a sneaky little defender for sure.  That is also my design.

 Here is a close up of the file work, diamond back, pretty cool huh?

 This is my hand made makers mark,  I dremel carved it into a cold chisel and then hardened it in the forge.  I didn't temper it so I hope that it doesn't eventually break.  You can see how the mark looks when stamped into steel.

 This is a close up of the plunge on the diamond back knife.  I got it perfect thanks to some advise by Luke and Trace.  They shaved a bunch of time off of that learning curve.


I hope that you enjoyed that a little.  I will of course post some pictures when they are complete and of future projects.  Who knows, I may eventually even have a couple for sale.  If nothing else I hope that this gives you a little inspiration to jump into a new project or learn a new craft.  You never know when it might come in handy.