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Formulas
One compound doing one job: what you need, the steps, the warnings, and how long it keeps.
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Field guideChemical Compounds Field GuideAll 33 compounds on quick cards: what each one is, why to store it, how long it keeps, what it does, and what it must never touch. 29 pages.Open the field guide ReferenceFind a recipe by needAll 206 jobs the 33 compounds can do, grouped by need. Look up the job, open the recipe.Open the full page ToolNever-mix chart and checkerPick any two compounds or household chemicals and see if they are safe together, what happens if not, and how to store them.Open the tool Need
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Medical · Formula
Activated charcoal for poison ingestion or digestive illness
Call first: 1-800-222-1222; Adult 12+: 50 g / 8-12 oz; Child 1-12: 1 g / kg
Cooking, Fuel and Fire · Formula
Alcohol Stove and Fuel
An alcohol stove is the simplest cooker there is: a small metal cup that holds alcohol and burns it as a ring of jet flames under your pot, with no valves or moving parts to fail. You can buy one or make one from a small can in a couple of minutes.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Alkaline cleaning paste (borax, baking soda, washing soda)
Baking soda is one of the gentlest abrasives available: hard enough to scour stuck-on food and grease, but soft enough that it will not scratch most kitchen and bathroom surfaces.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
All-Purpose Liquid Castile Soap from Bar
Grate a bar of castile soap into hot water and it melts into a soft, gel-like liquid soap for hands, dishes, laundry, and cleaning. It will not look like store-bought pump soap, since a bar always thickens toward a gel, but it lathers and cleans just the same.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
All-purpose surface cleaner (pine, cinnamon, vinegar)
Needles: 2-3 cups / jar; Boost: citric acid; Use: spray & wipe
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Animal pen and coop cleaner (vinegar)
A diluted white vinegar cleaner for coops, pens, nest boxes, feeders and waterers that removes residue and ammonia odor without toxic residue.
Buckhorn CliffsThe full field manualEvery member article, all six field guide PDFs, and a printable manual of your own.See membership
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Ant and Roach Bait Using Borax
A slow-acting colony killer that foragers carry back to the nest before they die.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Anti-Chafing and Rash Prevention Powder
Chafing starts as simple friction and quickly turns into raw, stinging skin that can slow you down and let infection in. A light dusting of plain cornstarch keeps skin-on-skin areas dry and slick, heading off the damage before it starts.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Antifungal Foot Soak
A warm boric acid soak makes the skin a hard place for fungus to grow, calming the itch and sting of athlete's foot while it keeps the feet clean and dry.
Medical · Formula
Antiseptic Skin & Foot Soak (Condy's)
When skin weeps, oozes, or blisters and will not dry out, a pale-pink potassium permanganate soak is the traditional remedy: it dries the weeping, calms the irritation, and cuts the surface bacteria and smell so the skin can settle, whether the cause is weepy eczema, an infected or blistered rash, or the raw, wet stage of athlete's foot.
Food · Formula
Ascorbic acid dip to keep cut fruit and vegetables from browning
The moment you cut into an apple, pear, or peach, the exposed flesh starts turning brown.
Water · Formula
Ascorbic acid to dechlorinate water and supply vitamin C
Ascorbic acid powder gives you a shelf-stable vitamin C source and a simple way to neutralize chlorine in treated drinking water.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Baking soda ant barrier and cockroach bait
Two uses of baking soda for insects: a dry line to disrupt ant trails and a 1 to 1 sugar or flour bait for cockroaches.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Baking soda bath for itchy, irritated skin
When irritation covers large areas of skin, spot treatments are not practical.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Baking soda deodorizer for enclosed spaces and surfaces
Rooms: open container; Items: small pouch; Fabric: thin layer
Medical · Formula
Baking soda drink for inflammation and joint pain
Dosing for a baking soda and water drink used for chronic inflammation, joint pain and stiffness, with daily limits and who should avoid it.
Medical · Formula
Baking soda drink for urinary burning (temporary relief)
A short-term baking soda drink that some people find eases mild urinary burning when medication or care is not available; it is a comfort measure only and does not treat infection.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Baking soda field scrub for body odor
How to use baking soda as a dry deodorant, a scrub paste or an oil-based deodorant cream when soap and showers are not available.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Baking soda foot soak for odor, itch and athlete's foot
Foot problems are common in extended outdoor or survival situations. This warm soak eases foot odor, itching, and the discomfort of athlete's foot.
