Which Old-Timey (Pre-Industrialization) Skills Do You Have? (Read OP for more info if confused)

Literacy. Consider that up to about 100 years or so ago, anyone on this board with access to a couple of books could set themselves up as a physician, lawyer, or teacher, or at least learned enough skills to scratch out a subsistence living.

I can do basic dentistry. I know how to mix up filling material. I think I could drill out decay. Not sure if anybody in the apocalypse would sit still for it. I guess I would need some moonshine for anesthesia. Who wants to be my anesthesiologist? Party afterwards. Oh, and I know I could do extractions. No problem. No dentures though. A lost tooth is forever gone.

Yep, i spend more time then I really want to talk about making all sorts of booze. In the zombie apocalypse I’ll be running the bar and I can do it all from growing the plants to putting it in your glass except for coopering but that’s on my list to learn in the next 5 years or so.

As far as the poll goes i can catch, clean and cook my food so all of the hunting, fishing and fire ones are in my skill set. I don’t tie my own flies or make any of my own equipment but I can sure use what other people make. I’ve never slaughtered a barnyard animal but I’ve done deer, elk, goose and duck and I butchered hogs and chickens that others have slaughtered.

Hunting, fishing and booze are pretty much my only hobbies so I really didn’t check any other boxes.

As a lifelong camper, I’ve observed that an awful lot of people haven’t mastered the technically challenging skill of burying their own dung. So I’d add that to your poll.

Possessing none of these skills, I fear I would have to resort to that time-honored profession, highwayman, if I were suddenly to find myself in the preindustrialized world.

Depends how primitive we’re talking. I can catch and clean fish, and raise chickens. I can build and maintain a campfire if I have matches, but I’m not starting a fire with flint. I know how to make soap, but I don’t know how to make lye from scratch. I’m also mechanically astute and pretty good at figuring out how machines work and can keep them running. So if we’re in a rebuild civilization after a nuclear apocalypse-type situation where there is stuff to scavenge then I can make myself useful, but if it’s more of a falling through a time vortex that spits you out in 10,000 BCE then I’m in trouble.

One of the first things that occurred to me reading the thread was that anyone with all that nice food, clothing, moonshine, soap, and whatnot would also somehow need to be able to defend themselves from someone else coming and taking it.

Stand and deliver!

I can field dress a deer. Any hunter has to know how.

I have helped my dad butcher a few. These days I drop the deer off at a deer processor.

I’m pretty good at building snares and traps for small game. Fresh meat is a welcome change from dehydrated food on a backpacking trip.

I can use a compass and topographical map. A backpacking necessity even today. GPS is wonderful but getting a signal can be a problem in remote areas that I used to hike.

Good shot. I wouldn’t compare myself to a competitive marksman. But I can reliably take down small game with my bolt action .22.

I can use the sun’s position in the sky to tell what direction up is.

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 that’s because I was raised in a rural area, and I didn’t practice them in decades and didn’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 wouldn’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, I’ve hewed wood, I fished, etc…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 couldn’t grow wheat if my life depended on it.

Your observation hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m basically in the same position as you… and any concern I have about "prepping " is pointless.

Fire building? Sure, as a life-long camper I’ve had lots of practice.

I have killed, plucked, and gutted dozens of domestic ducks and geese(and a few wild ones), and thousands of chickens; skinned and cleaned rabbits and squirrels(but don’t ask me to skin them if you want a decent pelt); butchered a couple of goats; field-dressed deer. I eat fish that I catch and fillet 2-3 times a week.

I haven’t hunted in years - has anyone priced a deer lease lately? :slight_smile: But all I’d need to do is buy a license. As a kid I shot my share of fowl, rabbits and squirrels.

I go fishing less often in cold/bad weather, but it still would average out to about once a week over a year.

Never knew enough about mushrooms and wild herbs to feel comfortable about it.

One of my favorite things is to go wild berry-picking, and every fall I gather pecans.

Never cured anything for long-term storage. Does barbecue count? 'Cuz I can smoke a mean brisket :slight_smile:

Other than a shop apron I never made any clothing, but can sew buttons, stitch ripped seams, and re-rivet jeans.

Never hewn a log - I’ve always used store-bought or salvaged lumber.

Other skills: grafting fruit trees, sewing up a wound on myself, cooking or baking anything I set my mind to from scratch. I can saddle and ride a horse, trim and re-shoe hooves; have castrated hogs a couple of times.

I could probably survive as a subsistence farmer - barring bad health, drought, flood, blight, and plagues of locusts.

I used to fish a fair bit and can clean and filet them. I have never dealt with animals either to hunt or to butcher. I used to garden a lot; gave it up a couple years ago as bending is beyond me. I used to gather a few wild herbs, but not for decades. Never mushrooms. I can start and maintain a fire if I have matches. I can sew a seam, replace a button, but not make a full garment. I cook a fair bit and make bread regularly. I can make a couple kinds of cheese (mozzarella and ricotta) although I need rennet or a souring agent.

I really doubt I would survive long without my meds though.

I learned winter camping in northern Minnesota.

I worked construction for 26 years, and could build a house from scratch.

All the above plus a lot you don’t get into such as smithing, making tools from scratch including stone ones, and more than I care to list. Ever see a full set of the “FoxFire” book series? Basically I already knew all that stuff before I ever did. But I did learn some interesting background info from them.

Felling trees?

Navigating outdoors?

How about operating a tractor, is that old timey enough?

Without modern tools? Probably none. I haven’t fished since I was a kid, but I probably could with again easily with modern fishing gear (and a brushing up with youtube videos). Pre-industrial fishing methods? Probably not.

Never had to slaughter animals or preserve food. I can fish, but don’t care for fishing (although hunger will cure that, I expect). But I was an Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow member, so I learned all that woodcraft. I can chop down trees, gather wood, build and maintain a fire, cook over a campfire, can build and use a reflector over. I can find edible plants.

I also learned a lot of primitive engineering skills from that. I can build shelters, can make rope, can lash together complex structures and the like.

I can build a fire and read a map. It’s been a long time since childhood fishing trips with Grandpa but I could probably figure it out. I’d have to raid the local fishing shop first though because I don’t own any of the gear. I have basic sewing skills but it would take forever to make even basic garments by hand. I can crochet pretty well and have a lot of yarn stashed so I can supply lots of fuzzy hats and shawls. As a doctor I’d still be able to suture lacerations and splint obvious fractures but for serious injuries you’d be SOL without modern surgical techniques.