Excellent post.

The largest return on investment is always on the low end. I explained this to a guy who claimed only the best would do by posing a thought exercise. Imagine you were dropped into a vast wilderness with nothing but street clothes. You don't know where you are. All you know is that you are going to have to get by with what you have. It is going to get cold and dark. You are in desperate straits.

You start looking around and find an old shoebox. Inside you find a half-sharp discount store fishing knife, a cheap butane lighter, a 25' hank of cheap plastic coated clothesline, two trash bags.

You, of course, decide that none of that stuff is good enough so you toss it away and keep looking.

Virtually anything is better than nothing. A simple flake of rock no bigger than a fingernail was a major technical advance for our distant ancestors who previously only had teeth and fingernails. Marks left on fossilized bones show that tiny flakes of stone were often used to butcher large animals.

Don't overlook discount stores. Even if they are not up to your preferred standards the equipment us cheap enough to buy in quantity to assemble give-away kits. Dollar stores are good. But also consider Goodwill and the Salvation army stores. Jumble shops, flea markets, and consignment stores are also good.