A flashlight is an invaluable tool in the event of a SHTF situation. Luckily, if yours breaks or if you lose it or any variation of this situation, you can scavenge parts from other devices to make your own simple flashlight. Learn how with the tutorial below.

Step 1: Materials
1 Clear 5mm LED – (Color of
your choice)
1 5mm LED Holder – Chrome or plastic.
1 1KiloOhm resistor (Brown-Black-Red)
1 AA battery holder or you could go AAA.
1 AA or AAA Battery
1 button or toggle switch.
1 Altoids Smalls Tin
1 2N2222A Transistor
1 Ferrite Toroid
Thin wire, two colors
Step 2: Tools
Soldering Iron
Solder
Drill
Hot Glue Gun
Wire Strippers
Electrical Tape
Extra Wire
Safety Goggles
Step 3: Prepare the Tin
Drill the hole for the LED. Use a bit as close to the size of your LED as possible.
Step 4: Making the Joule Thief – Winding the Toroid
The first step is to wind the toroid.
Take your two strands of wire and thread them through the toroid, then take the other two ends and wind it once around the toroid. Don't twist the wires and make sure that two wires of the same color are not right next to each other.
Keep winding, making sure you wind the coils tight. Make sure the turns are spaced evenly around the toroid.
Once you wind around the whole toroid, cut off the extra wire, leave a couple of inches for soldering. Strip some insulation off the wires and then take a wire from each side, making sure they are of the opposite color. Twist them together, and you're done with the toroid.
Step 5: Solder it all Together
First, take the two outer leads of the transistor and bend them outwards and bend the middle lead backwards. Take one of the wires coming from the toroid and solder it to one side of the resistor. Solder the other end of the resistor to the middle lead of the transistor.
Take the other single wire from the toroid, and solder it to the collector of the transistor. Solder the positive side of the LED to the collector as well, and solder the negative side to the emitter.
Take a piece of that wire you had earlier and solder it to the transistor's emitter.
Step 6: Final Assemble
Before we close up you need to put a bit of tape again. Put a layer of tape between the resistors/ positive legs and the negative legs. Carefully bend the two legs of the switch down a bit. Take some wire and solder it to one of the switch tabs. Solder the other end of the wire around the positive side of the battery case.
Solder another wire to the second switch tab and the other end to the wires coming from the toroid that are twisted together.
Step 7: We're done!
We're done. Just make sure you don't have any shorts (you shouldn't if you used electrical tape) and that your button is screwed in tight.

This is a great project for those looking to practice their tinkering and critical thinking skills for future SHTF scenarios. Learning this project now will also prove very useful in the future if you ever find yourself in these situations and need a small light for fast and easy use.

Bunkering down, it's also great as a distraction from the events that are unfolding. Ideally, you'd print out the tutorial and use it when you have to.

For a more detailed description of this project or to find more just like it, go to Instructables.