Medical · Formula
Baking soda for heartburn and stomach acidity
Antacid: ¼ tsp / 8 oz; Pre-exercise: ¼-½ tsp / 8-12 oz; Max dose: ½ tsp
Cooking, Fuel and Fire · Formula
Baking soda for small grease and electrical fires
Keep: 1 lb by the stove; Grease fire: smother at the base; First: kill the heat
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Baking soda for teeth and gums
Baking soda's mild alkalinity neutralizes the acids that mouth bacteria produce and soothes inflamed tissue, making it a workable stand-in for both toothpaste and mouthwash.
Food · Formula
Baking soda leavening and baking powder substitute
Fresh: 1 soda : 2 cream of tartar; Jar mix: add 1 part starch; Rises: with acid present
Medical · Formula
Baking soda paste, compress and soak for itching, rashes and bites
Bites, stings, and contact rashes flare and itch for hours, and a baking soda paste is a reliable kitchen substitute when antihistamine cream runs out.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Baking soda surface cleaner and scrub
Cleaning paste: 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water
Tools and Repair · Formula
Battery terminal cleaner (vinegar)
Alkaline: vinegar; Lead-acid: baking soda; First: disconnect cables
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Bed Bug and Flea Treatment for Living Spaces
Bed bugs and fleas are notoriously resistant to chemical pesticides, but they have no defense against physical desiccation.
Cooking, Fuel and Fire · Formula
Beeswax Emergency Candles
Beeswax candles burn cleaner, with far less soot than paraffin, and the dense, high-melting wax makes them last two to three times longer, a real edge when a candle is your only light.
Medical · Formula
Beeswax Lip Balm and Skin Salve
Cracked lips and dry skin may seem minor, but in cold or windy conditions they become painful entry points for infection.
Tools and Repair · Formula
Beeswax Wood Finish and Furniture Polish
The oil soaks into the grain while the beeswax leaves a soft, water-repellent sheen on the surface, reviving tired wood and guarding it against moisture and everyday stains.
Tools and Repair · Formula
Borax Flux for Soldering and Metal Joining
Metal surfaces form invisible oxide layers that prevent solder from bonding, which is why joints fail without proper flux.
Medical · Formula
Boric Acid Eye Wash for Mild Irritation
A 2 percent boric acid solution sits close to the salt balance of your own tears, which is what let it serve as a gentle eye rinse for over a century.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Boron Micronutrient Feed for Deficient Crops
A pinch of borax corrects the specific starvation that shows up as hollow broccoli stems or brown-hearted beets, but boron is the one nutrient where too much is as damaging as too little, so this is a targeted rescue, never a routine feed.
Tools and Repair · Formula
Camphor blocks for tool and storage protection
Camphor slowly transitions from solid directly to vapor without melting, releasing fumes that repel insects and inhibit rust formation on metal surfaces.
Medical · Formula
Camphor muscle balm for soreness
Rubbed on, camphor fires the skin warm and cool nerves at once, a mild tingling that masks the deeper ache and pulls fresh blood to the sore spot.
Medical · Formula
Castile Soap Wound Wash
Cleaning a wound well is the single best way to prevent infection, and it takes little more than clean water and mild soap. The trick is knowing what goes where: flush the wound itself with plenty of clean water, and save the castile soap for your hands and the skin around the cut, never inside it.
Medical · Formula
Castor oil and cayenne pepper salve for joint and muscle pain
A two-ingredient infused castor oil and cayenne salve for sore joints, muscles and cold hands or feet, with use and storage answers.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Chicken coop freshener powder (baking soda and DE)
Ammonia from poultry waste causes respiratory problems in birds and reduces egg production.
Food · Formula
Citric acid for canning and food preservation
Fresh lemon juice varies in acidity from batch to batch, but citric acid powder delivers precise, repeatable pH reduction every time you measure it.
Medical · Formula
Citric acid for mineral absorption
When your diet depends heavily on grains, beans, and preserved foods, you may be eating enough minerals but absorbing far less than you think.
