Yeah, I'm funny that way- seems like the older I get, the more important it becomes for me to feel like I could make anything I need from the barest necessities, even if that may not be really possible. It's a resurgance of how I was raised that has taken a much more constructive turn than my old man's habit of stockpiling weapons for some ill-defined future Mad Max senario... At least with my craziness, I can do something for constructive than blowing up popcans with hand cannons and hoping for the apocalypse! :)
Even with the best intentions of "from scratch", I'm still going to be using electricity, scrap metal that has already been smelted, and exisiting machine tools to do the job- hardly things you'd find readily if someone dropped you in the middle of a mountain range or something. Luckily, that's unlikely to ever happen! But in any case, it helps me not only keep myself out of trouble (what's that old saying- "idle hands do the devil's work"?) but is fun and requires me to keep learning new things all the time.
Very few things are beyond the capability of a determined and stubborn man- it's the desire to do them that is the usual sticking point. Two of my favorite quotes are:
"Aut invenium viam aut facium" (I shall either find a way, or I shall make one) Attributed to Hannibal,
and
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than the unsucessful man with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derilects.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
(I'm going to leave this one uncredited, lest it reveal a former avocation of mine that may cause a little too much controversy.)
I'll keep an eye out for you, but they're not easy to come by- most guys that have them keep them. Grizzly has some relatively attractive options for small mills and mill/drill machines availible, though. For about $600, a guy could have one in his shop, and that's not too prohibative when you consider that a good chuck alone costs a third to a half of that.