YOUR Main Tool List:

Before and after a collapse, having a mix of standard tools and battery operated power tools will keep things efficient and at the same time will ensure accuracy when it comes time to cut, saw, chop or drill. Depending on your situation and the disaster scenario you face, your mileage may vary. On the whole, the biggest difference, if you have electricity after a disaster will be in judging the best uses for it. If you have a sustainable power source that survived with you, intact and limitless, you can go nuts with the power tools! But the wiser course is to conserve, conserve, conserve. Hoard that power for when you really need it, rather than tapping the reserve battery or firing up the generator to run a Shop-Vac! One of the best ways to get ready for possible off-grid self-sufficiency after a disaster is to develop your prepper mindset. Learn to work within the limitations of no-power hand tools and when the lights go out, you'll be able to just keep on building while your un-prepared buddy is still wondering how he'll live without  his hair drier.

Remember: the first electric power tool wasn't even created until 1895 when C&E Fein invented a power drill. Before that, men had been creating magnificent buildings and other structures, mostly by hand, for centuries!

Make Your Toolkit Your OWN:

The best thing about this kind of tool kit – and what makes it most interesting – is how it is different from your bug-out bag. Everything about your B.O.B. is meant to keep you alive and moving, to face down or avoid any challenges you meet. Every ounce counts when you're getting out of Dodge, and while you pick some items that will last a lifetime, even if most of the stuff in your go-bag may long-lasting, you won't be living a life of luxury. When survival is the goal, you build your kit to meet that exact purpose. Your post-disaster toolkit is about repairing and maintaining existing structures, or even machines, and about building new things. Set aside some of the ideas about your bug-out gear as you create and revise your own toolkit list. The core list below leaves out a ton of stuff! Why? Because plenty of tools that will be ‘must-have' items along a temperate sea coast, for example, would be next to useless in high alpine regions. Use your head when planning and add critical gear and supplies that'll let you build a boat or a footbridge or insulate a cabin, if you think that's what you'll need in your region. Of course, the other things you'll have to consider in order to customize your list involve what kinds of repair and building and manufacturing tasks you foresee needing and what you have the skills and knowledge to handle. One common comment I hear is that in the case of widespread civil collapse, owning these kinds of tools will be potentially risky, since a substantial kit can be heavy and awkward to transport. That is valid, to a point. Unscrupulous folks in lawless situations may see the tools, themselves, as valuable. Of course you can take other steps to secure and conceal your gear. But here's something else to remember: the main value of tools is in their use. Anyone can hit things with a hammer or cut things with a saw, but relatively few know how to do these things well. Fewer still know how to combine individual tool skills to build a good, solid, permanent structure. As you build your checklist, customize to suit what tasks you might need to handle, then go back over the list and figure out what you need to learn to make you and your expertise more valuable than the tools, themselves. The carpenter and his tools are worth far more than just a hammer! As you expand your core list of tools always consider: “What can I build with these?” And, “What more can I learn that would make these useful after a crisis?” Now go out and learn and practice. Aim to add new skills to match your tools. It doesn't have to be expensive learning. Volunteer with groups like Habitat for Humanity, or a local group, and expand your building skillset. Prepping in this way can take a lifetime, but it'll be a full, rich lifetime and every day will leave you more capable and self-sufficient than the last. The more you know how to do with your tools, the sooner you'll be back on your feet, rebuilding. So: build your main tool checklist just like you did with your list for the immediate aftermath. Add to the list as you acquire new skills and the tools that go along with them. Stay organized and know exactly where each tool is. Take note of its condition and maintain/replace as necessary – before you need it for a job. Disasters don't usually let you know of the date ahead of time! Use the checklist as before, to do regular checks and leave plenty of room to add more. Also, leave space or keep a separate “shopping list” of skills you need to learn. We started our list with the basic stuff even the average urbanite keeps around:

• Hammer – most people have a claw hammer. You don't need the fanciest, most expensive one around, but a solid, durable head and sharp, well-formed claw is a must. Consider a wooden handled model. Synthetic materials deteriorate over time, and some designs will be impossible to maintain or repair. You can always craft and fit a new wooden handle, in a pinch, if yours is designed for it.
• Wood handsaw – Just like all other tools, there are dozens of choices and varieties of design. You can go a long way with just a sturdy cross-cut saw or even a panel saw, but later, you'll probably learn to love a rip saw and some of the other specialty saws will make special cutting tasks much easier.
• Pliers – a solid pair of needle-nose pliers and a lineman's pliers are a good start. You can add some specialty cutting and wire-stripping ones as well as finer needle-nose ones, depending on the intended tasks.
• Flat-head screwdriver – Most homes have at least one of these, but you'll want to be able to tackle many different types of fasteners that a flat-head screwdriver can't handle (see below).