Medical · Formula
Clay Binder for Digestive Upset
Bentonite clay swells in water and carries a negative surface charge, so in the gut it can bind some positively charged substances and irritants and carry them through before they are absorbed.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Clay Mask for Oily Skin and Minor Irritation
As a bentonite clay mask dries, it absorbs surface oil, sweat, and grime, and its negatively charged particles bind impurities on the skin, leaving the surface clean, matte, and briefly tightened.
Medical · Formula
Cleaning Around a Wound
Hydrogen peroxide is a useful disinfectant, but it does not belong in an open wound. It is an oxidant, and it kills the new cells that rebuild skin just as readily as it kills germs. Use it around a cut, not in it, and flush the wound itself with clean drinking water.
Water · Formula
Clearing and Clarifying Cloudy Water
Cloudy water clears in stages: let the heavy grit settle, help the fine particles clump and drop, then filter and disinfect what is left. Bentonite has a part to play here, but a smaller one than its reputation suggests.
Medical · Formula
Cognitive Support During Sleep Deprivation and High Stress
After 24 hours without sleep, your reaction time, memory, and decision-making deteriorate to levels comparable to being legally drunk.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Cold Process Bar Soap
Soap is the product of a simple chemical reaction between fat and lye that humans have used for thousands of years.
Food · Formula
Cornstarch Thickener for Emergency Cooking
Cornstarch turns thin, watery broth into a hearty, spoon-coating meal. Stirred into a hot liquid it swells and sets into a smooth gel, so a spoonful can stretch a thin soup into something that fills you up.
Food · Formula
Curing a Raw Hide with Salt
Salt does not tan a hide. It cures one, which is a different and more urgent job: it stops the rot so the hide keeps until you can tan it properly. Soak a salted hide and it goes off like any other raw meat, because nothing salt does is permanent.
Medical · Formula
Daily Strength and Recovery Supplement
Loading: 4 × 5 g / day; Maintenance: 5 g (10 g if large); One dose: ~1 rounded tsp
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Deodorize and sanitize shoes without washing
A two-step method using a vinegar mist, sun drying, and baking soda to cut odor and bacteria in shoes or boots when washing is not possible.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Descale and disinfect kettles and coffee makers (vinegar)
Mix: 1:1 vinegar/water; Fixtures: full-strength soak; Dwell: 30 min-overnight
Water · Formula
Disinfect water barrels and cisterns with calcium hypochlorite
Strength: ~200 ppm; Solution: 2 gal per 10 gal; Contact: 6-24 hours
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
DIY Hand Sanitizer
The best version leans on two of this book's own compounds: isopropyl alcohol to kill the germs, and a little glycerin to keep the alcohol from cracking your skin. The trick is that the glycerin is tiny, under a teaspoon to a cup, so the alcohol stays high where it has to be.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
DIY Lye from Washing Soda & Pickling Lime
When commercial lye runs out, two dry powders and water still make a real caustic soda solution, the strong alkali behind soap and heavy cleaning.
Water · Formula
DIY Soda Bottle Water Filter
A layered bottle filter clears cloudy water and cuts odor and taste, but it does not make water safe to drink. Always disinfect what comes out.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Drain and Pipe Clearing Solution
Sodium hydroxide is one of the most effective degreasing agents available, dissolving organic blockages that baking soda and vinegar can't reach.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Drain Maintenance and Grease Clog Treatment
Most household drain clogs are organic: grease, soap scum, hair, and food residue layered over time.
Medical · Formula
Drawing poultice for bites, stings, and boils (charcoal and clay)
A charcoal and clay poultice can soothe minor bites, stings, and small surface irritations by absorbing fluid and debris from the surface.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Dry Shampoo for Extended Field Use
When water is scarce, cornstarch buys a few more days between hair washes. Dusted onto the roots, it soaks up the oil and sweat that make hair look greasy and flat, so your hair looks and feels cleaner with no water at all.
Medical · Formula
Electrolyte Rehydration and Physical Labor Recovery
Mix: 1 scoop / 16 oz; Rehydrate: sip ~1 tsp / min; Hard work: match to sweat
Tools and Repair · Formula
Electronics and Equipment Cleaning
For electronics you want the strongest alcohol you can get, not 70 percent. The higher the grade the less water it carries, so it flashes off fast and dry instead of leaving moisture sitting on a contact where it can corrode.
