Homestead Tools

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[00:00:30] Stand up for freedom with the Friends of NRA. Hello, Rye. Welcome back to the Survival and Basic Badass Podcast with Kevin and Chuck. Today, we're going to talk about tools.

[00:00:54] There are a lot of tools that can actually be like a game changer with doing a job where buying the right equipment can make a big difference on your time, your effort, where it pays for itself. Now, obviously, everything is kind of relative, right? If you have an outside job on your homestead or maybe you're not homesteading, maybe you're just a regular person.

[00:01:23] If you're at work all the time, then spending money on a tool that's going to save you time has a lot more value than if you're somebody who's trying to live off the land and all you have is time and no way to get extra cash. Right. So it is all about balancing. All right. Is this going to pay for what I need?

[00:01:46] You know, if you have extra time and you're sitting around drinking coffee all morning, which living your best life and and vodka all night or something, whiskey, I guess would be a little more manly. But, you know, but then, you know, then it matters and it affects how you spend your money.

[00:02:06] But what we're going to do is kind of lay out a lot of the tools that have been game changers for me and Kevin as far as time and as far as, you know, cutting down the effort that you have to put forth in the results that you end up getting. Um, there's a lot of carpentry tools that end up being really cool. A lot of gardening tools that can make your production, you know, a thousand times better and it all matters.

[00:02:32] So, um, I think really it comes down to, there are certain basic tools that everybody should have in life that just kind of start out. Like maybe you give to the 18 year old when they're ready to move out, I guess in the modern world, 18 year olds don't move out. Is that not a thing? It's more like 27 or 42 or whenever people move out, they should get their own tools. Right.

[00:03:01] And everybody knows, I mean, you can't, you know, the full set of tools is not something you, you go out and buy everything, you know, it's something you collect over time. Yeah. Right. But I mean, there are some basics that you should have, you know, you should be able to fill up a tool belt, you know, with, uh, with the basic hand tools. Um, you know, what is that hammer speed square nail puller? Right. Yeah. I use that speed square a lot, man. Speed square is something people really overlook.

[00:03:30] I mean, maybe a level too. You ever notice when you go to the hardware store, you got it when you buy a level, I always set it on the shelf and I put it one way and I put it the other way. Right. And you can go through 20 at the same level, you know, same out of the same box. Right. Yeah. And you set them all on there and they're all different and you finally get one that works. And yeah. So, so the shelf doesn't have to be level. I think what Chuck is saying is when you turn it around, it has to like read the same as it was.

[00:03:59] The same spot. Yeah. And then it turns out, I now know why my dad was always, you dropped the level. No, you know? Yeah, exactly. Cause now you have a pry bar. That's all that level is good for. Or when I was using it as the pry bar was also, you know, a negative. So. Right. They used to call that what a whiskey stick. Cause it used to be whiskey in there. So it didn't freeze. Is that, that's the trick. Yeah. That used to be the liquid they would have in there. I have not heard that.

[00:04:27] The, uh, I guess it could freeze. I haven't really considered it now. It's probably radiator fluid. Who knows? Yeah. I don't know what they have in there now. So I can drink it. Ah, yeah, yeah. Now, and the next thing would be like a basic socket set, right? For your man tools. I think like a solid tool bag. I always like, and it could be some an electrician, but I like like the electrician bag, which is like that little square tote. That's just kind of open.

[00:04:56] You know, if you were on a real budget, it could be the five gallon bucket, you know, and they have those insert bags that you can put in there for pretty cheap at home Depot. Yeah. I actually, uh, switched over to a, um, I was a carpenter working as a carpenter and I switched over to an electrician tool belt because it's just has so many more pockets, you know? But, um, you know, the basics, the basics that every man should have, you know, are pretty straightforward when it comes to that sort of stuff.

[00:05:26] And, uh, you know, um, ratchet set, uh, wrench set, crescent wrench that that's an, you know, adjustable wrench. You're not really supposed to use those for anything, but they come in pretty handy. Yeah. Pipe wrench is an important, important little thing for your, I think Devin, if you get to homesteader level, pipe wrench is huge. Like I, I have like four sizes.

[00:05:51] I think I have two that are like expensive quality pipe wrenches. And then I have like a bunch of sets that I got in supply that are like all kinds of varying sizes seem to pay off pretty good. Um, crescent wrench, you probably want one good quality. One is way better than a bunch of varying sizes that are junk. A pipe, I feel like you can get away with a little less quality and it'll still kind of do the job. Yeah.

