- Soap from scratch: rainwater dripped through hardwood ash = lye water (floats an egg = right strength) + any fat/tallow, simmered and cured. Soap is civilisation; this closes the hygiene loop forever.
- Candles & tallow lamps: rendered fat or stockpiled wax + braided cotton wicks; a tuna-tin tallow lamp is an hour's work.
- Charcoal making: wood in a sealed drum with small vents, cooked in a fire → charcoal for filtration (B1), forge fuel, drawing, and cleaner cooking.
- Salt from seawater (coastal): boil/evaporate in wide pans; ~35 g per litre. Inland: know your nearest historical salt source — seriously, wars were fought over it.
- Sewing & repair as a real skill: patching, darning socks, replacing zips, resoling with tyre rubber. Stock heavy thread, awl, wax. Clothing durability doubles.
- Tanning (ambitious): egg/brain-tan or bark-tan small hides → leather for repairs. Deep Phase 3, but the reference belongs in the vault.
- Alcohol & vinegar ferments: wild-yeast fruit ferments → country wine → vinegar (leave it open with a mother). Antiseptic, preservative, morale, premier barter. (Distillation is illegal many places — know your law.)
- Ash, bones, nothing wasted: wood ash = lye, tooth powder, garden lime-ish amendment, chicken dust baths; bones = stock (nutrition), then charred = bone char filtration/fertiliser.
Phase-3 crafts
Making consumables once they stop being buyable: soap, candles, charcoal, salt, repaired clothes.