Medical · Formula
Emergency Laxative for Constipation Relief
Taken by mouth, Epsom salt pulls water into the bowel and empties it, usually within half an hour to six hours. It is a real medicine with a real dose, not a home remedy: follow the label, and know when to stop.
Cooking, Fuel and Fire · Formula
Emergency Smoke Signal or Ignition Aid
Potassium nitrate and sugar, mixed about three parts to two, burn together and throw off a thick white smoke, the makings of a homemade emergency signal.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Field Body Wash and Shampoo
Castile soap bars work in cold water, need no preparation, and last a couple of weeks of daily washing. One bar covers body, hands, and hair.
Food · Formula
Food storage chili (canned beef and beans)
All ingredients in one pot; bring to a boil, then simmer about 15 minutes
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Foot powder for moisture and friction (baking soda, cornstarch)
Used to reduce foot moisture, friction, and odor in situations where hygiene is limited and foot care is essential, such as during long hikes, shelter stays, or off-grid living.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Freshen bedding and sleeping pads without washing (vinegar, sun)
Foam pads, sleeping bags, and boots harbor bacteria in places you cannot easily wash with soap and water.
Food · Formula
Fruit leather with ascorbic acid to prevent browning
Fruit leather turns a short-lived harvest into lightweight, shelf-stable food you can store for months without refrigeration or canning equipment.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Garden and Crop Fungicide Dust
Sulfur has guarded crops from disease for more than 2,000 years: it coats the leaf, interferes with the fungus's respiration, and keeps new spores from taking hold.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Garden Fertilizer for Magnesium-Deficient Plants
When OLDER leaves yellow between the veins while the veins stay green, and a soil test confirms low magnesium, Epsom salt fixes what nitrogen and potassium cannot. On soils that already have enough magnesium, though, it does nothing and can even do harm.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Garden Pest Control Using Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth kills insects mechanically rather than chemically, so pests do not build resistance to it the way they do to chemical sprays.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Garden Sanitizing, Fungus Gnats, and What Not to Do for Root Rot
Root rot is a disease, not just drowning, and there is nothing you can pour on top that reaches it. Peroxide earns its place in the garden on pots, tools, and fungus gnat larvae. Do not waste it on the soil of a dying plant.
Medical · Formula
Glycerin tincture (glycerite) from fresh or dried herbs
Glycerin pulls active compounds out of herbs and preserves them in liquid form for 1 to 2 years, giving you shelf-stable plant medicine without needing alcohol, a pharmacy, or refrigeration.
Food · Formula
Grain and Dry Food Storage Protectant
A single grain moth or weevil infestation can destroy months of stored food in weeks.
Medical · Formula
Herbal Liniment for Muscle and Joint Pain
High-proof alcohol pulls the pain-easing compounds out of herbs like arnica, cayenne, comfrey, and ginger, and the quick-drying liquid rubs them straight onto a sore muscle or joint.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Homemade squeezable toothpaste (bentonite clay and baking soda)
A squeezable toothpaste recipe using bentonite clay, calcium carbonate, baking soda, arrowroot and glycerin, with essential oil options.
Food · Formula
Honey Cough and Throat Syrup
A spoonful of honey coats and soothes a raw throat, and it quiets a cough about as well as the common over-the-counter syrups do. The good evidence is in children over a year old, but honey is cheap, usually on hand, and easy to take, which makes it a sensible first thing to reach for.
Food · Formula
Honey for Minor Burns
For a small, shallow burn, cooling it well matters far more than whatever you put on afterward. Once it is cooled, a thin layer of honey keeps the skin moist and clean while it heals, which suits a minor burn better than letting it dry and scab. As with any honey on skin, sterile medical honey is best and raw honey is only the fallback.
Food · Formula
Honey Wound Dressing
Honey fights microbes several ways at once: the sugar is concentrated enough to pull water out of bacteria, it is naturally acidic, and an enzyme the bees leave behind slowly releases a trace of hydrogen peroxide. It is a real dressing, not just folklore, but the honey that belongs on a wound is not quite the honey in your cupboard.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Hot degrease soak with washing soda
Washing soda is far more alkaline than baking soda, around pH 11 versus 8.3, which gives it the strength to dissolve baked-on grease, carbonized food residue, and oil films that milder cleaners cannot touch.