[00:06:19] Channel locks, spend the money by that. The 14 to $20 pair instead of the $7 pair, just that one, or you might just buy the other one 15 times, you know, you could go either way or you could be my job teacher and just use the same $4 pair for the rest of your life. You know, you do what you do you. Um, yeah. So, I mean, those are, those are some big, good basic, basic tools.

[00:06:48] Um, uh, when it gets into power tools, uh, you really want to pay attention to what you're getting. You know what I mean? Usually the name brand stuff is, is you're going to spend the right amount of money and get the right amount of quality skill saw. That's a big deal. Have you priced them out low lately? It's getting crazy. Yeah. Now I got, uh, I got off pretty easy with a, uh, DeWalt skill saw. Yeah. Uh, it's about almost 20 years old. It's still running.

[00:07:15] And I actually got it from a pawn shop and I haggled with the guy and got it for 25 bucks. Yeah. Which, you know, it's like, it's definitely like lasted. It's, it's. And now you get the main China saw for 45 bucks, maybe on Amazon or something, but. Yeah, exactly. Oh, you know, my tools. All right. So that's the thing. Like I have, um, I, I think essentials, like as you start to go into manhood that really

[00:07:45] that tool bag, the kind of mechanic bag is, is like your starter kit, you know, with a flat and Phillips screwdriver and the other tools we mentioned. And I got to say some kind of socket set, even if it's like the minimal, you know, where you have like seven, eight different metrics, seven, eight different SAE and then call it good. That that's, that's your reasonable, like starter. I'm a homeowner. I'm just moving out. Get there. All right, cool.

[00:08:11] Now phase two, I'm starting to do repairs around my home or repairs around the homestead. Now, like Kevin said, skill saw pipe wrenches, then we're moving into a table saw and a chop saw like those three, they all. And like you said, quality does kind of matter with those. Um, one of the things I've learned along the way is don't throw out all the guards and the safeties.

[00:08:41] Like you're like, that's just in my way. Right. And then later on, as you start whipping boards at your face, you're kind of like, maybe I should have kept that one. That one would have been good. So I'm just saying that's something to keep in mind. Like, I know we don't like to keep junk. Like I opened the box and I'm like, all right, I'm going to use this part and this part, the rest of it, some big stand, it becomes a table.

[00:09:05] And you know that, you know that, um, that guard that's on the skill saw, you know, from, from cutting your fingers off with a guy that, uh, wired that up in the up position with a piece of wire. I haven't gone. And I was like, that's the guy I'm not working with. Yeah. You know what I mean? I haven't gone that far. Yeah. So that's, that's something to keep in mind.

[00:09:29] Um, I don't know the, uh, so basically those are my, my woodworking go-to. I mean, just, uh, as honorable mention, you should have a handsaw, a quality handsaw. It comes up more often than, than you would think. And a hacksaw. And hacksaw. Pipes every now and again. You know how it is. Um, yeah, that's it. And then, you know, all right.

[00:09:54] Then we go into the next level where you might like start doing repairs even more so around your house where you're buying that plunge cutter or they call it an oscillating tool, you know, where you can get the corners. Dude, that thing is a game changer. We didn't have that when we were growing up. Yep. And like the last 10 years or so, that's been a thing. And that thing is like, oh my God, I use it so often for impossible. You know, it just is great. And the same thing. It'll cut metal. It'll cut.

[00:10:24] You just got to buy the right blades. Right. And my experience with that by the quality tool, although I've never had one that I use a lot last more than a year. Mm-hmm. Like if I use it a lot, if I just set it on the shelf, I get about five years out of it. Kind of. But yeah. So they're great by the quality tool, you know, Porter cable or something like that. But then you can buy the cheap blades from like Amazon.

[00:10:54] Cause like blades are like, I don't know, like eight bucks each one. And then you go on Amazon and it's like 37 for $8. Uh-huh. Cause you can just burn through them. Duct tape and coat hangers might also be good. Super glue. Mm-hmm. I, uh, I knew a guy that it was actually the same guy that had that, that guard wired back. I used the super glue to close up the wound when he ran the saw across the back of his hand. So.

[00:11:23] That's when you need the super glue? Yeah. Great. Uh, yay, yay. Um, the, uh, the other thing, like as you get more advanced, um, like the clamps, the wood clamps for putting together, huge, but all right, let's kind of. But though, any more woodworking tools like that kind of thing? Well, you didn't touch on a, uh, a screw gun or, you know, it's a drill, whatever it is. Yes.

