Ask Lemmy

Our staircase was built over two centuries ago, and still does its job!

• My house was built in 1960
• My car was made in 1974 (A land rover series 3)
• I go to sleep listening to podcasts on a Sansa MP3 player from 2000 that I've used every night since.
• My body, issued in 1971.

My violin was made in 1614, but to be honest I use my practice violin daily and use that as my concert violin, and tune and play it weekly.

Probably my legs, or something 😜

The foundation of the building I live in is from the 1880’s. Does that count?

The old, big chest we store stuff in under the stairs is from 1883

About 15 years go I had to go somewhere that was much much colder than I anticipated, so we made an emergency drive to the closest town, and I bought the warmest jacket they had. It was like $300, but I never regretted it. Its the most practical, comfy, jacket ive ever owned and doesn't look half bad - even has a hoody you can clip on and off. Got me through snow as well, but its not water proof.

Love that jacket.

A stove spatula my mom had in the 1940s. Not daily but I use it routinely. I hand wash it instead of putting it through the dishwasher.

We also have my wife's grandmother's old, completely out-of-tune standup piano. Nobody in our house plays piano. We use it to take up space, accumulate clutter, and make sure that area of the room is unusable.

House is 123 years old, I have a couple of cast-iron pans that are civil war era, still get regular use.

My brain (since 1990), or at least I have been trying.

I have a drip coffee maker that's gotta be almost 40 now. It was given to me by an older family member when I moved into a new apartment. It still works fine as far as I can tell...

Your mom

I still use a first gen iPod.

I put a little string of fake pearls on my daughter about every day, and they were mine and my sisters' when I was a toddler, so they're about 30. I don't know how they've survived so many toddlers cause they'd break with any real pulling. She loves them though and is very careful with them. She also uses tiny baby sized silverware from my mom's babyhood(early 70s) It's cute and funny to watch her use miniature stuff that's just her size

I think that's the oldest thing other than furniture (we use my great grandfather's bedroom suite)

My back. Its getting creeky though.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

TI-83 plus

My razor handle was manufactured in the 50s

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 '97 car?
Clothing? Furniture?

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.

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.

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