An off-grid life means that you will be doing most of the things around your home all by yourself. You, therefore, need to plan for it by having all the pioneer tools for off-grid living.
Whether you want to build a bench, a pet house, chicken coop, or other structures, you need these tools.
In this article, we have prepared a list of pioneer tools for any off-gridder. We go further to explain why you need them and what you can use them for.
Do not let this information pass you by if you plan to adopt an off-grid living or if you are already an off-gridder.
Contents
What are Pioneer Tools?
Pioneer tools are essential home tools used for hunting, building, planting crops, and gathering foods.
These tools basically help you to survive when you live in the jungle or when you have switched to an off-grid lifestyle.
The pioneer tools are all you need when living off the grid to build shelter, hunt for food, fish, and grow and harvest crops. Some of them will also help you to protect yourself from any danger.
22 Pioneer Tools You Need For Off-Grid Living
There has been advancement in tool making ever since the evolution of man. Today, we have some tools that were not available to our forefathers.
This makes off-grid living more secure and exciting than it used to be previously.
With appropriate pioneering tools, you will live a fulfilling life away from noisy streets and the influences of urban settlement.
The following are the essential tools you should have to make your life off the grid complete:
Hammers and Axes
Hammers and axes are mainly used for construction or building a shelter. Axes are for cutting down trees to prepare building poles, and hammers to drive nails into the wood.
You need both to make strong joints when building a house or when making furniture.
Hammers and axes also become handy when there is a threat. They are the first tools you need to protect yourself from invading animals that can potentially be dangerous. Axes are also helpful in splitting logs for cooking.
Plows and Hoes
Plows and hoes are for preparing the ground for planting. When living off the grid, you might want to plant your vegetables or any other food crop to supplement your other sources of food.
Also, plows and hoes are for preparing a flower garden for exterior decoration. You cannot literally do without these tools when living off the grid.
Flails and Scythes
Flails are agricultural tools used for harvesting cereals. They are designed to help separate grains from husks, especially when harvesting corn.
Scythe consists of a curved blade fitted at an angle to a long handle. Its purpose is to cut grains.
Both flails and scythe are mainly agricultural tools but can be alternatively used for self-production against an attack.
All-Purpose Knife
The list of uses of a knife is endless. You can use it for hunting, meal preparation, self-defense, among other purposes.
You cannot simply live without a knife because of its importance in human life. An all-purpose knife is preferred if you do not want to have many knives for different uses.
Shotgun/Ammunition
These tools are mainly for hunting animals in the jungle, but they can also become handy when facing an attack. You need to protect your life and that of your family when living off the grid.
The advantage of using a shotgun is that you can strike your enemy from a safe distance. However, you are cautioned against abusing these deadly weapons.
Bow & Arrow
Just like shotgun and ammunition, bow and arrow are pioneering tools mainly for hunting. Any hunter would want to have these tools to hunt down animals in the jungle in permitted areas.
Also, you can use them for self-protection in case of an attack. It is crucial to master the art of using a bow and arrow.
A Tarp
A tarp is flexible, impermeable clothing. This means it will not allow water and cold air to pass through. When living off the grid, you can use a tarp as a blanket or use it as a tent to protect yourself from wind, rain, and sunlight.
It becomes handy when you are still building a more permanent shelter or when your off-grid house is potentially damaged by storms.
Lighters
Lighters, as the name suggests, are for starting a fire. You need fire to warm yourself, prepare food, and scare away wild animals if you have not completed your off-grid house.
Starting a fire is practically impossible without a lighter, but you can still do it. A lighter just makes this process ridiculously easy and saves you time.
Flashlight
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A flashlight produces just enough light to help you find your way through the darkness. You cannot expect well-lit streets when living off the grid.
Also, you need a flashlight when looking for some things in dark rooms or at night.
A flashlight also becomes a pioneer tool for scaring away wild animals that may invade your home. Shining a light into the eyes of intruding animals will make them run away.
Compass
Hunters need compass direction to find their way back home. It is possible to get lost in the jungle and the only way to navigate your way back is by using a compass.
We are not saying that you cannot do it without a compass but this tool makes it easier to return home.
Duct Tape
The uses of duct tape are just endless. Some of them include patching a hose, keeping your feet warm, removing warts, removing sticker residues, removing pet hair, opening tight lids, etc.
This explains why having a roll of duct tape is essential for your off-grid lifestyle.
Rope
You need a rope to restrain the movement of your livestock, erect a tent, hang items such as firewood and farm produce when slaughtering a goat, sheep, or any other animal, etc.
A rope is also a measuring instrument, in case you do not have a tape measure. The fortunate thing is that you can make ropes if you have sisals in your location.
Screwdriver
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Screwdrivers are needed when you want to drive screws into the wood. If you need to make cabinets, chairs, benches, and other furniture, screws and screwdrivers are the basics for joinery work.
