If you have the right tools, it’s much easier to get through a crisis. With the right weapons, you can defend yourself from attackers and hunt game to improve your diet. Even in the states with the strictest gun laws, you can still buy guns that are good for most survival situations. But what if something bad happens and you don’t have any guns with you?
There are different ways that could happen. For example, you could be away from home. Sometimes you have no choice but to go somewhere where you can’t bring any weapons. The problem is that, when the end of the world as we know it comes, it doesn’t care what choices you’ve made. You might have to survive in the wild without any weapons, so you need to know what to do. There is a solution, though: make some.
If you know how to do it, you can make a lot of weapons out of everyday items and materials. They may not be as effective as a good rifle, but they are still a lot better than nothing and may save a person’s life.
Here are a few of the best homemade weapons that every prepper should know about:
Spears
Before guns took over the battlefield, most soldiers carried spears, not swords like in movies. There are many reasons why spears are great weapons. They are easy and cheap to make. They have a long reach and let you keep your enemies at a safe distance. A spear that is well-handled will always beat a knife.
With some practice, spears can be thrown a good distance. They can be used for both walking and carrying. They’re a good way to catch big animals that move slowly. You don’t need to get wet to catch fish. If you know how to make a spear, you can make a decent weapon for yourself almost anywhere.
Start by making the spear’s shaft. You want a solid pole that is as straight as possible. You can use a hardwood broom handle to make a small spear, but ideally, you want a shaft that is at least six feet long and 1.5–2 inches thick. Hardwood with a straight grain is ideal, but the most essential thing is that it be strong. A good spear also has some weight to it.
If you need to, you can just sharpen the spear’s point and then put it in a fire to make it harder. With a knife, you can make a point that is sharper and lasts longer (the more symmetrical, the better). Don’t use your main knife as a spearhead. It could get lost or broken, and it’s hard to use as a knife when it’s tied to a 6-foot pole. Find an old knife, like a chef’s knife. Remove the handle, split the end of the pole, fit the knife’s tang into the split, and then tie it up tight.
Slingshots
A slingshot is not just a toy. If you know how to use it and have the right ammunition, it’s great for hunting small animals and can scare off an attacker who doesn’t have any weapons. They might laugh at first, but if you hit them with a half-inch BB, they’ll start to take the threat seriously.
To make a slingshot, find a strong branch with two forks and cut it in the form of a Y. Find some strong rubber. You’ll see sites that tell you to use elastic in your pants. Don’t bother; it isn’t even close to being strong enough.
You’ll need something like surgical rubber tubing or an old bicycle inner tube. Make a pouch out of leather by cutting a 3-inch piece from a belt and punching a hole in each end. Put a piece of rubber through each hole and tie a knot.
Related: How to Siphon Gas from a Car When SHTF
Cut a groove around each upper end of the Y on your fork and tie the rubber tightly to it. Then practice with some ball bearings, glass marbles, or round stones. With a slingshot, you can easily knock a rabbit off the ground or knock birds and squirrels out of trees. Unlike with a bow, you don’t have to worry about nailing your target to a branch 50 feet up.
Bows
Bows, on the other hand, have their place. They are harder to make than slingshots, but a good bow can kill any animal in North America. In fact, there are tribes in Africa that hunt elephants using simple wooden self-bows.
A self-bow is one that is made from a single piece of wood. To make one, find a straight branch or trunk made of rough, springy wood like osage orange, Pacific yew, or red oak, cut it into quarters along the grain, and then bend one of the quarters into a bow.
As you carve it, use a tiller to bend it further and further so you can make sure it bends smoothly and has no weak or still spots. Then string it with a strong cord, and you have a powerful, easily maintained weapon.
PVC Bows
Finding a good piece of wood to make the bow from is the hardest part of making a good bow. If you’re having trouble with that, don’t worry—there’s a better way to say it now. Find a five-foot-long piece of PVC pipe, and you can make a strong bow.
A simple bow can be made from any PVC pipe with a diameter between 34″ and 1.5″. Mark off a 5-inch section in the middle, and then cut away one side of the pipe outside of that section to make the bow’s back.
You can use a tiller to help get the curve right, just like when you make a self-bow. Then cut notches in the ends so you can put a string through them, and you have a bow. If you can, wrap the middle part in cord or leather to make it easier to hold. You can even make a more advanced PVC recurve bow if you have a heat gun.
Pepper Spray
Pepper spray is great if you just want something to stop people from worrying about you or robbing you, but if you need it in an emergency, you might not be able to find it unless you go to the store early.
On the other hand, you can make your own with little trouble.
Put 4 tablespoons of chili powder that has been ground up in a bowl. Pour in 100 ml of rubbing alcohol and let it sit for eight hours so the alcohol can absorb the capsaicin from the chili.
Add two tablespoons of olive oil to the mixture to make it more solid and help it stick together. Then strain it through cheesecloth or a fine wire strainer to get rid of the chili bits, and pour it into a small spray bottle.
Put it somewhere cool and dry.
There are plenty of alternative designs for improvised weapons that can be found on the internet, but I wouldn’t put most of them in charge of protecting my life. In the event that you require an improvised weapon, you should look for one that is effective. Stick to simple, proven designs like the ones here, and they won’t let you down.
Even simpler weapons can be found as needed. A solid branch or table leg can be used as a club, while a baseball bat is even better. A well-thrown rock can scare away many two- and four-legged predators.
If you have more time, you should focus on making a spear first because it is the simplest weapon to construct. After that, you should construct a strong bow so that you have some range in your attacks.
Keep in mind that even today, people whose entire lives revolve around a fight to survive still make use of weapons that are considered “primitive.” Things like the spear and the bow have been around for such a long time for at least one reason: they can be relied on to get the job done.