# Which Old-Timey (Pre-Industrialization) Skills Do You Have? (Read OP for more info if confused) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017 "2019-03-12T18:51:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/41 "2019-03-13T17:08:01Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > How about operating a tractor, is that old timey enough? Plow and haul logs with a horse and then call me. Durn city-slicker. šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/42 "2019-03-13T19:17:08Z")
Forgot - I can make quill pens and could theoretically make ink. The recipes I know are for parchment, though, and might burn paper. It would take it awhile, though, so it could be used for short term notes and messages. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/43 "2019-03-13T23:38:48Z")
Oh! Hey! Does calligraphy count? ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/44 "2019-03-14T01:15:29Z")
Vegetable gardening. Very handy. Related: canning and drying food. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/45 "2019-03-14T10:35:37Z")
I can slaughter, butcher and cook animals both land and water-based. I can also keep little children and pre-teenaged boys from killing themselves or each other. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/46 "2019-03-14T10:37:42Z")
All of them. All the ones listed, and then a bunch of others mostly picked up from decades of re-enactment Except growing my own plants. If itā€™s not basil or a carnivore, I have the Black Thumb. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/47 "2019-03-14T12:24:12Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > A problem I see with the poll is that there are levels of competence for such skills. I could check a lot of boxes, but thatā€™s because I was raised in a rural area, and I didnā€™t practice them in decades and didnā€™t have a significant level of competence to begin with. My level of competence would be slightly higher than that of someone who absolutely never did these things, but anybody would be able to catch up in no time, and in any case, it wouldnā€™t allow me to survive after the end of the world as we know it. I can identify some edible mushrooms and even would have a clue about where and when they could be found, I know how to skin a rabbit, Iā€™ve hewed wood, I fished, etcā€¦But all I know about these things could be learned readily and very easily by anybody, and even (apart from recognizing edible mushrooms or berries, I guess) figured out without much difficulty. > > The most useful skill one could have is agriculture, and I couldnā€™t grow wheat if my life depended on it. Yeah, the only one Iā€™m really good at is starting and maintaining a fire. But Iā€™ve read how to clean and butcher animals, and Iā€™ve done enough things close to that (including killing and dissecting nice when i worked in a lab, and cutting down large cuts off large mammals into smaller pieces) that Iā€™m sure I could learn to do it fast enough. Similarly, I once knapped a flint, and I bet i could learn to do that decently if I practiced. I am a decent gardener, I can prune and graft fruit trees, and Iā€™ve gathered and eaten lots of wild edibles. I even once tracked bees to their hive. (I could raid the hive, but I donā€™t think I could catch it.) But Iā€™m not going to fare very well in the post-medical age, either. I wonā€™t die as fast as the diabetics, but Iā€™ll have issues. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/48 "2019-03-14T12:30:01Z")
I have prehensile toes. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/49 "2019-03-14T14:22:12Z")
Candling eggs and gardening and canning food. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/50 "2019-03-14T14:24:19Z")
Additional Skills: Carpentry Wooden boat building & maintenance like packing seams. I know a little blacksmithing and could pick up more. I could operate a pre-industrial printing press, though I could not build one without plans. Basic leather working My food gathering & growing ability however is lacking strongly. Iā€™ll trade my skilled work for food of course. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/51 "2019-03-14T15:11:27Z")
I can build a fire outside but thatā€™s about it. But Iā€™ve been friendly for nearly 20 years now with a whole message board full of handy nerds who know how to do all this other stuff, apparently, so hopefully that gets me somewhere in the apocalypse šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/52 "2019-03-14T16:47:17Z")
There needs to be a ā€œNo survival skills at allā€ selection! I can crochet. I can do hand sewing if I must. I canā€™t do tailored garment construction, but thatā€™s actually a fairly recent invention. I can make something that will cover your body from an adequate length of material, without a pattern. Iā€™ve made candles. On a theoretical level I understand weaving and spinning, and even shearing sheep and preparing wool and cotton for spinning. Actually, on a theoretical level, I know how to make a log home. Iā€™m not strong enough to do it, but maybe if I get a cute young guy to do the work for me? _wags eyebrows_ ETA - I canā€™t knit at all. Canā€™t even wrap my mind around it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/53 "2019-03-14T16:54:44Z")
Weā€™re short on the acquisition of food here. If I had a shotgun I could hunt birds and critters but even those and larger game can be depleted in an area pretty quickly. Fishing will help in some regions, not so much in others. Recognition of herbs and vegetables is going to be tough. If you think you can identify mushrooms then you eat them first. I can identify some fruits and nuts, but there may not be a lot of that close by anyway, someone needs to be able identify lots of edible plants, and the inedible ones also. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017/54 "2019-03-14T21:14:22Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Iā€™m not expecting to use the skills I have listed in my previous post. If the shit hits the fan and I need to do those things, it wonā€™t make any difference because I wouldnā€™t last a month with out insulin. It sorta frees you up to know this. Donā€™t even bother. Ditto. HIstorical recreationist here. You could turn my husband and I loose with an ax, a shovel, a couple knives and a breeding pair of sheep, pigs and chickens in the spring and we could set up a reasonable homestead, though giving us some seeds and onion sets would be nice. I would be reasonably happy subbing potatoes for our carb of choice, though grains are nice. We have actually done a sheep to shawl where we had to fabricate the loom and tools to turn wool into yarn and thread though that can be a lot of work [but the sheep roast at the end is tasty] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-old-timey-pre-industrialization-skills-do-you-have-read-op-for-more-info-if-confused/831017.md?page=2)