Water · Formula
Improve the taste of treated or stored water (baking soda)
Dose: pinch / quart; Per gallon: ¼-½ tsp; When: after full treatment
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Insect deterrent spray (vinegar)
Ants find food by following invisible scent trails, and wiping those trails away, with soapy water or vinegar, is what actually sets them back, at least until they lay a fresh one.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Insect Killing Powder for Indoor Pest Control
A roach picks up boric acid's fine dust as it crosses a treated crack, then swallows the powder while grooming itself, and the boron goes to work as a slow stomach poison from the inside.
Water · Formula
Iron, Manganese, and Odor Removal from Water
The rust stains, black grit, and rotten-egg smell in well or stored water come from dissolved iron, manganese, and sulfur, and potassium permanganate is the classic fix: it turns them into solid particles you then filter out.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Laundry Booster and Fabric Stripping Solution
Over time, detergent residue, hard water minerals, body oils, and fabric softener build up invisibly in cloth fibers, trapping odors and reducing absorbency.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Lime mortar and plaster (hydrated lime)
Lime-based mortars and plasters predate modern cement by thousands of years and remain in use because they flex without cracking, breathe moisture, and actually harden further over decades.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Lime Treatment for an Emergency Toilet or Latrine
When the plumbing stops, human waste becomes the fastest route to cholera and dysentery in a home or camp. A layer of hydrated lime over a bucket toilet or pit turns the waste strongly alkaline, which knocks down the bacteria and viruses behind those diseases, cuts the smell, and keeps flies off it while you deal with it.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Limewash for coops, barns and latrines (hydrated lime)
Limewash has been used for centuries to whitewash barns, outhouses, and food storage areas because it simultaneously kills microbes, reduces odors, and may deter insects.
Medical · Formula
Lugol's iodine antiseptic for cuts and skin infections
Lugol's iodine is a broad-spectrum antiseptic that inactivates bacteria, viruses, and fungi with brief contact, useful when commercial wound-care products aren't available or have expired.
Medical · Formula
Make an herbal tincture with alcohol
Alcohol dissolves plant compounds that water alone can't extract, then preserves them indefinitely as the same alcohol prevents microbial growth.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Make Washing Soda from Baking Soda
A plain box of baking soda becomes a stronger cleaner with heat alone. Baking breaks each bicarbonate molecule apart into sodium carbonate, the compound sold as washing soda, and gives off carbon dioxide and water vapor as it goes.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Mattress, fabric and upholstery freshener (baking soda)
How to use baking soda to pull odors and moisture out of mattresses, cushions, sleeping pads and upholstery when washing is not possible.
Food · Formula
Meat Color and Freshness Preservation
Freshly cut meat gradually turns brown as oxygen converts the red pigment oxymyoglobin into brown metmyoglobin, a process that becomes noticeable within a day or two under typical conditions.
Food · Formula
Meat Curing with Pink Curing Salt
Saltpeter cures meat only after bacteria turn it into nitrite, and it is the nitrite that does the work: it blocks the deadly botulism bacteria, fixes the pink cured color, and holds off rancidity.
Food · Formula
Meat Preservation by Salt Curing (Dry Method)
Salt preserves meat by pulling water out until there is too little left for bacteria to live on. It is the oldest method there is and it still works, but it works on a schedule: cold enough, salted long enough, and dried far enough, with a scale to prove it.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Mold and mildew cleaner (vinegar)
Undiluted white vinegar kills many common molds on hard surfaces without the toxic fumes of bleach, though its effectiveness varies by species.
