I have some basic blacksmithing skills and can build a forge. I built a furnace that is fueled with charcoal and learned to melt and cast aluminum. It used an electric blower but I have plans to make a hand-powered centrifugal blower out of sheet metal. I can make charcoal or coke and the furnace can be adapted to burn vegetable oil or burnt motor oil. I know how a cupola can be made from an old water heater.
I’ve kept bees for 30 years since I was sixteen.
I am knowledgeable in aquaculture.
still waits for something bright ‘n’ shiny
Just teasin’, any skills one knows beyond the usual are almost always welcomed skills.
I am neither immortal nor invulnerable. It would not be prudent for our little community or Ark to be entirely dependent on any one person - so obviously other people must also assume leadership roles and tasks besides just myself
Sure thing. I’ll be especially useful in the repopulation efforts.
Yup, you might think of me as livestock.
OTOH, I am pretty clever and I might think of a useful solution to a novel problem. I’m also very widely read, and I know lots of things that I don’t even know I know. So maybe some key piece of information might pop up in my brain at the right moment… until the point where you slaughter and cook me.
Well, hmmm. I’m a 26 year old male who is a bit out-of-shape, but I can perform physical labor just fine. On the surface, that’s about it sadly. I don’t have any practical skills that I can think of, nor do I have knowledge of any useful civ-building arts.
That’s actually a bit too harsh. Although this is probably shared by most posters here, I do think myself capable of teaching basic reading, writing, arithmetic, and various liberal arts up to a roughly high-school level. I would not mind being an elementary/middle-school teacher to the new breed of survivors.
Other than that, in the one instance where I was in a pseudo-survival situation (hopelessly lost in the woods for 8 hours), I stayed remarkably calm. I like to think of that as a possible asset. Sooo, in summary, I’m not sure how useful I will be, but I don’t think of myself as a negative.
You’d probably want me around.
I can make a fire from sticks. I swing a pretty fair axe, can shoot rifle (very well) and bow (tollerably), can cook over an open fire, know most of the local edible plants, and all the local poisonous ones, can make a fishing pole and line from found materials and use it acceptably well. I can make a warm, waterproof shelter from found materials, and also make a pretty nasty snare from same.
I can use a map and compass, can determine north using a couple sticks and some twine, and know a fair bits about the habits of local wildlife.
BUT: I’m rather seriously out of shape, and effectively blind without my glasses.
Edit:
Oh, and I can tan leather, can sew, and know a bit about basic agriculture.
I do not expect any of you to accept my word, but in a real "shit hits the fan"scenario only a few of you so far would I accept into my fold. Beyond that, some of you seem to have real world practical knowledge and perhaps survival fortitude to make me think I might risk your inclusion in my tribe. Otherwise, for the most, I am continent to set back and watch the rest of your so called civilization erode into dust.
FYI… I like y’all, but I must look after my own first and foremost.
Smile when ya say that, or your sassafras tea might have a little sumpin special in it.
I have a lot of useful skills, but I’ll probably be useless in a couple of weeks, and dead in a month. I’m an insulin dependent diabetic, and without refrigeration, my insulin will go bad quickly…and the scenario DOES say that the power’s out and it’s been out. So, I guess that I can show how to start a fire with just one match, or no matches at all, how to do basic knitting, and other simple skills that can be taught QUICKLY. Because time’s running out for me. When my blood sugar gets too high, I can’t think clearly, and the sugar starts damaging my organs. Sooner or later, that damage will kill me. And it will probably be sooner.
I know a great deal about cooking from scratch, about making fiber and fabric, about sewing, about woodworking, among other things. I’ve always been fascinated about how people did things before modern times, and I have a very good memory for things that I’ve read. If you’re going to give me back my healthy body, I’d be a very useful person to have around.
I have mobility issues, but I’m not in a cart…yet. My doctor keeps pushing me to let him prescribe one. I’m not ready to do that yet. I can walk, but not very fast and not very far.
I used to be an excellent camper, and could easily camp out in a place with no power of any kind, other than wood fires, and no running water. Those days are long behind me.
Is there any danger in eating diabetic meat?
Well, in my case, I’m going to try to commit suicide before my mind has completely fizzled out. I’ve seen the end, and it’s not pretty. So I’m going to try to get hold of some sort of poison, preferably a narcotic. Or I’ll find a venomous snake and aggravate it.
It will probably be nice and sweet. 
I have a fair deal of book knowledge, but no practical experience with most of the skills needed. What I do have is common sense and an ability to follow instructions. I’m not going to be the one leading the way, but I’ll have a solid place as one of the many people needed to do the dirty work that needs to be done.
I know the dewey system , I’m good at following instructions…and I have good child bearin’ hips. Pretty sure that’ll be enough to ensure my survival… right?
I suppose since I started this I ought to chime in with my skills list.
I have a thorough working knowledge of all primitive survival skills, and can handle myself in nearly any environment. For the long term, my degree is in sculpture and fabrication. I can make anything out of anything. I have basic knowledge of carpentry, masonry, blacksmithing, and plumbing. I’m a fair shot with a rifle and decent with my a handgun. I’m an experienced practitioner of an applied form of martial arts and comfortable teaching those techniques to others. I’m a good hunter, (including hunting with dogs), and excellent fisherman. I have extensive wildlife handling experience and I’m not afraid to try those skills out with livestock we might come across. Though I’m not the best at long term planning; I have excellent leadership skills and I’m quite comfortable making decisions and quickly implementing courses of action.
Heavy lifting, ditch digging, and camp defense. I also look good in shoulderpads made from quarter tires.
In a pre-built town with a full, healthy population of people, I’d be most useful at thinking without panic and knowing what questions to ask to find the right people to organize a self-sufficient local economy. But that implies that I’d be able to take command in the first place. Far more likely is that I’d be able to get a sane group formed of 10-20 people that worked to last through the panic, then simply joined along as the town governance picked up on its own.
Without reading everything…
Extremely…
I taught survival skills at Ft. Sill for almost 4 years.
…how come **MegaBee **gets to wear the tire armor? I so wanted that. :mad:
Oh well, I’m sure someone mentioned making inks; I’m calling dibs on skull war-paint, and possibly a headband.