Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Reuse Dead Car Batteries & Laptop Batteries For Other Purposes

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Here’s the thing – just because a battery can no longer power a high drain device, it doesn’t mean the battery is good for nothing. Car batteries for example have to provide 100s of amps to get that huge engine started. An old/dead car battery might not have the power left to start a high drain engine, but it will likely still be capable of  providing a couple of 100 watts of power, which can be used to power things around the home.

Additionally you can use old/dead car batteries with solar panels to provide back-up emergency power on a budget.

As well as reusing car batteries, you can also reuse old sealed lead batteries such as those found in laptops. These might not be able to power the laptop any more, but they can still provide more than enough power to run smaller devices.  If you still have the old laptop, you can use it to charge the battery!

Reuse Dead Car Batteries & Laptop Batteries

(Photo from: luxstar via Instructables)

12 Home Remedies For Earaches

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This post is quite timely for me as I currently have an ear, nose and throat infection that just won’t go away. Earache is a bit like toothache – it sounds like a minor inconvenience, but the pain from both can be excruciating…

If you suffer with earaches regularly or you have young children who seem especially prone, check out the post below from ‘Common Sense Homesteading’  which details 12 home remedies to help cure earache and reduce pain. Personally when at home I use one of those microwaveable wheat bags and place it on my ear, I find the heat soothes the pain.  You could also try a hot water bottle.

12 Home Remedies For Earaches

(Photo from: Common Sense Homesteading)

How To Make A Soup Can Forge


We have done several posts about making your own knives, arrowheads and other small tools over the years, but the main stumbling block preventing most folks having a go is that the tutorials usually require a blacksmiths forge to heat, shape and harden the steel.

Building, or buying a full-sized blacksmiths forge is beyond most people, however, how about building a small DIY forge from a soup can or similar? I think most people interested in kife making could manage that, especially as this soup can forge is simple to make and costs very little to build. A DIY soup can forge like the one in the video tutorial above would be perfect for those interested in making and forging their own knives or arrowheads etc.

Watch the video above to see how to build this simple soup can forge. I guess if you wanted to make larger tools such as axe heads, you could just use a larger can or a paint tin and make a larger forge in the same manner.

(Image from: LifeBuzzN)

Build A Small Hydropower Generator For Free

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Ok, when I say free, I am assuming you already have something laying around which I always seem to have – a broken printer… If you don’t have one, chances are you know someone who does! If you can get hold of an old printer, some CDs and a length of pipe or a broom handle, you have everything you need to build a small scale hydroelectric generator.

Now this hydropower generator isn’t going to generate much electricity, probably just enough to run an LED light from, but that’s not the point. This is an awesome little project to do one afternoon, for two reasons – it is a great project to do with the kids to demonstrate recycling and reusing old things, AND it is an excellent introduction to building a hydroelectric generator, showing you the basics of hydroelectricity, should you want to scale things up and build a generator which is capable of generating a usable amount of electricity.

If nothing else, it would make your kids’ day, if together you built a hydroelectric generator from an old broken printer, and make that LED light glow!

Build A Small Hydropower Generator For Free

(Photo from: masynmachien via Instructables)

How To Build A Woodstove Heat Exchanger

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If you have a small woodstove in your home or workshop etc, fitting a heat exchanger on the chimney is a great way to reclaim the huge amount of heat which is lost up the chimney.  You can purchase ready made heat exchangers, but they usually cost in the region of $200. If you are a proficient DIY-er and you are up for a bit of welding, you can build your own heat exchanger for a fraction of the price.

Check out the tutorial below for instructions on how to build, plus information on performance etc.

How To Build A Woodstove Heat Exchanger

(Photo from: VertDude via Instructables)

DIY Self Watering Alaska Grow Buckets

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The Alaska Grow Bucket is the easiest self-watering container system that anyone can use to grow their own food. Alaska Grow Buckets use capillary action of a soil-less grow-medium to draw water from below up to the plant roots. The good thing about this design is there is no pumps, no electricity and best of all, you grow your own food. Become more self reliant and build one this summer.

I think these self-watering buckets will be excellent for growing tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and peppers

DIY Self Watering Alaska Grow Buckets

(Picture Credit: chateau-listeur.blogspot.ca)

Endless FREE Hot Water Off-The-Grid!

Free off-the-grid hot water

If you already have a wood burning stove at home that heats your water, this is not going to be of much interest to you…

If however you rely on gas/electricity to heat your water, this is a great little emergency preparedness project for backup hot water in emergencies. It would also be useful for remote/off-the-grid cabins etc. With this system, you effectively have a free, constant supply of hot water stored in an insulated water tank (old water heater), much like folks with built in wood burning stove boiler systems.