[00:11:50] You know, these, those are great because the battery powered, uh, the ones that are, I mean, some of them recorded drills, obviously, um, battery powered ones though are great because, you know, even if the power goes out and you have a generator, you can charge it back up. Um, but you can keep that. You should be keeping it charged up. You should be able to take that. I, I, um, I broke my own rule the other day. I pulled out my, my screw gun and went to go put a screw in and it got halfway in and died on me.

[00:12:19] And I was kicking myself in the ass. Cause why the hell would I have a battery that's dead in it? You know what I mean? It should be anytime you use it, you should be charging the other battery up, you know? Exactly. Exactly. I have had now in a perfect world, you don't leave your batteries out in the cold, like in the shed or in your truck or whatever. But I, I gotta say the lithium ion are a lot better than the older versions we used to have where you really couldn't get away with the cold.

[00:12:47] Like you left it out in, you know, below 30 and it was done now. Now, now they're pretty good, but it still doesn't help things. Um, I, you want to, if you can stick with the same brand for everything. And that what I mean is the interchangeable batteries, right? That that's awesome. Like I believe it or not, I've been using Milwaukee. I think they're like M12 batteries or whatever, but I probably have 20 of these batteries and

[00:13:16] I just keep them all charged up and I can go forever. Yeah. You know what I've, I've noticed though, if you go online to just buy the battery to just buy a battery, it's almost as expensive as buying a tool. So you might as well just get a new type of, you know, different, different tool, but, uh, you know, same battery and by, by replace replacement batteries that way. I, yeah. And Milwaukee has gone downhill, believe it or not. They're actually owned by black and Decker now, but, uh, they, you know, whatever it is what it is.

[00:13:45] Everybody's kind of downhill from where they were. Uh, but anyway, the big thing with that is, uh, also you can get the quarter inch impact driver. If you're like putting in screws, framing something, you want the impact driver over the regular drill. Cause that drill, you're going to burn up the battery and like every half hour, whereas the impact I can go for two hours on the one battery and just be laying screws all day long. Yeah.

[00:14:14] Just saying secret of the pros right there. Yeah. One thing I learned pretty early on and, you know, probably most of you guys know this. Um, but there's different, different numbers for the screws for the bits. You know, you want to use the right bit for the right screw. Otherwise you're just going to tear up those bits and going to be swapping them out. And every time you, uh, go to run a screw in, it's going to make that sound. We're just spinning around inside the screw and tearing everything up.

[00:14:42] Uh, yeah, exactly. But even when you think you're buying quality, who knows what you get anymore? It is finding the right stuff that, you know, that makes sense. Um, so, but anyway, we're good with carpenter tools. Just, I have a lot of tools to cover. I don't want to. All right, let's move on. I know you're the carpenter guy and I hate to, you know, to shave off that. But, uh, yeah. So the next thing I would say, let's jump into, uh, like forestry tools.

[00:15:10] I mean, if I did say homesteader tools and homestead tools, that's going to mean a chainsaw. Now my go-to, I got to say, I mean, I like steel. They're made in Virginia beach. Um, they're more expensive, but they're not a lot more expensive. Um, the one that I've been using is, uh, I think the wood boss, I think it's like three 50 for an 18 inch chainsaw might be, you know, for now, I don't know, but, uh, but you can

[00:15:40] use other things. Husqvarna has had good and bad. I've had good experiences with Husqvarna chainsaws. I've had bad experiences with them. Um, and you can buy like the echo or whatever the junk at home Depot is. And to be honest, if you're never using it, probably not that bad, but it's nice when they start. I have mentioned before, uh, one of the big things is if you buy the synthetic oil mix, they last a lot better. That makes a big difference.

[00:16:08] I know I buy cheap weed whackers and I was throwing them out every year cause I couldn't keep the damn things running. And then I was like, Oh, when I buy better gas oil mix, spend the extra dollar there. It made those cheap things keep going. Um, I use just, you know, home Depot Lowe's a hundred dollar weed whackers. I didn't, I've never bought steel or something for that. I just had chainsaw. I want it to work, you know?

[00:16:36] Um, and you know, another thing to do, uh, to keep in mind is, is those chainsaw blades, you can sharpen the blades, you know, that it's a huge pain in the ass. You should have a second replacement blade in your, you know, in your, in your shed, wherever you keep your, your chainsaw equipment, you should have a replacement blade. With chains. I know steel sells them. They're about 40 bucks each.

[00:17:00] I go on Amazon and I can buy some junk, no name brand for three pack for 38 bucks. So a three pack is way better than, you know, one, I gotta say, I've noticed that the, the sharpness is about the same. They seem to last about equal. I mean, I'm sure there's different brands and you can do, you know, different things, but I I've done pretty good. Um, you can buy some pretty, uh, cool chainsaws.

