Just wondering what passes the test of time? I personally have an old Casio watch and if you count fruit trees, those are pretty old too.
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I have a cheap plastic hair brush my mum bought me over 40 years ago when I was about 6 or 7, she said it cost a dollar and surprised I still use it daily.
There is nothing wrong with it, so it lives on.
I use my great grandfather’s bottle opener. It’s magnetic and sticks to my fridge, and it’s over 100 years old. Works great!
I have a Brazilian bottle opener that was a marketing gift from a store. The phone number has 4 digits.
Is it any different than regular bottle openers?
Just a very old bottle opener that has never rusted or been damaged in any way. It’s probably 53 years old.
Our staircase was built over two centuries ago, and still does its job!
Do you have no fear of splinters‽ Cause I know those stairs would give me a splinter just by looking at them wrong
Hah! I don’t know if it’s because of how old the wood is, but it’s not very splintery, it has a smooth fossilised feel even though it’s so uneven.
Yeah, I’m sure anything that would have splintered off already has by now with how worn it looks. It shouldn’t be an issue now unless a chunk breaks off.
Mmm, delicious non OSHA-compliance. No handrails, no problem!
I’m fascinated with those joints. Are they nailed at all, or is it just held together by gravity, friction and the exterior walls?
No nails, gravity and large wooden stakes / dowels. It’s amazing to me that people made this by hand, and by the looks of it it was some exquisite craftsmanship, but it’s still functional hundreds of years later, unlike most things created today.
Ah, the old style of woodwork. People have almost forgotten it now - really, anyone uninterested in history has, although the traditions lasted longer than you’d think - but nails were once expensive. Scraping things to fit and using wood’s natural flexibility can get you a good way, and the fact it shrinks and hardens after being cut down can also be used to great effect. Although, in this case the fact the female part is a full log makes me somewhat doubtful greenwood techniques were used, aside from maybe to make the dowels.
They would have made this thing entirely without power tools as well (so it’s no wonder they skipped the nice finish). Two centuries ago they probably were using modern hand saws and the like, although certain archaic tools like the drawknife could have been in their kit as well.
Looks dangerous as fuck but pretty cool!
How? We have stairs like this near a few pubs and restaurants. Though made of metal.
If you tripped, there’s not much to grab onto, and it looks both steep and very uneven.
I would have no problem climbing this myself. Habitually climbing it carelessly and/or while burdened would present some risk, though, and it’s probably not going to be great for grandma. We don’t build like this anymore out of inclusion, a higher level of value on life and just not wanting or needing to have architecture that requires skill to use.
I’m in my 40s now, so I guess my body.
Most of it is a decade old at best ^^
sauce: https://book.bionumbers.org/how-quickly-do-different-cells-in-the-body-replace-themselves/
Apparently we are just the brain and eyeballs(and female gonads) piloting a meat sack of Theseus.
Meat sack of Theseus is an excellent band name
And some rat taste buds!
No wonder I love eating cheese and solving mazes so much!
I’m guessing metabolism causes the matter in a brain cell to turn over pretty often, even, and new neurons continue to grow throughout your life. Tooth enamel is the only part I know you can be reasonably sure is the same atoms as it’s always been. Eye lenses might have some chemically durable portion, I suppose.
A person is like a river. Always the same thing, but always changing.
lol this is excellent, bravo ^^
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I’ve got a couple of cast iron skillets from the early sixties that I use pretty much every day.
I use my grandma’s and great grandma’s cast iron weekly.
My razor is from 1912.
I came here to say my safety razor from 1932 that I use daily, but you beat me by a couple decades!
Gem razors ftw!
My absolute favorite! And a good pickup on your side. Gem gang represent.
I find it so surprising that the single edge gem blades didn’t take over the shaving world, compared to the standard double edged safety razor. The angle is built right into the razor head, it’s essentially idiot proof!
Gold Gillette Aristocrat 1947 checking in.
A classic to be sure!
Straight razor or safety?
Safety single edge. The only razor I’ve ever been comfortable with.
I’ve been using the same coffee cup almost every day for the last 50+ years.
Yup, I’m old.
I can’t believe how automatic it is!
My grandfather loved to collect old shit just for the fun of repairing it, that’s kind of how I got into my own hobby.
I remember fixing one of these with him, and actually we made a fuckload of toast because it was pretty cool.
Spine-tingling toast!
Relevant technology connections https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OfxlSG6q5Y
Ok fuck me I need to find one of these on ebay
You lucky bastard!
My dad was friends with the guy who designed the Aztec Hotel. He didn’t want regular light fixtures originally, so he came up with an idea for lighted columns, and he made a prototype table-lamp sized. The was in 1925. The prototype is in my living room and I use it every day.
