Sorting is the skill, not collecting. Whatever you take by mistake, you carry for nothing.
UNDERSTAND
Three questions decide the fate of every object you pick up, and they come in this order.
Does it still work, or can I fix it with what I know how to do? A broken object you can't repair isn't a resource, it's weight.
How much does it weigh compared to what it gives back? That's the real criterion, and the one most often neglected. A heavy object has to give a lot, all the time, or it will be dropped somewhere along the way.
Does it replace several things? One versatile object beats three specialized ones.
What ages well, what ages badly
Plain metal almost never dies. A blade, a file, a wrench, pliers, a hammer clean up and become as good as new. Even heavily rusted, they can be saved as long as the rust hasn't eaten all the way through — how to assess it is in La corrosion des métaux.
Glass and ceramics are inert and last forever. A jar with an intact seal is worth a lot for Preserving food.
Thick natural textiles last a long time if they've stayed dry. A tarp, a wool blanket, a rope only wear out from damp and rodents.
Rubber and soft plastics age badly. They harden, crack and break under ultraviolet light and time. A seal, a hose, an elastic band or an inner tube stored outside is usually dead. A fold that turns white or cracks when you test it is the sign.
Electronics die through their capacitors and batteries, not their chips. A device that kept a swollen battery inside for years is often lost to internal corrosion. See Electrical energy in everyday objects.
Batteries leak and destroy whatever is around them. The first reflex with any device you find is to open the battery compartment.
Ranking by real value
In descending order, more or less regardless of the situation:
Hand tools. They consume nothing, don't break down, let you make and repair everything else, and trade extremely well — see Trading, negotiating, keeping your word.
What holds things. Jerrycans, buckets, jars, dry bags. Always underestimated, always in short supply. Without containers, you can't store water or food.
What ties things. Rope, straps, wire, sewing thread, tape. Light, with countless uses, and essential to everything in Les machines simples.
What cuts. Blades, files, saws. The file deserves a special mention: it lets you put an edge back on, and so bring every other cutting tool back to life — the method is in Le tranchant.
What protects. A tarp, thick gloves, sturdy shoes, glasses.
What makes fire. See Making and keeping a fire.
ACT
Assessing an object in under a minute.
- Pick it up and weigh it in your hand. Too heavy for what it does: put it back, unless you have a specific use in mind.
- Test the moving part. Hinge, thread, mechanism. That's where things die.
- Bend what should be flexible. It cracks or turns white: it's done.
- Scrape the corrosion on a small spot to see whether sound metal is left underneath.
- Open the battery compartment of any device and look for corrosion.
- Look for markings: dimensions, thread, voltage, part number. That's what will let you find a compatible part later.
Sort before you carry. Make three piles on the spot: what I take now, what I leave here in a cache to come back for, what I abandon. The second pile is the one people forget to make, and it's often the most worthwhile — marking the spot on a map layer lets you come back to it.
ADAPT
You're on foot and far from home. Weight becomes the only criterion. Rope, blades, folding containers, textiles. Anything heavy stays where it is, marked for a return trip.
You have a fixed base. The math flips: what's heavy and durable gains value, because you won't have to carry it. Heavy tools, rigid containers, spare parts.
You want to trade. What trades best is small, widely wanted and divisible. Salt, blades, batteries, medicine, thread. The full reasoning is in Trading, negotiating, keeping your word.
You're searching a whole building. The method and the dangers are in Fouiller un bâtiment abandonné.
You don't know whether it'll be useful. Then it won't be. The temptation to take something because it might come in handy is the surest way to end up loaded down, slow and visible.