[00:17:29] The next one I'm moving into is, uh, I think I was just looking at five 19. The, the farm boss from steel is like 20 inch you can get for five 19. So it's funny. Cause I was looking on like Facebook yard sale marketplace to buy them and they all want like $400 for used. And I'm like, they're 400 or 500 new. Like, why am I? So, but I mean, if they hold up, they do hold up.

[00:17:59] Um, so another thing there, the next thing that I actually just discovered and has been a new thing for me is, uh, a chainsaw mill. Now a chainsaw mill is for like cutting the boards. And at first I was scared off on these. Cause I was like, you gotta go slow. And it turns out it takes forever to, uh, but it basically is a frame.

[00:18:26] You lay a board on top of the log and then you can kind of go through. If you have, if you're cutting the right type of wood, they work great. And, and what I mean by that, like something soft, like pine or like that, you could slap out boards all day long. Now, if you're cutting oak or something, you're kind of like burning through a chain when you do a, you know, you can cut one beam and your chain is done. If you're doing pine, you probably get eight or nine boards, you know?

[00:18:56] Um, you can get chains sharpened. You can obviously do it yourself. I know a lot of you guys would be like, I'm manly. I can do it. I don't know. I know where I was. I used to have a guy who did it for about eight bucks a chain and I bought a bunch of the China knockoff chain and I would take like eight or nine to them at once, have them doing it. Um, that kind of stuff. Another thing I've seen too, with the chainsaw mills, and this is actually new to me also

[00:19:24] is they have where you set a board on it and like screw in a track and then you can cut it and cut like the edge off boards. And I haven't, I haven't bought that one. I'm curious about it. Um, but anyway, different stuff like that. I know my house came with, uh, one of those giant, like two man giant saws. It's like you see it at when you go to Cracker Barrel. Yeah. So waiting to try that out next, but I haven't gotten there.

[00:19:53] Just got to find another man. I exactly, you know, it'd be me and the wife out there and you know, who knows? Um, another thing would be a, uh, ax, a quality ax. It's worth it though. Uh, I, I like a Forrester ax, which is like a medium size kind of, I don't know. Seems cool for me cutting down like 10 inch trees, whatever, believe it or not a good quality, sharp ax.

[00:20:21] And that could be your ax from home Depot. That's not good quality, but it could be that ax, but you're going to have to spend some time sharpening that if that's what you get and make a commitment to it. You might buy other axes that come sharpen quality and that'll really work out for property management. Then, you know, as I'm on the property, bigger property for a while, you know, all of a sudden I need a pole saw with the little electric chainsaw thing on top.

[00:20:51] Then, uh, I actually have one of those little battery, like eight inch junk, uh, made in China chainsaws. That's great for, you know, here's a little limb, here's a whatever. And you know, that just makes it easy. Honestly, a lot of times when I'm cutting shrubbery out of the bushes and crap like that, that that's where I'm using that, you know, little hand, nothing, but, and just cutting

[00:21:16] a branch here and there, you don't need big ridiculous all the time, but having a quality chainsaw matters. Yeah. I know when I, uh, I, I split wood, a lot of people split wood with, with them all, you know, I, I just prefer a wedge and a, a slide chamber. It seems like, uh, less issues when I do that. All day. And smaller wood, they have those little frames where it's like a, uh, like a, it looks like a plus sign in the middle of a circle and you set it and hit it with a hammer.

[00:21:46] I do that all the time with a sledgehammer. Um, moving, going to sledgehammers. Let's talk about farm equipment. What do you got there? Like, as far as like farming, like, you know, putting stuff in the ground. What are your go-tos there, Kevin? Yeah. Um, I mean, honestly, I've got a, a multitude of shovels, you know what I mean? About 18 different types, types of shovel in my, in my garage right now.

[00:22:15] It's kind of becoming a problem, but, um, you know, there's a lot of stuff that, uh, that I use frequently, you know, uh, the potato rakes, uh, those are, you know, those four prong, four prong rakes. Um, and, uh, I'm having drawn a blank here. You put me on the spot. Right. Um, there's those, uh, hoes that are, do you know what I'm talking about with the, uh, where you pull the weeds out?

[00:22:42] What are those guys called with the, with the little on it? All right. It's called a stirrup hoe. Okay. And it's basically like a horse, you know, like a syrup you have riding a horse that you'd put your foot in. And I gotta say, you run it back and forth over the ground and it just pulls all the weeds right up without actually having to put the pressure that it normally takes to, you know, get through the, the wood.

