Hand tools for everyone

Growing up we used to spend summers at my folk’s small cottage at the lake. My dad would let his friend and his family stay on a trailer on my dad’s property. His friend had eight kids, so I had plenty of kids to play with in the summer.

Dad figured he had plenty of free labor. Everyone was expected to do some work around the place. Dad had a pretty good collection of hand tools: hammers, saws, screwdrivers, shovels, rakes, axes, sledge hammers -you name it. All us kids made quite the labor force. Many hands really did make for light work.

A little work didn’t do us kids any harm. In fact, two of the boys went on to careers in the building trades. One now manages a lumber yard, the other owns a thriving construction business.

Most of the hand tools have come down to me. Like my dad, I’ve been able to keep friends and family busy. If volunteer labor shows up, I’ll always have something for them to work with. My three daughters were no strangers to tools. When they were fairly young, we had a bad ice storm. The kids were stuck at home as school was closed. I gave them all hand saws and instructed them to cut up branches the ice storm took down. Those branches heated the house for days.

Some preppers expect friends and family to find their way to their place in a disaster. With that in mind, many of us have put up a bit of extra food. Easier to feed them than send them away. Have you given any thought to what you are going to do to keep all those people occupied? Most people want to be productive, especially if they are taking advantage of a person’s hospitality.

My guests will have plenty of tools at their disposal to keep them busy.

-Sixbears