Rare but useful skills.

Some of us are old enough to remember the old man that lived in the strange house where everyone brought their broken and troublesome things. The old guy that knew everything because... back in his day.. they had to.

The neighborhood tinker is a tradition that has slipped into the shadows of the past. Unfortunately, in most cases, they took their skills with them. Now everything has to be disposable because nobody has the know-how to fix the simple things. I'm not talking about opening up your flat screen TV to fix a dead pixel. That stuff isn't realistic anymore.

I am talking about things that people can do with improvised tools and/or a little Know How.
Shimming a padlock:
You can make a shim out of an empty pop can. They can be used to open most simple padlocks, whether you lost the key, forgot the combination, or someone ruined the tumblers during a failed break in.

And though I must say that I don't condone theft, if you're trying to get by in a post-collapse society, knowing how to get past a lock without smashing or breaking it and letting people know you were there, shimming is a skill you would want to have in your repertoire.

Patching/Plugging a tire:
One of the things you totally want to keep in your car (that almost any old-timer knows about all ready) is a tire leak patch/plug kit and the simple tools needed to fix a tire. Of course, this doesn't work on a blown out tire or one that has been slashed from the side or has been ruined by going completely flat and sitting like that too long.
But if you are driving along and you notice the 'flub flub' of a tire that has lost a lot of pressure, you can pull over and find & repair the hole from the offending nail or screw.

1. A bottle of soapy water (labeled for this purpose and to keep people from drinking it.)
2. A patch/plug kit
3. A tire pump (yeah, it will take forever to air up your car tire with a foot pump, but its better than a blow out or being forced to drive on a doughnut because of a tiny nail hole.)
4. A Pliers (to pull out the nail, screw, etc)
5. A 'Reamer' (a special tire repair tool, very cheap to buy)
6. A Patch plug driver.
7. A Tire Patch Kit

Ill be adding more old school Do It Yourself entries as I think of them.

Semper Peratus