[00:23:07] Another, those, I mean, they, you could go pretty cheap with those as long as you keep it sharp. Um, I bought better quality. Uh, my, my wife does a lot of farming out there and honestly in the position I'm in, I have more money than time. I don't have a lot of money. I just have more money than time. Cause I have no time. Right. And so to me, it's like, well, you know what? I'd rather buy something that's going to work and do it right. When I go out there, same thing.

[00:23:37] It's like, I have a tractor. I wouldn't have a tractor if I had tons of time. Right. But I don't have tons of time. I need to get volume done in quick. Um, hose. There's a brand called rogue R O G U E that makes some really quality hose. There's one that looks like a, uh, triangle that really I've been great with weeding and, or more, maybe I should say my wife has been great with weeding with and, and really getting

[00:24:06] in around the plants, but those hose are like a hundred bucks. And I understand you can go to Lowe's and buy a $20 hoe again, money in time. But I will say if I go buy a $20 hoe at Lowe's, I'm out there with the grinder and spend the time sharpening it right out of the gate. You really gotta, you know, take care of it. And if you keep that tool sharp, it's going to work. Plus I would say that. Yeah. Go ahead.

[00:24:36] About almost all, all farm, farm tools and gardening tools, you know, a grinder or, and a, a good file, you know, to keep those things, keep those things in shape. Exactly. I honestly knife sharpeners and I have like an ax stone and then a million different knife sharpener sets and learning how to do that and use that makes a big difference. Um, another tool I use in the garden all the time is a digging fork.

[00:25:06] And this is kind of like a pitch fork, like think four prongs, but, um, I do have to keep getting beefier and beefier because I keep breaking them on my wife and she doesn't like that. Uh, so the, what the one I buy now is like one piece of steel from handle to the end because we've tried the wooden head yet weighs 40 pounds. But what happens is apparently if you use it like a normal person, it's no problem.

[00:25:35] And they last, but if you're like digging in concrete, I mean, it's not really concrete, but the clay in my ground can kind of be like that. Yeah. Yeah. I'll jump on it, work it in. And then I'm like, you know, turning it back and forth and really work at it. And when I do that, I find that it, uh, it really takes some effort. And what will happen is the wood will start to separate over time from where it connects

[00:26:04] to the fork itself. Uh, so, you know, do what you can do with that. Now, sometimes I will say through it in my experience with Chuck doing stuff, he like definitely manhandles a lot of shit. I make the world bend to my will, Kevin. That's the answer, but no, you're a hundred percent. Right. Uh, and, and that's, I'm just like, you know what? I'm just going to buy you a new one. Let's just, I might do the new one is like the one I use that she could use the ones that

[00:26:34] I already broke and we won't talk about that part. Um, there's another tool called a broad fork, uh, for gardening. That's where you have the handles on either side. And then it's kind of like a rolled hay fork kind of, but you basically step on it and press it in again, another tool that I'm kind of not allowed to use because they're expensive.

[00:26:58] And if I step on it and do it, I'm like getting the ground, break it up. And she's like, you, you can take a lot, but you can't take that much earth at once. Right. And I'm like, yield, yield to my will, you know? And it doesn't always work. Um, I don't know. Those are my like big go-to. Obviously there's some good hand tools, but there's a lot of little shovels. And I just thought it'd be hard to, you know, talk about the different aspects and, you

[00:27:28] know, rakes, you got to kind of figure there's a dandelion, like weed hooks, those little things. There are tools that make things a lot easier in the garden that I'm sure, you know, you guys know more about than even I do. Yeah. Uh, pitchforks are, are a big, uh, big deal for me. I use it for, for turning over the compost, which is great. And, uh, you know, if you have birds, if you have, you know, chickens or whatever, and

[00:27:56] you're hay in their, their pen, you know, it's something that comes in handy when you've got to clean that stuff out, you know? Yeah. Um, yeah, obviously a pick or there's another one called an ads, which is like a pick, but it's the blades are angled the opposite way. Kind of just saying something you might. And also again, another tool you want to actually keep sharp.

[00:28:21] Uh, if you keep that sharp, it's basically like an ax again, maybe I'm using it the wrong way, but, uh, I'm just saying, uh, my, my next big thing is, and again, this is all budget and time and everything. You know, you don't start out and blow your budget, but if you can get a quality tractor with a PTO, that's something. Um, it's funny.

