>be me
>recently quit my job
>enjoying break after a couple decades
>wanna learn a skill or trade useful when shtf
>first thought is a butcher because i can work normal hours & run a side gig.
how would you DIY given this scenario?
i would love your thoughts
Unclear what your question is.
Go apply to a butcher shop? Unless you just plan on catching the local wildlife/pets and using them for practice?
what would you do if you wanted to learn skills, as a temp job/career, useful for when civilization ends.
honestly a butcher's apprentice has crossed my mind because of the side hustle opportunity now along with being a solid skill when shtf.
>useful for when civilization ends.
Farming, but that your first thought was TEOTWAKI indicates young therefore silly. Anyone can read how to cut up meat. No one will pay or barter for that. Stop thinking like a young person even if you are one. It's an obstacle not a gift.
Most versatile DIY skill is always auto mechanics because it teaches mechanics, electronics, hydraulics and other foundational skills. Learn that and you can repair and maintain far more than vehicles. Remember all machines use common principles. If you can work on one you can work on others, and learning auto mechanics makes cheap transport accessible anywhere there are vehicles.
Even in Aleppo SHTF conditions Syrians made petrol from plastic waste using skills auto mechanics includes.
Lifelong mechanic and hardcore DIYer here speaking from experience. I also weld, machine, do electrical and service/repair my own HVAC but those are of narrower application and will be much easier to learn after you learn the basics. You need transportation no matter what.
i appreciate the feedback.
it would shock you to learn how much i don't know at my age.
for decades it never occurred to me i should learn more than how to hit different golf shots while managing an ERP system as a career.
it's sad, but i'm grateful i see it now and can do something about it.
what's the best way to get into auto mechanics as an adult? do i just walk up and ask them to train me or what? maybe on oil change place? or an oil change technician at a garage?
Community college auto mechanics course. No current job at entry level will teach you at a useful rate and you would have to supply your own tools. Some tool companies give student discounts.
what's the plan for electric cars when the skill need ends up dying out? I understand you will outlive it, but at some point, all motors are gonna be engines unless your highly specialized for some abstract application.
it seems self defeating to get into motors the second they die off for engines.
it's like learning about horses as the roads are built and model T is hot.
just curious on your thoughts about this. I use to be ase certified and I never renewed. I assume it's expired after 15 years.
you didnt read his post. Hes not saying go fix gas powered cars, he’s saying that auto mechanics have to learn something about many disciplines and thats the useful part. Which is correct. I went to auto mechanic school and then took that knowledge to go do industrial maintenance.
Also dumb to think EVs are taking over right away. There are decades of transition ahead. Your grandkids will likely still have or know people with ICE cars.
you didn't seem to read mine either.
you remember cash for clunkers? I do.
just as easy to do a motor to engine bill and demand all consumer level products be EV. it's not ridiculous to assume a young man in his 20s will outlive the skill need associated with wrench monkeys.
not only that, yet again the computer knowledge exceeds the need for practical automotive knowledge.
I'm glad you can spend 15 hours diagnosis a bad o2 sensor in a world where it's more important to be able to read a modis off a OBD2 in 15 seconds.
bro anything after 1999 basically requires you to have higher computer knowledge than automotive.
you think ev is gonna wait for you or you think it's gonna leave you behind?
no hate or shade, but I highly disagree with your perceptions and that's as to why.
I received a real life, no dick vein Snickers, it is unrelated to this post but interesting none the less.
any practical skill you can learn taking apart a car is basically moot already.
mechanics are just part replacers. they don't fix shit.
follow up, same chicken guy.
didn't California already mandate evs? I don't live in that shit hole so I don't know.
Practice on girls from tinder.
Then sell street tacos on the side of the road with the meat in one of those immigrant style taco stands they park out in front of restaurants
dayum son
Construction
Machining
Welding
Learn how to operate heavy machinery
Electrical work for off grid energy in case shtf
Medical stuff (this one is hard without formal education)
Plumbing
All of those are marketable skills that are invaluable if shtf.
You may want to think about small scale electronics too like circuits and radio. You would need to preserve a lot of information about how to do things. Physical books are great but cumbersome.
i forgot to mention farming
chickens
goats
garden?
all great suggestions.
i've largely stayed away from our (usa) medical system since covid.
i'm not an herbalist, yet, but I can treat a lot of fairly basic ailments & will continue to rely on herb as a preventative measure also. the ability to perform critical first aid is a great point.
i've learned recently that it's good to be the man that can build it or fix it.
i appreciate the feedback anon
>Construction
Needs lots of input collapsed society will no longer provide. You can go the trad route and mix your own lime mortar, hand cut your own beams with draw knife and hachet and use natural stone. Takes a lot of time and dedication, but will definitely be worth it in a SHTF scenario. Caveat: the trad way takes insane amounts of labor, so you need to be good enough to both do the work and teach it to others.
>Machining
Better get used to a threadle powered lathe and/or go full moron on steampunk.
>Welding
Needs various inputs (power, gas, rods) from industrial society.
>Learn how to operate heavy machinery
Useful as long as there's fuel available.
>Electrical work for off grid energy in case shtf
Better learn how to dimension wind motor coils then. And manually at that. That might actually be useful because you are unlikely to find electricians with that particular skill anywhere. A motor goes bust nowadays, people will usually simply swap it out for a new chinesium motor.
>Medical stuff (this one is hard without formal education)
Yeah. Forget about it.
>Plumbing
Crazy amounts of input from industrial society. You need a gazillion types of special fittings and fixtures, even for pretty bog standard installations. And if the water no longer runs, all your plumbing will be useless.
Learn how to bathe and care for homeless people. Brush their teeth, quickie haircuts, and know when to make medical referrals when needed.
>bathe homeless people. Brush their teeth,
oh yeah
preservation of humility by service.
i know lots of guys here dont think so
but i work in the pizza buissnes
and food will make you just as much money as any construction job
pizza is not hard to make
it requires the investment of an oven maybe a trailer or rent location
never even considered pizza as an option....
i did work with a guy that ran a food truck & made a ton of money working the events he wanted to.
he took the truck to a brick & mortar and lost his ass.
I was a butcher for 13 years.
normal hours, no. I was working 80 hour weeks.
side skill, yes. but mostly only for yourself.
the cost of cattle plus slaughter is beyond 90% of people and the people who can afford it only don't as a hobby so they can say they do.
I only butcher and cut meat for neighbors and myself. most people are too squeamish to do much past pick up stuff from a shelf.
useful to know, useful to yourself if you are willing, useless in society and in a shtf, animals will be hunted to scarcity if shit happens or your heading to lab grown protein if nothing happens.
let's be honest too, a flock of birds during a shtf situation makes me dead and a mob fed.
how serious are you about learning just the skill and not larping for some end of world fantasy? cause there are tremendous amount of resources prior to even picking up a knife that will help you.
Small engine repair. Learn to rebuild a carburetor because people who know this shit are dying and everybody else doesn't bother to learn. Some kind of chemistry is very useful too, from medicine and alcohol to fuel and explosives