Food · Formula
Mold Control for Sprouted Grain Fodder
A peroxide soak gives sprouting fodder grain a cleaner start by knocking back the mold spores it arrives carrying. It reduces the surface load; it does not prevent mold. A cool room, moving air, and full drainage are what actually keep mold out, and no chemical substitutes for them.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Mold Prevention Spray Using Borax
Borax is a boron compound, and boron disrupts the enzymes that mold and decay fungi use to feed, so a dried borax residue on a surface keeps mold from taking hold.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Muscle Soak for Soreness and Recovery
A warm soak eases sore, tense muscles after hard work. The warmth is doing the work: there is no good evidence the Epsom salt adds anything beyond the warm water. It is comforting, cheap, and low-risk as long as the water stays warm rather than hot.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Neutralize small acid spills with baking soda
Spills: sprinkle dry soda; Terminals: disconnect neg. first; Skin: brush off, flush
Food · Formula
Oatmeal packets for long-term food storage (3 recipes)
1 cup oats, 3 Tbsp dry milk powder per packet; cook with 2 cups water
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Odor-Stripping Soak for Stinky Clothes
Clothes stink because bacteria feed on body oils trapped deep in the fibers, so the fix is a long soak that lifts those oils out and shifts the pH the bacteria depend on, matched to the smell and the fabric.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Oral Debriding Rinse for Sore Gums and Mouth Ulcers
Diluted peroxide is what the FDA calls an oral debriding agent: it cleans. The foam lifts debris and dead tissue off a sore or an inflamed gum margin so the mouth can heal itself. It is not an antibiotic, and it does not cure a mouth infection.
Cooking, Fuel and Fire · Formula
Paraffin Wax Fire Starters (Egg Carton Method)
A wax fire starter is the difference between one match and a lit fire when your kindling is damp, cold, or marginal: it holds a slow, steady flame long enough to dry and catch stubborn wood, and it shrugs off water in storage.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Paraffin Wax Seal for Jars and Bottles
A wax cap over a corked or capped bottle is a backup barrier and a tamper-evident finish: it slows air and moisture from creeping past the closure and shows at a glance whether a bottle has been opened. It is a secondary seal for finished bottles, not a preservation method, and never a substitute for proper canning.
Cooking, Fuel and Fire · Formula
Petroleum jelly fire starters (cotton balls)
Burn time: 4-8 min / ball; Fuel: petroleum jelly; Fiber: cotton / lint
Tools and Repair · Formula
Petroleum jelly for protecting metal, leather, and rubber
Rust needs three things at once: iron, oxygen, and a film of water. Take away any one and it stops. A wiped-on film of petroleum jelly takes away two, and it is the cheapest insurance a tool will ever get.
Medical · Formula
Petroleum jelly skin barrier
Petroleum jelly doesn't heal wounds; it creates an occlusive barrier that locks in moisture and blocks irritants from reaching damaged skin.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Pine, cinnamon and citric acid vinegar cleaner
Recipe for a white vinegar cleaner infused with pine needles and cinnamon sticks, finished with citric acid, with dilution, surfaces and shelf life.
Medical · Formula
Poison Ivy & Oak Wash
The rash from poison ivy, oak, and sumac comes from an oil called urushiol, and washing it off fast with soap and water is the single most effective thing you can do to stop or shrink the reaction.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Powdery Mildew and Black Spot Leaf Spray
A spoonful of baking soda and a little oil in a gallon of water makes a cheap protective spray that keeps powdery mildew and rose black spot from taking hold, so long as you start early and keep at it.
Food · Formula
Preserving Dry Foods in Honey
Honey holds so little free water that microbes struggle to grow in it, so dry food tucked under the surface keeps without a fridge. Jars of honey have turned up sealed in ancient tombs, which is the same idea at work: sealed and dry, honey does not spoil.
Water · Formula
Purify water with calcium hypochlorite (pool shock)
Stock: ~1,000 ppm; Dose: 1 tbsp stock / gal; Wait: 30 minutes
Water · Formula
Purify water with Lugol's iodine (2%)
Clear water: 5 drops / quart; Cloudy/cold: 10 drops / quart; Per gallon: 20-40 drops
Food · Formula
Quick-Pickle & Fermentation Brine
Two brines, two methods: a vinegar brine for fast refrigerator pickles, and a salt brine that lets vegetables ferment themselves into tangy, long-keeping food.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Raise soil pH with hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide)
Most vegetables, legumes, and fruit trees struggle in acidic soil because critical nutrients become chemically locked and unavailable to roots.
Food · Formula
Reduce acidity in canned or preserved foods (baking soda)
Years-old canned tomatoes, aging preserves, and vinegar-heavy stews can taste sharp, sour, or metallic, and a pinch of baking soda fixes that at the bowl when fresh ingredients aren't an option.