[00:28:50] Everybody had told me, uh, at my level and, and my size farm. I mean, again, it's all about what you're growing. My big thing is, uh, I, I bought a, a subcompact tractor, which is basically, I don't know it like 25 horse, which doesn't sound like a lot, but turns out you can do a lot with a 25 horse. And I have like a little bucket on it.

[00:29:16] The picture I'm showing on the YouTube is not mine, but that's basically what you got. And I gotta say, my buddies were all like, get pallet forks for it. And I fought them and was like, Oh, it's a waste of money. I don't think so. And it's funny. I even got around to finally buying them and I didn't use them for like the first three months. And now I can't do anything.

[00:29:40] So one, if you're doing woodworking, um, you know, cutting trees and moving stuff, pallet forks. Awesome. You got to pick up that chicken coop and move it to a new area. Pallet forks are awesome. You get a delivery on the farm. Pallet forks are awesome. Uh, I dude, I put everything on pallets. So I, it's just, you know, pallets are free everywhere and I just go pick it up.

[00:30:09] If I do a job, I work some kind of weird hours where I'll have like four hours to do work in the morning. And then I need to clean up everything and put it away. You know, I, I have a lot of mornings I can get stuff done, but I don't have big stretches of eight or 10 hours. So the thing with that is I can run out, start doing a job. All my tools are like a workbench on the pallet, just sitting there next to me while I'm framing and doing stuff.

[00:30:39] And then I throw everything on there and drive the tractor back to the barn. Cleanup is like three minutes instead of, Oh, I got to get all the saws put away. I got it. Mark. I just drive it away and it's in the barn and everything's good. And I go to work and tomorrow I just drive it right back out. I don't have to worry about rain or weather or whatever. I don't know. Kind of cool. Uh, as far as implements, the only thing I use all the time is a tiller, um, to break

[00:31:08] up the ground. A tiller is awesome. Everybody was like, you need a brush hog and whatever. I never use it. It takes up a lot of space in my barn. Um, it was good. Like when I first got the property to claim new land, right? Like a brush hog is awesome. You go cut like trees kind of like you hit it with the ax and then you're cutting down the stumps a little bit. And I'm talking about, you know, three, four inch. I'm not talking about like big stumps, but you can cut down some good stuff with it, with a brush hog.

[00:31:39] But the, uh, you know, things like that are awesome. Um, I have things like a bottom plow, which is like that big blade. They used to take with the horses on little house in the Prairie. I have one that I can pull behind the tractor. It'll break up dirt, but it's rare that I'm digging that deep. You know what I'm saying? Right. I found one used on marketplace for like a hundred bucks. I think I ended up cracking the back window of my truck. Cause you want to really tie that thing down when you're moving it.

[00:32:08] That big hunk of steel, it turns out is, uh, you know, a little something. But I was on my old crappy truck. I just, I cared a lot less back then, but, uh, you know how it is. Then, uh, you also like, I I've gotten like spikes for digging trenches. There's a lot of cool things like that, but you know, find the stuff that you use, look at marketplace, look at what you can buy. Um, you know, it's, it's how it goes sometimes.

[00:32:37] Uh, what else for like a tractor? I guess that's it. Uh, you know, quality bucket. I would say four wheel drive is probably important for a tractor. Um, for like that or one cutting. I made the mistake of, Oh, I have a big yard. Like I probably cut three acres of grass, which is a lot.

[00:33:01] Um, I bought like a 48 inch ride on mower and paid like 2,500 bucks, like an idiot. Cause I was like, I want something that's going to last. And now I kick myself every day that, gee, I could have spent another grand and got like a zero turn and, uh, you know, done a lot better. A lot of time. Yeah. A lot of time. And I was an idiot on that one. But in my mind, I was like, I can't spend that much money. And it was like, I got a new property, but I hate that. I spent as much as I did.

[00:33:28] I should have spent 400 on a used one and waited and got what I wanted. Again, that's a lesson learned, but now I'm still spending, putting in the hours on the little ride on, which again, I mean, 48 inch, I can still do it in like three hours, but you know, right. You know, it's still three hours, still three hours. So the next thing I would say is, is taking care of your tools or do you have any more you wanted to drop any other tools?

[00:33:58] No, that's fine. That's fine. But, and honestly, we could just, we could have just ended the show with, with, you know, cleaning up the tools, WD-40. That's all you need. That's the only tool you need. Just get WD-40. One, one of the things I find is you could walk around my yard. It's mind you, it's like January or whatever. You could walk around my yard and find some rakes and shovels out.

