"bows spears bows spears bows spears"
um guys - crossbow? possibly even a repeating one?
projectile power of a spear, ease of use exceeding a bow
edit: could probably be modified to fling something like pebbles, if ammo is still an issue
but really, a
metalworking lathe. just a lathe, a small pedal-powered one that can be folded up and moved easily somehow. if i could design and build that before the disaster, then almost any sort of metal could be made into any tools i need to survive.
"omg you can't do that because drill bits and such are separate parts" -inevitable comment
what prevents me from just sticking a pointy stick in it and working my way up from that?