You can pick up those old water heaters for nothing, or next to nothing from FreeCycle and Craig’s list etc. They often get wasted or recycled when people get their heating systems replaced for new modern ones.

(Image from: engineer775 Practical Preppers)

1 Year Emergency Food Storage For A Family Of 4 For Less Than $300

Emergency food storage

This is a great post from the Seasoned Prepper, but I should add here (also noted on the original post), this food storage plan will provide for almost all of your family’s nutritional needs, but it is lacking any dairy or vitamin B12. However, vitamin b12 can easily and cheaply be added via a multivitamin supplement (which I would already recommend) or with some nutritional yeast flakes. If you wanted to add in some dairy, you could quite cheaply add some whey protein powder or milk powder as well.

That said, for less than $300 and a weekend’s work, you can store 90% of the food required by a family of four to last a whole year. That is fairly amazing!

I should point out – this plan provides a very basic diet that whilst very nutritious and healthy, it is going to get boring and bland pretty quickly. With this in mind I would suggest either upping the initial budget to around $500 and adding some extra foods/herbs and spices etc, to provide some variety. Alternatively, you can get the basics stored now and you can then gradually add to it over time as money allows.

I think a lot of people are overwhelmed when it comes to starting out storing food in case the SHTF.  This food plan provides a great way to get started super quickly and store a core basic range of foods that you can then add to bit by bit, over time. The most important thing with emergency food storage is actually getting started storing some food. This emergency food plan enables you to do this quickly, easily, and fairly cheaply.

The bottom line is this – if you don’t already have any food supplies stored away in case of emergency, what are you waiting for? It doesn’t get simpler or cheaper than this.

(Photo from: Tim Patterson)

DIY Hydroelectricity 101: Generate Electricity From Running Water

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Some of the most popular posts on K.W.N have been the ones about generating free energy and electricity; by far the most popular have been the numerous DIY solar power, solar heating and solar hot water posts. However, if your property has a suitable and reliable running water source, I would highly recommend you look into hydro-power/hydroelectricity.

The benefit of using a hydro-generator over solar power is that with a hydro-generator, power is generated 24/7, solar panels only work during daylight hours and their efficiency is affected by the weather and time of year.

If you are considering purchasing some land for a homestead or bug-out location, land with a reliable running water source would be a HUGE plus as it could provide free electricity, drinking water and food. However, before you go ahead and purchase, you should check with the local authority to see whether you can use the water source for hydroelectricity. Just because it is your land, it doesn’t give you OFFICIAL permission to do so.

DIY Hydroelectricity 101: Generate Electricity From Running Water

Book: Microhydro: Clean Power from Water (The book by Scott Davis, who wrote the post!)

(Photo from: hoyasmeg)

Remove Mold & Mildew NATURALLY With Tea Tree Oil

Clean mold with tea tree oil

Tea tree oil is well known for its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, but it is mainly used for natural health and beauty purposes; however, tea tree oil is also great for cleaning and it is very effective at removing mold and mildew. It also prohibits their return for a good while afterwards.

Many folks will simply say – just use bleach… Well firstly bleach is nasty and you don’t really want to be splashing it around your walls and ceilings.  Secondly, tea tree oil is actually much, much better at preventing mold from reappearing. Bleach removes mold, but it soon returns.

How to remove mold and mildew with tea tree oil

First things first – prevention is better than the cure! The best way to combat mold is to prevent it growing in the first place. The best way to do this is to ensure fresh air is circulating and damp air can leave the room.  The easiest thing to do is to remember to open a window before/after a bath or shower etc, or use your built-in extractor fan. If damp air cannot leave the room, you WILL get mold and mildew sooner or later.

Assuming you already have mold, here’s how to get rid of it safely and naturally with tea tree oil

Depending on the size of area of mold you are tackling, you will need:

Instructions

  1. Mix 2 teaspoons of tea tree oil with 2 cups of warm water, add it to the spray bottle and give it a good shake to mix.
  2. To destroy the mold, spray the solution on the affected areas and leave for an hour or so, before attempting to scrub and remove the mold residue.
  3. Once an hour has passed, spray the affected area once more and immediately get to work scrubbing and removing the mold residue with the scrub brush & toothbrush. Once removed, wipe down with a damp cloth to clean.
  4. Once all the mold is removed, lightly spray the area once again and work the spray into all the little nooks and crannies, but don’t rinse, leave the tea tree oil in place. This last step will help to prevent the mold and mildew from returning for quite some time.

Remember, prevention is better than the cure, so get those windows opened and the fans turned on. If you still have a problem, follow the steps laid out here to safely and effectively remove mold and mildew and stop it returning.

There is no need to purchase the most expensive tea tree oil to remove mold. I simply used this: Tea Tree Essential Oil 100% Pure which costs just $6.50 a bottle and it works great!

 

(Photo from: andydr)