10 Most Awesome Hardware Store Items For Your Survival Kit – Up Your Prepping Game With These!

graphic – off-grid.info. Images – amazon

Survival gear doesn’t always have to be expensive, complicated or hard to find. Here are 10 inexpensive “hardware store” basics that are an absolute must for preppers!

1) 550 Paracord

A survival kit essential with countless uses. It’s also very lightweight, meaning that you can carry a good length with almost zero effort. Here’s a 100-foot 550 paracord we found on Amazon for under $10. Great reviews and tons of colors available.

2) Headlamp

Another item that goes with me everywhere. A headlamp enables you to work in the dark, where a regular flashlight requires that you hold it, making whatever you were doing more difficult; or attempting to balance the flashlight in some precarious way, where it (inevitably) falls and plunges you into darkness at the vital moment… The Petzl Tactikka is a great choice – however these are higher cost. For a much lower cost option, this headlamp by Vont got tons of 5 star reviews.

3) Gaffer Tape

The old joke is that duct tape holds the universe together; however event production, television and film professionals will choose cloth-backed gaffer tape over plastic-backed duct tape every time. Being cloth-backed, it is ultra-flexible, strong and easy to tear off a strip to the size you want. If you get the standard 2″ wide rolls, you can also tear the tape lengthways to make long, thin strips and make your roll go further. Gaffer tape is also longer lasting than duct tape, generally peels off with less residue and makes a stronger, more secure bond. I keep rolls of this Real Premium Grade Gaffer Tape By GafferPower Made in the USA in my car and in my survival kits at all times – and wouldn’t be without it.

4) Zip Ties

These of course hardly need an introduction, as almost everyone in the world is familiar with them. One of the great advantages they have is their rapidity of use and the variability they have – you can hold things tightly, or you can make a larger loop that is also strong.

Zip ties are also super cheap. You can get a pack such as this 500-Pack of Self-Locking 4+6+8+10+12-Inch Width 0.16inch Nylon Cable Ties for just over 10 bucks on Amazon.

5) High Quality Work Gloves

Another item you will never catch me without. Proper work gloves are the difference between tearing through a project and tearing through your hands. They are an absolute essential – not only for safety, but will increase your productivity when doing rugged work.

I tend destroy gloves and boots fast because I have this tendency to go at what I am working on like a tiger. The result of this is that I have personally abuse-tested most of the work gloves out there. There are numerous great brands – so find the ones that work best for you and then buy a stash of several pairs so that you can replace when needed. You want something that has great grip, flexibility, durability and protection. They should have super-tuff pads on the fingers that wood splinters and so on will not go through. If you find that you still get splinters and cuts despite wearing gloves… you need tougher gloves.

Get in the habit of putting your gloves on before you start any kind of work, rather than after you cut yourself. You’ll learn. 😉

My personal faves are the Dead On Python gloves, but all these brands get my thumbs up:

Wells Lamont Synthetic Leather Work Gloves.
Dead On DO-803XL Python Anti-Vibe Glove.
Estwing EST7790XXL Premium Multi-Purpose Work Glove With Cut-Resistant Aramid Stitching Synthetic Leather Re-Reinforced Palm.

Also worth checking out are the cheap pigskin gloves but they are more cumbersome, meaning you have to take them off and put them back on more times during the day when doing something detailed. Great for concrete work because that destroys gloves faster than anything else I can think of.

6) Metal Hanger Strap

Love this stuff. An incredibly useful quick-fix item. Together with screws / small nuts and bolts, you can use Metal Hanger Strap to ‘earthquake strap’ so many different things, and as a quick-but-super-strong construction material. I have also found the Perforated Nylon Pipe Strap to be incredibly useful.

7) Rebar Wire

Simple, cheap, strong and with so many possibilities.  Always have a roll of this on hand in your survival kit and especially in your car kit. For example I’ve used this to secure a broken fender that was hanging loose after a minor fender-bender and make it home without having to get a tow! We’ve found rebar wire on Amazon – but you will probably want to buy this item at your local hardware store as a roll weighs a few pounds. Make sure you have a good pair of Linesman’s Pliers on hand for perfect twists and easy cutting.

8) 3M Respirator

A reusable respirator such as this 3M Half-Face Respirator is a survival kit essential as well as a work safety essential. Note that to be fully up to code you should use the exact mask and cartridge that is rated for the work you are doing. But for general purpose, these will solve the problem of numerous types of toxic fume and airborne particulate. Having one of these respirators saved my lungs during the California wildfires.

9) Bic lighters

This is the 21st century, and your primary goal is to survive, not to look like a modern primitive. So let the others sit there shivering, rubbing sticks together and try to get some smoke going. Keep a pack of Bic lighters on hand: You’ve got flame when you need it and you can be sipping your hot chocolate asap. 🙂 Sometimes the most awesome pieces of gear are the most simple. Here’s a 12-pack of Bic Lighters on Amazon that work out at just over a dollar each. Another reason these are great for survival kits is that they are good for many years. I was going through some stuff that had been in storage over 15 years and found one of these lighters. It sparked and lit up first time. Gotta love that. These lighters will probably outlive you, just get some.

10) Kneeling Pad

An item that doesn’t look like it should be on this list, but believe me, one of these makes an incredible difference to your ability to work in rough, cramped spaces, such as kneeling on rough ground or crawling or laying on your side in a tight crawl space. The kind of thing you didn’t think you needed until you have one and then don’t want to be without it. I found this 5050 Ergo Kneel Handy Mat II to be much more versatile than regular knee pads. The world agrees with me: It scored 94% 5-star reviews, the other 6% were 4 star. That’s an extremely high score on Amazon.

That’s it for your next hardware store survival run! 🙂 What else do you think we should add to the list? Let us know in the comments!

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graphic – off-grid.info. Images – amazon