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Choosing to live off-grid is a big decision. Whether or not you are going without electricity completely, your power consumption habits will simply have to change. Often, that means giving up most of the power-hungry appliances and tools that we take for granted.
For homesteaders, this can be especially worrying: we need our gear to take care of business in and around the home and elsewhere on the property. The good news is that hand-powered tools are still surprisingly effective for all kinds of tasks.
If you’re ready to cut the cord and go off-grid, you’ve got to have the 50 hand-crank tools I’ll tell you about below.
Must-Haves
The tools in the following category are what I call the basics: these are hand tools that every homeowner should already have, whether or not you are a homesteader and regardless of whether you live on-grid or off. That’s because they are quintessentially useful.
When something breaks or starts acting funny, these are the tools you’ll reach for more often than not. They also come in really handy for quick, improvised builds and minor adjustments of all kinds of things.
For homesteaders, every day will be a succession of mostly minor chores and fixes, and these are the tools that you’ll reach for the most.
- Claw Hammer
- Toolbox Saw
- Hacksaw
- Screwdrivers (Flathead and Phillips)
- Wood Chisels
- Metal File
- Rasp
- Mallet
- Scissors
- Bucket with Lid
Measuring and Marking Tools
If you are anything like me, one thing you’ll find out quickly when you go off-grid is that you’ll start making more and more things yourself. Even if you don’t consider yourself particularly crafty, it’s often easier to figure out how to make what you need versus going through all the gyrations to get it delivered or buy it from someone else.
Even rudimentary crafting skills benefit from precise measurements, and having tools to make those measurements makes all the difference in the outcome.
Tools like tape measures and carpenter’s squares are really useful for making precise measurements and marking them accurately on your workpiece.
For cutting out precisely sized planks, stringers, beadboard, and more, a marking gauge is a real blessing. You can struggle to get parallel lines any other way, or you can just reach for this one supremely useful tool!
Lastly, levels of various sizes will ensure that the shelves you are putting up are perfectly horizontal and plumb, so that door frame repair you’re working on won’t stick the door closed.
- Tape Measure
- Carpenter’s Square
- Level
- Marking Gauge
- Chalk Line
Fastening and Fixing Tools
It’s a little depressing how fast things tend to fall apart on the homestead. Whether it’s from wear and tear caused by your animals, hard use, or just exposure to the elements, there’s always going to be something coming loose. Accordingly, you’ve got to have a selection of tools to deal with this certainty.
One indispensable item that’s gaining more and more appreciation with off-grid homesteaders is a hand drill or auger. It’s exactly what it says: a hand-cranked drill! You can use this tool to make short work of wood or thin sheet metal.
After that, adjustable wrenches and ratchets will help you pop in screws or bolts to hold down whatever needs holding down.
The latter comes in especially handy if you have to work on your vehicle or any other mechanical equipment. Vise grips and various pliers also come in handy for wrestling off stuck, rusty nuts and bolts and bending things into shape.
Also, don’t forget to pick up a variety of different fasteners for the job! Nails, screws, bolts, etc.—running into town to the hardware store to chase down one or two crucially needed fasteners is not the best use of your time!
- Adjustable Wrench
- Pliers
- Hand Drill with Drill Bits
- Vise
- Vise Grips
- Ratchet Set
Gardening and Landscaping Tools
For most of us, gardening or even full-scale farming will take up a lot of our time on the homestead. Contrary to popular belief, you can’t do everything you need with just a spade and a hoe!
Specialized gardening and landscaping tools will make the work easier, help you get it done faster, and also save your hands and back from extra wear and tear.
Transfer shovels for moving manure and loose dirt, a proper spade for digging, pitchforks for hay and other clumpy material, and a hoe for preparing your soil for planting make up a good core set.
After that, get yourself rakes, trowels, post hole diggers for putting up fences, and a good pickaxe for busting up clods and rocks.
More specialized gardening and farming tools can be lifesavers, too. A garden knife is your dual multi-tool when working with your plants, and don’t forget a good pair of pruning shears.
