Ask Lemmy

My keyboard is almost middle aged

IBM Model M. I bought 3 at a garage sale in the late 90s, 1 for use 2 for backups, and I've never needed the backups

For me, the house I'm in was built in 1912 but it's still holding strong. My parents have me beat though, they got the original governor of south carolina's front doors which were from somewhere in the late 1700s

I still use a first gen iPod.

A Kenwood amplifier made in Japan in the 80s.
2007 Toyota Corolla.
Osprey backpack I bought about 12yr ago.

Physical item: LL Bean Laptop Bag. Was designed for laptops much bigger than the one I have now and it’s held up well… except for the buckles.

Digital: Rollercoaster Tycoon got it in a cereal box and I still play it today.

I have an orange sweater that I got for a christmas present all the way back in 2001 that, despite nearly daily use a my "lounging around at home sweater", is still in almost perfect shape except for the colours fading a bit in the places that see a lot of robbing (elbows, etc...)

I use a nice handmade wooden desk every day. No idea how old it is but my mom bought it at an antique store in the 70's, so it could be 80+ years old. And it's still in fantastic shape!

Edit: I heard back from my mom and she said it's (supposedly) from the late nineteenth century, so it's way older than I thought!

My '97 car?
Clothing? Furniture?

A spoon. One Sterling Silver spoon that I have used in my coffee cup since 1978. It has survived every move. It knows more about me than any human on Earth. It has become so ubiquitous that I get really annoyed if I misplace it and I will look for it before that first cup.

I have no idea why.

Not exactly daily but the shovel I use to clean out my grill ashes was my grandfather's, hand forged and used for branding iron fires, gotta be 100 years old. Then a phonograph from 1960.

I have a cherry wood cabinet from the 1890s that I use to store food. Every day I take a box of cereal from it and put it back.

I've got this little blue plastic cup I've had for almost 30 years. Use it for my toothbrush. Got it when I was a kid and it's the only toothbrush holder I've ever had since.

Until the oil pump shaft broke: a 1965 Holder AG3 European vineyard tractor. Centre articulating, 35+ Hp diesel, close to 2 metric tons, and a third the size of a VW Beetle. We used it extensively on our orchards for a good four decades, or just shy of that.

Sucker was stupidly strong for its size, and could out-pull most tractors twice its physical size. Last I was using it for was some pretty extreme landscaping in the front yard. Another story, because it takes some explaining, but yeah.

So apparently the oil pump shaft broke late 2023, and we thought it was just overheating. Nope. Plus, the mechanic also found a rather severe hydraulic leak into the oil system, which was about the only thing that kept the engine from totally seizing.

Unfortunately, we are about three decades too late for most of the required parts. The engine place does a lot of remanufacturing and machining, so I did ask them for their “fuck off” price (gotta have a benchmark in that regard). But they did strongly suggest a Kubota engine as a replacement, primarily because the original oil pump required some pretty unusual maintenance to avoid breaking like it did. Whoops. No-one in my family realized that, least of all my father who had bought the tractor in the 80s.

A Gillette open comb safety razor from the 1930s. But it's had the handle replaced with a Gillette tech handle from the 40s.

In an image search, I found someone selling the exact same Frankenrazor which leads me to believe this may have been a popular mod back in the day.

TI-83 plus

My "TV" is a (modern) 36" LCD computer monitor hooked to a 2011 Dell Latitude E6400.

My washing machine is a workhorse from 1997. Can't say I use it daily but multiple times per week.

Some of the wiring in my house is still original from '55, if that counts.

My wallet is the last piece of leather I will ever own.

When my grandma passed away, we had to sell the family farm that had been in the family since the 1930s. While mounting the massive undertaking of cleaning out 100 years of stuff from 2 houses and 3 barns, I stumbled upon 2 old wooden cheese boxes being used to store screws from a brand called Blue Ribbon Cheese. I googled it and that was how Pabst Blue Ribbon survived prohibition. One sits in my sock drawer with a few pocket knives for me to choose from each morning.

I don't use it daily, but I also have a 3 foot long homemade level with my great grandfather's initials carved in it. He died in the 1950s but it could be older than that.

Daily? Probably the coffee mug I've had for 15 years.

I have a chisel from 1910, and a vice from the 1890s, the barn doors I open to get at them are from the early 1800s, and the well that our water comes from is probably a hundred years older than that. Most of the doors in our house come from its first renovation, in about 1880.

Honorable mention for my truck. 1997 F-150. Turns 28 this year, just put a rebuilt motor in it, hoping for another 20 years.

A pair of toe-nail clippers my grandfather gifted me. I'm guessing late 1940s. As far as I can tell, it was something he bought from the on-base military store as things were winding down after WW2. It's rugged in a way you wouldn't expect - it was clearly built to last, well, indefinitely. Has this excellent leather carrying case in military olive green that is also wildly over-designed. Not flashy, just built to last.

It really makes me appreciate - we used to know how to make things here (USA). And we were so good at it, even the dumb little things could be built to last.

My razor handle was manufactured in the 50s

Used to use a double edge razor from the 1960s, I still have it. Gillette Slim.

I just use a modern DE instead, 2015 I think. Feather AS-D2.

Both of them will probably outlast me. Especially the Feather, even though it's newer and therefore theoretically made with less care, it was made in Japan, and it's entirely stainless steel, not pot metal. Very strong. You'd need to run it over with a truck to break it.

If cared for, nothing is stopping the Gillette from going another 60 years either.

My house is 1880s so that maybe, or I've got a few very old chisels and a spokeshave that are a comparable age

I still have the black wooden chest my great-grandmother and her son (my grandfather who only died last year) kept all their belongings in when they fled westwards from the Russian army in 1940s Germany. The chest itself was probably built quite a while before that, but I don't know how old it is exactly.

I fold up my pants and place them on there every night.

Not daily my l but I've gone hunting every year with a rifle from 1971 I think it said on the licence of the old man who gave it to me.

My dining room table was originally owned by my great grandmother and was passed down through the family and transported almost 2000km to it's current location in our house.

3 piece safety razor from the 1950s. And soon a watch from 1950 too. Its a wind up watch.

Fender Stratocaster, bought from a Best Buy musical instrument department probably 19ish years ago. Just put new strings on it yesterday and continued learning Dokken's In My Dreams. Fuck that second part of the solo..

My grand father straight razor. It's at least 80 years old.

Common sense probably.

Most of the things I use are a few years old but nothing crazy old. Some t-shirts are maybe 10-15 years old in some cases, I guess that’s old for some. I have a lot of hand tools that are maybe 50-100 years old but they get less use.

An old generic pocket knife I bought in a mall shop back in 2001.

My jansport backpack is probably almost a decade old by now. Same with some of the t-shirts I have but they can get kind of smelly if I sweat too much.