Food · Formula
Reusable Beeswax Food Wraps
A cotton cloth soaked in beeswax becomes a washable, moldable wrap that clings to bowls and food, replacing single-use plastic for months.
Cooking, Fuel and Fire · Formula
Reusable survival torch (conduit, rope, petroleum jelly and wax)
Build a reusable torch from 1/2 inch metal conduit, natural fiber rope and a melted petroleum jelly and wax fuel, with leftover fuel used for cotton ball fire starters.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Rodent bait (baking soda)
Mice and rats cannot vomit or burp, and a baking soda bait turns that against them: eaten in a sweet or fatty food, the powder fizzes into gas they have no way to release.
Tools and Repair · Formula
Rust and scale removal with citric acid
Limescale in kettles, rust on tools, and mineral buildup on cookware all reduce performance and shorten the life of your equipment.
Tools and Repair · Formula
Rust removal for tools and hardware (vinegar soak)
Soak: full-strength vinegar; Time: up to 24 hr; Then: scrub & rinse
Medical · Formula
Saline Wound Irrigation
Saline at 0.9 percent salt matches the salt concentration of body fluid, so it flushes a wound without the sting of alcohol or peroxide, which damage healing tissue and do not belong in a wound. Clean drinking water flushes just as well; saline is simply gentler on exposed tissue for repeated cleaning.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Seed Soak to Wake Old or Slow Seed
A dilute peroxide soak can nudge tired, dormant, or hard-coated seed into sprouting faster and more evenly. It wakes seed that is old but still alive; it cannot bring dead seed back, because nothing can.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Shelf-stable laundry powder (baking soda, borax, washing soda)
Base: soda + borax + soda ash; Plus: grated bar soap; Machine: 2-3 tbsp / load
Medical · Formula
Skin Prep and Wound Border Disinfection
Alcohol needs water to work. It kills by unravelling the proteins a microbe is built from, and that reaction needs water present, which is why 70 percent outperforms the 99 percent bottle sitting next to it on the shelf.
Medical · Formula
Skin protectant and moisturizer (glycerin salve)
Cracked hands, split heels, and raw knuckles slow you down and invite infection.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Soil Acidifier for Acid-Loving Plants
When soil is too alkaline for acid-loving plants like blueberries, azaleas, and rhododendrons, elemental sulfur slowly lowers the pH into the range they need.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Soil Fertilizer for Nitrogen-Deficient Gardens
Because sodium nitrate is already in the nitrate form that roots take up directly, it feeds plants the moment it dissolves, with no wait for soil microbes to convert it, which makes it one of the fastest ways to green up a hungry, nitrogen-starved garden.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Soil pH quick test with baking soda and vinegar
Sample: 2 tbsp, 4-6 in deep; Acid test: vinegar fizz; Alkaline test: wet soda fizz
Medical · Formula
Sore Throat Gargle and Mouth Rinse
A salt gargle is a comfort measure, and a good one. What it will not do is kill whatever is making your throat hurt, and it does not need to: it eases the rawness while your body does the actual work of getting rid of the infection.
Cooking, Fuel and Fire · Formula
Start a fire with potassium permanganate and glycerin
A pinch of potassium permanganate and a few drops of glycerin can burst into flame with no spark, battery, or friction, as long as you keep them warm and dry.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Stump Remover and Land Clearing
Potassium nitrate is what commercial stump removers are: drilled into a stump and watered in, it slowly nudges the wood toward rot and, more reliably, soaks it with an oxidizer so a dried stump can later be burned out from within.
Medical · Formula
Sulfur Ointment for Skin Conditions (Scabies, Fungal Infections)
Rubbed on as a 10 percent ointment, sulfur turns into mite-killing compounds on the skin and sheds the outer layer the burrowing scabies mites live in, a remedy that predates modern drugs and still works.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Sulfur Smoke Fumigation for Storage Areas
Burning a little sulfur fills a sealed room with sulfur dioxide, a sharp gas that reaches into every crack and knocks back mold, mustiness, and insects. It is an old cellar and barrel treatment, and a harsh one, so treat it as a last resort.
Medical · Formula
Sunburn relief with baking soda (compress or soak)
Compress: 1-2 tablespoons baking soda in 1 cup cool water, 10-20 minutes
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Surface and Equipment Disinfectant Spray
At about 70 percent, ethanol kills most bacteria, viruses, and fungi within seconds by unraveling their proteins and dissolving the membranes around their cells.