Scythes and sickles might seem downright archaic today, but are marvelously efficient for dealing with tall grass and other reedy plants.
- Shovel
- Spade
- Pitchfork
- Rake
- Trowel
- Post Hole Digger
- Pickaxe
- Hoe
- Pruning Shears
- Garden Knife
- Scythe
- Sickle
Forestry and Wood Processing Tools
I learned quickly how indispensable firewood is when living off-grid. With few exceptions, wherever you go you’ll have wood available as fuel, and if you are lucky enough to have lots of trees on your property—and you take care of replenishing them—you’ll never run out.
This assumes, of course, you don’t run out of elbow grease when harvesting and processing it! No surprise at all, having the right tools makes this tiring chore a whole lot easier and quicker.
And before you say so, yes: if all you have is one good felling axe, you can take care of pretty much any task concerning dropping trees, processing them, and turning them into firewood.
That said, having a battery of related tools comes in mighty handy. A splitting maul does exactly what it says, easily cleaving apart short log sections into properly sized firewood. A splitting wedge works wonders for larger rounds in conjunction with a sledgehammer.
If you’re dropping large trees, a bucksaw makes quick and easy work of “bucking” the trunk, or cutting it into more manageable sections. Lastly, a draw knife is the perfect tool for removing bark and smoothing and leveling long planks.
- Splitting Maul
- Axe
- Hatchet
- Splitting Wedge
- Sledge Hammer
- Draw Knife
- Bucksaw
Maintenance and Cleaning Tools
If it feels like your homestead will never be truly clean, that’s because it probably won’t be. Between the elements, your animals, and your other chores, there’s always going to be stuff that’s getting dirty, grubby, rusty, or grimy.
And far from looking rustic or quaint, dirt and grime actively accelerate wear and tear. Everything from fences to concrete pads and driveways, metal fence posts, and everything else will wear out and break down quicker if you don’t keep it clean!
Soap and water alone won’t cut it; you’ll need specialty cleaning tools and a whole lot of them.
Ones I reach for constantly are a wire brush and concrete brush: the former is ideal for knocking heavy rust deposits and other built-up grime off of metal and other sturdy surfaces. A concrete brush is used for exactly what it says: scrubbing concrete.
Naturally, you’ll also need a broom and dustpan for sweeping up your workshop, porch, mudroom, and other spots. A stout scraper is a surprisingly versatile tool, useful for removing old paint, knocking off rust, large deposits of mold, mildew, fungus, and a lot more.
Lastly, don’t forget the drop cloths; whatever you’re working with, they can help stop stains and other messes from getting on vulnerable surfaces.
- Wire Brush
- Concrete Brush
- Broom and Dustpan
- Drop Cloths
- Scraper
Specialty Tools
Off-grid homesteaders will be well served by many specialty tools, though not all of them are universally useful.
If you’ve got sheep, goats, cows, horses, or any other animals with hooves, you’ve got to have the appropriate hoof trimmers and learn how to use them. Don’t fall into thinking that their feet will take care of themselves, even in the case of highly active animals like goats!
Another necessary tool for keeping all kinds of animals, in most cases, are fencing pliers. These are multi-purpose pliers used for cutting and tightening wire fencing and also bending it into shape for quick and easy attachment or repair. If you’re using purely wooden fencing, you won’t need these, though, unless you plan on retrofitting.
A hand-operated pump, just like the kind your great-grandparents used to use, will help you draw water from a well or other storage container, while a water filter will be critical for keeping your water potable.
Lastly, don’t forget the rain gauge to help keep track of how much rain your crops are getting.
- Hoof Trimmer
- Fencing Pliers
- Hand Pump
- Rain Gauge
- Water Filter
Tim is a farm boy with vast experience on homesteads, and with survival and prepping. He lives a self-reliant lifestyle along with his aging mother in a quiet and very conservative little town in Ohio. He teaches folks about security, prepping and self-sufficiency not just through his witty writing, but also in person.
Find out more about Tim and the rest of the crew here.