Letter Re: Tool Chest Needs of the Survivalist

As a survivalist, you need a complete set of tools to keep your stuff running. As this could include cars, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, ATVs, bicycles, snowmobiles, little red wagons, etc. You
might think that is already a fair number of different types of tools required. But what about other things you might need tools for? Some examples:
Weapons - tools used by a gunsmith or armorer are rather specialized.
General - Hammers are a common, but what about sledge hammers? What about post-hole diggers? Axes? Hatchets? Roofing hammers? Crow-bars? Saws?
Levels? Mattocks? etc., etc., etc.
Plumbing - Requires some specialized tools, pipe wrenches, pipe cutters, and maybe a [propane] torch if working with copper.
Electronics - From soldering to testing, voltage meter, lots of specialized tools required.
Electrical – AC/DC, some similarities and some differences to electronic tools.
Blacksmithing - Very specialized set of tools here, especially if one includes [farrier] equipment to shoe horses.
Butchering - Not only the knives and saws but also grinders and sausage makers.
Also consider how many of each tool that you should plan for.As an example, imagine your group has two shovels and one axe. So if you send one group out to chop down a tree, another to pull a stump, and another to work on fighting positions, which ones will get the tools they need to get their job done? Or will each have to cool their heels until the tools become available for them?
Each group would have need of each of the two tool types mentioned. So you can see where you might run into issues. Especially if all three jobs were important to the same end result. Say you need the tree chopped down to provide overheard cover for the fighting position. And the stump that needs to be removed was from a tree that was cut down to provide wood used to strengthen the parapet of the fighting position, but it is now blocking some of the field of fire for that fighting position. And of course the fighting position is needed to defend the retreat. Should one try to prioritize such work, or is it better to have enough of tools to equip everyone? - R.C. (Submitted with permission of the author--a moderator on the Yahoo Group "Survival Retreat")