[00:34:23] And those handles don't like being out in the weather, turning gray and old and dry. And it really does shorten the life. And it's like throwing money in the garbage, you know, when you, when you don't take care of things because those handles dry rot and they just turn to crap. Right. You go to dig something in it and the handle just cracks on you. One, keep it in a nice place out of the sun, you know, out of the weather.

[00:34:51] Two, you know, I, I bought one of those wall hooks for the barn made a big day. It was like eight bucks or something. And you just, you can hang all the tools makes a big difference. One, they're easy to find. They're always in the same place and it keeps them up out of the way. Now, the next thing is take care of those handles. So linseed oil, tongue, tongue oil, mineral oil, any of those. If you kind of clean up the handle a little bit with like sandpaper and then put the oil

[00:35:20] in once a year, when you're putting stuff up for the fall, you will buy so much more. And if you're spending a hundred dollars on a hoe, then you're going to want to take care of, you're going to want to take care of it. But the next thing is, like I said, every year I sharpen all those tools, all those, you know, tools I'm out there with the grinder. And then sometimes the stone, depending on how much I use that tool or, you know, the wife uses the tool and how much we like it. Something to consider.

[00:35:49] Yeah. Now let's talk a little bit about a little bit about some hand tools you can get for the kitchen for the house, you know? I like it. Um, I saw, I've been shopping around and looking at, uh, grain mills. Um, you know, pretty, pretty, uh, easy to get, easy to use. I don't grow grain. I, you can buy it in bulk unshelled and save yourself a lot of money.

[00:36:18] Um, coffee grinder. I know that Chuck, Chuck is a big fan of the coffee grinders. I'm a big fan of coffee. Mm-hmm. I gotta say, I, I, for years was coffee grinder guy. And now I just, uh, black, black rifle coffee, uh, to my house pre-ground. And I'm like, yeah, I still spend too much money on coffee, but. Yeah. And I have to point out, I had to drink some kind of like eight o'clock coffee or some crap this morning and ruin my whole morning.

[00:36:48] Cause the, the delivery is taking too long or something. I don't know. Something with the weather or who knows? I just know I had the wrong coffee and things are a little on edge. Uh, uh, I got, uh, for Christmas a couple of years back, I got this, uh, Jack Daniels coffee and, um, tell you, I'm not a fan. It just tasted like I was drinking coffee with Jack Daniels in it, but there was no Jack Daniels. I got it.

[00:37:15] It tasted like Jack Daniels, but there's no actual alcohol. So, I mean. It kind of took away your joy a little bit. Ruined it. I could just put Jack Daniels in my coffee and that would be, you know, that would give me the benefits of it. That sounds about right. I don't know. Just, yeah. Just thought, you know, take care of your stuff. But the big thing is you do yourself.

[00:37:40] If I was trying to save money and trying to save time on jobs, keeping your stuff organized and just knowing where stuff is like, I end up, I have like a tool set in the book. I have a tool set in the truck. I have a tool set in, you know, in the house and it's cause I'm always like back and forth. Where is it? Is it in the barn? Is it, you know, I got to go get that thing. Put stuff in the same spot every time. Take the extra minute to put it away.

[00:38:09] You know, I just had, we have these like little runs for my chickens and I keep a ton of extra zip ties to keep, you know, just for any project that comes up. Because it turns out if you buy it from Amazon, some China junk or whatever, it's a lot cheaper than, now again, there is different qualities and weights to zip ties. It turns out you have to kind of look for what you need for the job you're doing. But I know that like a Fox or something will come and fight on the chicken wire coop.

[00:38:39] And I'm like, crap, I got to go get chicken wire or sorry, zip ties and tie it all together. I tie it all up, but I stop and I go back and I go put them back where they go. Cause that stuff matters. Cause then they're there the next time. Right. Otherwise you end up with junk and you're buying it again. You know, I have three freaking, uh, Tinder chargers for, uh, you know, charging a motorcycle battery or that kind of thing. Cause I keep losing the damn thing.

[00:39:08] And then I find it and I'm like, Oh, there it is. And then I write on the box, Tinder charger, you know, or whatever tender, right. Battery tender, whatever. But that's how it goes sometimes. So don't, don't throw your money away buying the same stuff. Another thing that I do do, I would point out is, uh, I buy screws and nails in bulk. I buy the five pound at a minimum when I go, I understand that's money.

[00:39:37] And when you're just starting out, that's not maybe an option, but. If you can buy your screws and nails and stuff, if you're like, I'm going to use this over the next three years, you should be buying the five pound. Right. And not the one. If you're doing projects all the time, buy your screws in quantity because it matters. And also prices do fluctuate on that a lot. So pay attention. But yeah. Yeah. I'm a big, big believer in, in buying the bulk.