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Surface and Tool Sanitizer
Peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen, so it leaves no residue and no fumes. That makes it the disinfectant for enclosed spaces, sickrooms, and anyone with asthma, where bleach is a problem. It works, but it works slowly, and it only works on a surface you have already cleaned.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Surface Degreaser Spray and Paste
A spray bottle of washing soda solution handles the grease you cannot soak: range hood filters too large for a bucket, engine bays, workshop benches, concrete garage floors, and the baked-on splatter behind a stove.
Compounds and Cleaning · Formula
Surface disinfectant from calcium hypochlorite (pool shock)
Dose: 1½ tsp / gallon; Strength: ~1,000 ppm; Dwell time: 1-10 min wet
Cooking, Fuel and Fire · Formula
Tallow and beeswax paste for gear, fire starting and skin
Recipe for a beeswax and tallow paste that waterproofs cloth, leather, rope and wood, works as a fire starter and doubles as a hand or lip balm.
Medical · Formula
Thyroid blocking with Lugol's iodine (radiation exposure)
ADULT ≥154 lb: 40 drops / 24 h; Age 3-18: 20 drops / 24 h; AGE 1 mo-3 yr: 10 drops / 24 h
Medical · Formula
Tick Removal and Bite Care
Alcohol does not remove a tick. Fine tweezers do that; alcohol is for afterward, to clean the bite and to preserve the tick so a doctor can tell later what kind it was. Do not use alcohol to try to make an attached tick back out.
Food · Formula
Traditional Meat Curing Salt Blend
Sodium nitrate is the slow half of a cure: bacteria turn it into nitrite over weeks, and it is the nitrite that guards the meat, which is why nitrate suits long dry-aged hams and salami rather than quick cures.
Food · Formula
Turkey shepherd's pie with Keystone canned turkey
One 28 oz can Keystone turkey; bake at 400°F for 25 minutes
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Unclog and deodorize drains (baking soda and vinegar)
Step 1: ½ cup dry soda; Wait: 30 min; Step 2: ½ cup vinegar
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Vinegar deodorant and fabric freshener spray
Vinegar's acetic acid kills the bacteria that produce body and fabric odor, making it a practical substitute for commercial deodorants and fabric fresheners when those products are unavailable.
Food · Formula
Vinegar Shrub (Drinking Vinegar)
Before refrigeration, a shrub was how you caught a fruit harvest before it spoiled: steeping fruit in sugar and vinegar draws its juice out into a tangy syrup that keeps for months. A spoonful in a glass of water or soda makes a bright, refreshing drink, and the acid does the preserving, so it needs no canning.
Medical · Formula
Warm Soak for Splinter Removal
A warm soak softens tough skin so a shallow splinter is easier to reach. That is all it does. The soak is preparation; the tweezers do the work, and no soak pulls a splinter out on its own.
Food · Formula
Wash and disinfect produce (baking soda or vinegar)
Residue wash: 2 tsp soda / quart; Soak: up to 15 min; Bacteria: 1:3 vinegar soak
Hygiene and Sanitation · Formula
Wash hair without shampoo (baking soda)
For days when hair smells off and a full shampoo isn't an option, or as an occasional rescue between regular washes.
Food · Formula
Water glassing eggs with hydrated lime (long-term egg storage)
Ratio: 1 oz lime / quart; Per gallon: 4 oz (≈28-32 eggs); Submerge: 2 in on top
Tools and Repair · Formula
Wax waterproofing for canvas, tarps and rope (paraffin and camphor)
Wax fills the gaps between fabric fibers where water would soak through, and the camphor adds some insect and mildew resistance.
Water · Formula
Wax-Dipped Matches for Waterproofing
Ordinary matches fail exactly when you need fire most, when damp air, rain, or a sweaty pocket has spoiled the heads. A thin coat of paraffin seals each match against moisture so it survives storage and the odd splash; you scrape the tip clean and strike it like any match.
Garden and Livestock · Formula
Weed killer for paths and driveways (vinegar)
Young weeds: 5% vinegar; Established: 20%+ vinegar; Best: hot, dry day
Nothing matches those filters. Clear one and try again.