That's better than having nothing at all. Now for some basic stuff that an astonishing number of people don't have ready access to. Again, this is not a bug-out bag, but these are some tools that are extraordinarily hard to do without when you need to build or repair a structure:

• Hacksaw – cutting metal without a hacksaw will bring you to tears! Spare blades are not expensive, so have some on hand.
• Hand-drill with an assortment of bits – This is just an amazingly useful tool. One with a well-made chuck & jaws and a good assortment of different-sized bits will last a long time and will often do just as well as a power drill. A power drill without power is frustrating and useless.
• Vise-grips – locking-style pliers that work similar to clamps are also vital for pinching and holding tasks. These are a tool which, when you know how to use them, you'll wonder how you made due without them. Get a sturdy pair; they're worth the extra.
• Tongue-and-groove (water pump) pliers – Adjustable pliers available in a variety of sizes. These have long handles for extra leverage.
• Pry-bar – A basic cr0w-bar or similar pry-bar is a must. This is the tool to reach for instead of using other gear not meant for prying. Not having a pry-bar has led to unnecessary damage to thousands of innocent screwdrivers over the years!
• Shovel – If you need to dig a hole without a shovel, you are going to have a bad day. As with the hammer, consider one with a wooden handle that you can fabricate a replacement for. Fancy integrated synthetic models work fine – until they don't. A shovel with half a handle is no fun.
• Pick – A shovel will only get you so far in some ground. A pick and a mattock to dig a ditch and the shovel to move material.
• Work gloves – These are not tools, exactly, but if you use tools – especially when you're not used to doing so on a day-to-day basis, you will want to have these. Good leather work gloves and some sturdy rubberized ones for wet conditions will save your hands so you can work days in a row instead of nursing scrapes and bruises between tasks.
• Boots – Don't destroy your valuable hiking boots working in dirt or mud or water. Have suitable footwear for the task or you will be miserable and barefoot far too soon.

Some further basic tool suggestions from The Prepper Journal include:

Clamps– you can never have enough clamps! C-clamps, F-clamps, Spreader clamps, Pipe clamps, everything you need to hold stuff together during a glue up or spread things apart. A good screwdriver set and bit set that has a Phillips, star and flathead slotted bits in it. 16’ Measure tape and 100’ measure tape – just in-case you want to draw that line in the sand that you dare your neighbor to cross or just need to measure the board length you are going to hand saw. A good set of chisels – that run in sizes ¼”- 1 ½”. They work great for knocking down corners on wood and cleaning out saw cuts and joints. Make sure the handle is made to handle a hammer strike so if you need to carve out a Billy stick you won’t damage the handle. Block plane – Used to flatten edges of wood, smooth joints and works fantastic for cleaning an edge to glue up to. 8” and 48” level – which allows you to check the horizontal and vertical (plum) of anything you want to truly keep squared.

 For more basic tools, including some power tools possibly suitable for limited use with solar or other off-grid power, check out The Prepper Journal‘s article.

Dealing with fasteners like bolts, screws, and the like, you won't get very far with just a basic screwdriver set. If you are confronted with repair or re-purposing tasks, you'd better be prepared to deal with these further hand tools:

• Hex wrenches (Allen keys) – a good selection of hex wrenches (standard and metric) and their wild cousins, Torx wrenches will let you fasten (and un-fasten) a much wider range of things.
• Box wrenches and socket set– hex-head bolts are widely used and they are nearly as troublesome to handle with out the right wrench as a hex-head screw, although in a pinch you can improvise with pliers. Just avoid the whole risk of damaging fasteners – and your possibly irreplaceable tool and have a set of wrenches and sockets with a sturdy ratchet handle and a selection of adapters on hand. Again, you'll need standard and metric.
• Penetrating oil – If you don't know what conditions you will face and you need to be prepared for corroded or seized fasteners, a drop or two of penetrating oil and a little patience will work miracles. Save possible damage to your tools by forcing a stubborn fastener this way.
• Files, Rasps – Metal files and wood rasps will let you do some fitment, adjustment, and maintenance tasks that are tiresome or impossible without them. That includes maintenance of some of your other tools, too.
• Block and tackle – Even just a captive pulley (snatch-block) can be a powerful addition to your kit.

Is this all the tools you need? Of course not! Many people have a massive tool selection at home in a shed, basement, garage, etc. But this list you're developing also acts like s shopping- or wish-list if you bug out and can't reach your tools at home, if you are stuck in another area when disaster strikes. Heck, it even gives you something to shoot for if you're on vacation when SHTF.

Next, expand that list

If you're inclined to favor electric power tools and have an off-grid power storage setup or a generator, then that may be the first way to expand your core list. As mentioned earlier, you should also approach expanding your tool selection (and your checklist) according to various specialty tasks. Take the time to plan, learn, and practice at least the basics of each discipline. Maintaining your skillset is as important as building your toolset, if not moreso! Besides basic wood-working, look at manual metalworking, repair and fabrication. Learn more about other building materials and methods, such as concrete, stone and brickwork.