[00:40:05] I can't tell you how many projects like doubled in time because I went at and couldn't find the right damn screw that I was looking for. You know, no two and a half inch screws. I got to go all the way to the store to get them just to finish, you know, finish up. Or even worse, you're using a three inch screw where you only need a one inch screw. And you're like, now I'm just throwing away money because I put in twice the screw that I needed. Right. Turns out they sell it by the pound, not the screw.

[00:40:34] So if you're using twice the amount of screw, that's a problem. So anyway, I just thought if we kind of prepared you and it gets you thinking about organizing and, and taking care of the stuff you have, if we can prepare you a little bit, might save you some money. And I got to say, it's one of the things of being prepared is having the stuff on hand. I know when we were talking before we recorded this, me and Kevin were talking and we're like,

[00:41:00] you know, just having motor oil, the kind that you use to add to your car when you need it or radiator fluid or, uh, windshield washer fluid, having it on hand and also buying it at the price that's, you know, ideal instead of being stuck. Right. It helps. So being a little bit prepared in the head of the game, you could make really help your budget. So I'm saying, but you know, again, obviously all this stuff costs money and it's time.

[00:41:30] And maybe if you buy it in advance, you can get the price that you're looking for. You know, I mean, there's obviously tools out there that I don't have that I wish I did and just it's time. But if you start looking and are aware of what you need, you can kind of get there a little bit quicker. Mm hmm. Right. Right. A couple of things I want to throw in there that you should have around the house, uh,

[00:41:53] just in case is, um, a fuel siphon, um, comes up every once in a while, you know, every once in a while you need that. You need to suck the fuel out of something. You need to put it in a can, put it in something else. Um, take it out of the neighbor's car, whatever you got to do. Right. There are battery powered ones. There are hand powered ones. I know, you know, if you buy the $10 fuel siphon, it's going to work like a $10 fuel siphon. You know, you need to spend a little bit of money if you're going to actually be using it.

[00:42:22] Another thing that I'd like to keep is, uh, bolt cutters. Um, with my, uh, job, I go to end up going to a lot of different locations. And if you don't have a key to get in and you have to drive all the way back somewhere, sometimes it's easier to just replace the padlock and, and cut that thing off. Especially big ones. Don't get the, you know, Oh, it's $25 for 12 inch bolt cutters. You're not cutting shit with that. You need to, the big three foot handle, you know, bolt cutters to actually cut a lock off. All right. Secret of the pros.

[00:42:54] And, uh, yeah. And also, you know, keep, keep rope and cordage on hand. Um, you know, anytime you're cutting down a tree, it's good. You know, you get that, get that little kid out there and put them to work. Just pull on it. Just keep pulling it, you know, keep it from falling on your fence. Right. One of the homestead things is I keep lots of fence. If I have the money in the budget and stuff at the time, whenever I buy fence, I buy extra,

[00:43:22] you know, like I buy by the size that's going to matter, you know? Right. And that I can kind of get away with some. Having fence to put something up as things come up, if you're homesteading, that really makes a difference. Yeah. Um, just keep that in mind. Yeah. Keep three foot and a four foot welded wire, you know, rolls of that in the, in the garage because it comes up, you know, chicken pens and, and gardens, you know, anything like that.

[00:43:48] You know, I, I've like, I, you know, like I just mentioned, I've dropped trees on my, on my garden fence, two garden fences and a chicken run. So, I mean, it's easy when you can just roll out, you know, five feet of that thing and patch it up. That's it. Not that long ago, I had to drop a tree on a fence and I'm like, I'm going to do what I can do to make this not happen, but I can see it's going to go on that fence. Right. And I knew it before I did it.

[00:44:16] I'm like, this is what I can do here. Cause it's gonna. Right. There are only so many places. It's going to go there. And yeah, well, that was it. I mean, I looked at other options. I could have made it fall in other directions, but they weren't better options. Right. You know, right. And I was like dropping it on your roof. Right. Exactly. You know, but you know, you do you. So just, you know, having options is nice and that's really what prep being a prepper, you know, is all about and, and doing that.

[00:44:46] So anyway, don't forget to like, and subscribe. I really, you know, that helps us out. That grows the channel, that kind of stuff, but appreciate you guys sticking around. I know it's kind of a long one and you guys are awesome. So questions, concerns, show ideas, emails at prepping, bad asset, gmail.com. Otherwise I would say stay safe and we will talk to you guys next week.