Interesting, got any pics?
I went downstairs and took one just for you:
His thing was that he didn’t want obvious electric lights in the lobby because Aztecs didn’t have electric lights. But it was decided that giant glass columns in earthquake country in the 20s was a bad idea, so they didn’t do it
Wow, that looks great. Thanks for showing!
Aww, that’s a shame they didn’t go through with it. I don’t see why it would be an issue structurally. You’d just need to build the structural spiller in the center, then put lights around that, then glass around that. LEDs would make this so much easier, but it still should have been doable. You could even make the glass “floating” so the floor/ceiling shaking wouldn’t break it.
I think in 1925 their ability to cushion big hunks of glass was lower, and they didn’t have safety glass. It was probably a good call, even though it was a cool idea.
I have a 100 year old porcelain doll. Her name is Agnes, she has real human hair and is definitely cursed. Does that count?
Other than that, I have a pre-WW2 windup clock that still works perfectly. It’s a solid steel brick.
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.
How paranoid are you about dropping it or falling while holding it? That’s literally what I think every time I hear about instruments like this.
That would be among the few things left over from the age of knights and the black death (or the end of that period, anyway), and even modern instruments can be unbelievably valuable.
Not particularly. The wood sat in the harbor nearest to Brefchia to age for two years before Magini ever even touched it. It’s pretty sturdy all things considered. The violin held up better than the original bow and wooden case. We fumigated all of them because they had become infected with bow mites. The original case and bow are in the attic, mostly she currently lives in a crushed velvet lined climate controlled case. Not playing her would do more damage than breaking her out and keeping her in tune.
Lol, it looks like that particular dude died in a plague outbreak.
Are all the previous owners known? I can only imagine the stories such an object might tell us if it could speak (as well as sing).
Not exactly. There’s a break in the chain of ownership, when it came to the new world in the late 1700s. We’re not entirely certain how my great great great grandfather came into possession of it, but we believe that he either won it in a game of poker, or he possibly stole it during the commotion of the last quarter century of the 1700s.
Thanks for the info on Magini. I just knew he made my violin, or more likely one of his apprentices. And that he and another dude in Florence
arewere simultaneously credited for inventing the thing independently of each other.Edit: there’s a fuckton more info on the guy than I could find back in 1993 when I looked into him
Glad to help!
or he possibly stole it during the commotion of the last quarter century of the 1700s.
commie
I see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, lol.
That right there is one of the stories I’d love to know the details of.
Expensive piece of kit! I assume you’re a professional musician?
Sadly, no. I was told by my cousins, who are professional violinists, that I had the ability, but they didn’t inform me of that until I was already 25 and a chef.
I inherited the thing because I found it in my grandma’s closet when I was 6 and helping her clean her room. I asked her who owned it, and she said it was my dead grandpa’s violin. So I asked again, then who’s is it? She thought about it and said “I dunno, I guess whichever of you grandkids learns to play it first.”
I inherited the thing because I found it in my grandma’s closet when I was 6 and helping her clean her room. I asked her who owned it, and she said it was my dead grandpa’s violin. So I asked again, then who’s is it? She thought about it and said “I dunno, I guess whichever of you grandkids learns to play it first.”
Have you had it insured? I see they go for roughly 20.000 to 150.000 USD, so I assume it’s an ‘of course I have’ moment, but you seem to be quite nonchalant with it so far :D
Got it insured by Lloyd’s of London when they authenticated it’s age and tag. That’s the source of my nonchalance.
Edit: I will say their insurance policies are astounding in what they cover, but they are pricey.
My ass. No way. How do you know it’s authentic, let alone date it to that time period? Secondly show us!
Lloyd’s of London authenticated the tag inside, and the age. If I remember to, I will post a picture when I pull it out this next week.
I have clothes that are more or less 20 years old. Kitchen utensils that are 25 years old. But I think my body is the oldest thing I have that still works, more or less.
Same. I’d like to find a replacement for the left foot (or at least the left big toe) but I can’t find any, anywhere.
I was going to say clothes as well. I haven’t really changed shape much in the last 15yrs. So if it’s still in one piece, I still wear it.
A manual coffee grinder from about 1910.
I figure I need it because if the electric’s broke I’ll need coffee to fix it.
Wow thats great.
We use an old bullet that was gifted us to grind our coffee. It used to do a whole lot more…but we got a better blender. It works well and its easy to clean.
I have a ninja turtle cereal bowl from when I was a kid that I still use. It’s from 1988.
How faded is it?
It’s suprisingly in great condition. The only sign of wear is the paint on the eyes has chipped off in some areas.
I don’t use it daily, more like several times per week - a wooden cutting board I made in school about 44 years ago.
Thats awesome. Always wanted to make a cutting board.