Ensure you have the right size or at least buy a number of them.
Nails
Nails are also used for joinery work when making furniture or building a shelter. These should be the first tools you buy because you will need a house before anything else.
Set Of Pliers
Pliers are holding and cutting tools. They are helpful in carpentry works and other areas where their strength is needed.
Wrench
A wrench is a tool you need for metallic piping. If your water pipes are made of metal, then a pipe wrench becomes an essential tool.
You do not have to call an expert to help you handle something as simple as fixing water pipes.
Shovel and Round Point Shovel
A shovel is a multipurpose agricultural and gardening hand tool. It is for digging, making shallow trenches, removing dirt and debris, and transplanting seedlings.
Structurally, shovels have broad blades with long hands and curving tips.
Metal Wedge
A wedge is one of the machine tools often used in mechanics. It is usually used with a lever, pulley, wheel, and axle to lift, split, or secure a hammerhead to the handle.
This triangular-shaped tool creates an inclined plane to reduce the effort needed to do the work.
Chisel and Crowbar
A chisel is an essential tool in carpentry to create grooves, holes, and notches on pieces of wood. A crowbar is a single bar designed with flattened curved ends, often with a small fissure.
Its purpose is to remove nails from the woods or separate two objects. You need it when demolishing any structure at home.
Hand Drill and Bits
Hand drills are for drilling holes. With appropriate drill bits, you can drill holes through the walls, wood, or metal bodies.
Hand drills can also be used for driving screws into surfaces or for removing them out. A DIY carpenter knows just how crucial this tool is.
Chainsaw and Hand Saw
Both chainsaws and hand saws are wood-cutting tools. Chainsaws are commonly used for cutting down trees and harvesting wood from them.
Hand saws are ideal for carpentry works at home when making furniture using wood.
Barrel
Barrels are containers commonly used for holding liquids. You can use them to store rainwater, oil, alcohol, or maturing beverages that you want to make at home.
You can also cut open the top and use them for grain storage or for storing practically anything.
11 Other Tools To Make Your Off-Grid Life Better
There are some tools you also need to make your off-grid living worth it, but you can as well do without them.
You are better off with them because they will help you in many ways but are not essential for survival. They include a first aid kit, safety gear, backup power, ladder, etc.
Medical First Aid Kit
You cannot rule out the possibility of incurring injuries when living off the grid. There can also be some diseases such as heart attacks that may require a fast response.
A first aid kit becomes necessary to attend to the victim while seeking professional medical attention.
Adjustable Ladder
To reach higher points such as roofs or fruits on the trees, you need a ladder. An adjustable ladder is instrumental because you can change the height to suit your needs.
Safety Glasses
If working in areas with debris and flying objects or spurting liquids, such as when using chainsaws, you need safety glasses to protect your eyes.
Leather Work Gloves
Hand gloves are necessary to protect your hands when working on any project. You need them when building, farming, harvesting, hunting, making furniture, or gardening.
Ear Muffs
Excessive noise can damage your ears, thereby impairing your hearing ability. Also, dust and wide temperature variations have adverse effects on your ears.
Wearing ear muffs is a precautionary measure you should take to protect your ears from potential damages by such elements.
Gas-Powered Generator
You are cut off from the utility power grid when living off the grid. Using alternative sources such as solar-battery systems can sometimes be unreliable.
A gas-powered generator can be a power backup device in case your number one power source fails.
Snow Shovel
Cold temperatures of winter usually bring in snow. A snow shovel helps you to scoop these ice particles from your walkways or just for leveling the ice slabs.
Fire Extinguisher
A fire outbreak is unpredictable and its possibility cannot be ignored. As a safety precaution, buy a fire extinguisher for fighting the fire in case of such incidents.
Your off-grid shelter is prone to fire and you need to prepare for it.
Spinning Wheels
A spinning wheel is a machine that helps you make threads or yarn out of fibers. These can be used to wove or knit clothes, something you might need as an off-gridder.
A Grinding Device
You might need to grind maize to make maize flour or just to grind any other grain cereal. That is where a grinding device or machine becomes handy since you cannot walk long distances in search of a posho mill.
Humble Needle
If you can afford it, buy a sewing machine with a set of needs or just buy humble sewing needles. These needles allow you to repair your clothes by using your hands. You can also make clothes from leather tannings using the same hand needle.
Wrapping Up
With the pioneer tools and additional tools mentioned in this article, you will find off-grid living exciting.
You will not lack anything because you can make it using these tools. You might not get it right the first time but you will become perfect by practice.
At the Em Off-Grid, we say thank you for stopping by to read our article. We hope you found the information you needed. If that is so, we invite you to check our other article on off-grid survival tricks and tips.