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What is the oldest thing you own that you still use daily?

1y 23d ago by piefed.social/u/mesamunefire in asklemmy

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.

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! Spiral staircase

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.

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 ^^

.

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.

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 are were 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.

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.

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 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.

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 have a refrigerator from around 1988 or 1989 that still works perfectly. Around 1999, it stopped working, so we bought a new one. We didn't throw away the old fridge because we used it to store plates and cutlery, but we were sure that it was completely broken. Then, last year, a technician saw it and told us that only a component needed to be replaced for it to work again. Lo and behold, the damn thing was revived, and after a two-decade slumber it worked again as if no time had passed.

A Leatherman wave I purchased when I first started working and they had just come out. Blade holds its edge and everything still works smoothly. Plus I have worked out a one handed flick to fully open the pliers.

Wave plus owner. Can atleast confirm one handed flick does the trick. I get comments everytime someone sees me open it from my pocket clip.

Wrist watch that's made from an old pocket watch.

Waltham watch company: 1895.

I've seen you around before. Cheers! Show us the watch... I love old time pieces.

Watch

Watch

Watch

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

Man, I wish you could still get a leather belt for $5. Good luck finding one for $50.

You can still find them for $5 in thrift shops, just need to be able to tell the difference between the good stuff and the crappy stuff.

Does anyone have any tips on how to tell them apart?

I think the easiest thing to do is just look and see if it has a stamp on it. Very often it'll just tell you. Look for "full grain leather" and be wary of "made with leather". Another thing you can do is to really acquaint yourself with what a full grain leather belt looks and feels like and then you'll have a feel for the weight, stiffness and finishing. You can also look for ones that look a bit worn, with slightly deformed holes, a little warping, scuffed edges or tooling etc. If it looks worn, it's already withstood the test of time, and real leather can be re-dyed and reshaped. Obviously don't buy something that looks like it's falling apart though, cracking and rips aren't worth the hassle if it's not something sentimental. You won't necessarily find a good leather belt every time you go to a thrift store, but it's definitely something to keep an eye out for and you never know.

You can also always buy a bigger belt, because full grain leather can be cut and the edge finished with hobbyist crafting tools.

Thank you for all these insights

You can also always buy a bigger belt, because full grain leather can be cut and the edge finished with hobbyist crafting tools.

That's a good point, and it reminds me that I should do that with one of my belts

Got a farm and fleet or a tractor supply near you?

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

  • 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 dick

Enjoy it while it lasts

Wh—what do you mean…? 😳

It molts eventually, never the same after

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.

Might wanna have that wiring in your house checked out, that 50s wiring can be a little on the sketchy side.

Source: am electrician

AFAIK, it's only two outlets on the far end of the house. The only things I have plugged into them are some lamps (with LED bulbs) and phone chargers. The rest of the house was re-wired in ~2013 or so. Not sure why previous owner didn't do those last few outlets, but at least the rest of the house is up to code.

Ah gotcha. It's possible that they were a pain to get to without destroying the plaster/drywall and the previous owner was tapped for money, it happens. But yeah, make sure no heavy loads, especially space heaters, and you're probably fine.

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

I live in a refurbished barn on a farm. Age unknown but the imperial bricks and timbers used hint at Victorian. Love it. I have to accept Rats in the exterior walls, attic and the first floor cassette, and the house being cold even in summer due to the stone floor, and the related heating bill. Regardless, it's a better place to be than any modern house and I'm happy here. It provides inspiration. That might be the radon slowly killing my brain cells though.

Ugh, I grew up in a house of similar age. It's amazing how outdoors a nominally indoor space can be. The layers of history those places have can be neat, though.

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...)

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.

I've got a gillete aristocrat from 1947 in the box with the original blades. It's gold. Such a nice shave.

I still use a first gen iPod.

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.

Your mom

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

1640s here!

.uk

What, it's not built on a Roman wall? Boooring. /s

It's crazy to me how commonplace truly deep history is over the pond. Like, there's been multiple different cities in the same place at different times, basically.

I'm equally fascinated by the idea that the American peoples were there for so many thousand years with such dynamic cultures without a similar built environment. Little physical trace but an immense history

Edit: dammit, this was a week ago. I'm not great at conversation!

No worries.

Yep. Australian too. And then there's ancient civilisations that are now poorly attested, but definitely were just as happening as other things around. The Cucuteni-Trypillians come to mind; they had the largest city on Earth at one point, but then that whole pocket of complexity - their whole world - faded out completely, and ended up named after where we found some buried ruins. Similarly, we have to assume the Parthian Empire was just as literate and culturally rich as their rival Rome, but because papyrus doesn't usually last and they didn't spawn successor factions like the Church and Byzantium, their works are lost.

There are ancient native sites around my area (they did build!), and they can be kinda cool, but we basically have no idea what the people who built them were like, or how many waves of migration and replacement have happened since. If it doesn't get recorded it's prehistory, and prehistory is just a little tantalizing.

Tantalising is a damn good word. Sums up my perspective on this so well!

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

My favorite mug was a gift from my first girlfriend, in my sophomore year of high school. My wife hates that I still have it over 20 years later, but I just like it because it’s fucking huge. I can fit like half a pot of coffee in it. It doesn’t even have the original printed design on it anymore; It has worn down to plain white ceramic.

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.

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

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.

Jansport, yep have a green, leather-bottomed one 20 years old still used weekly. One zipper is sometimes a bit sticky.

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.

I read that as "stone spatula" and thought that thing was ancient

Cow tools

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

I have 2 jumpers that date back to 2009ish. Have not found suitable replacements for them sadly.

Genuine question , in this context what is a jumper?

Clothing

After reading a bunch of comments about people using electronics in this post, I had initially pictured “jumpers” as either “jumper cables”, the things people use to boost car batteries with, or small plastic coated pieces of metal or wires that can be placed over exposed pins on circuit boards to connect them (e.g to enable some behaviour). Generally I’d only assume this meaning in a discussion about electronics, though.

(I’m not the person that you replied to, and I knew that jumper means sweater or jacket or something in British (and possibly Australian?) English.)

And now that I think about it, most of my clothing gets worn after a few years, at least on the elbows.

I have a Stanley mug, bought it in 96 when I was working in construction. It's been kicked off scaffolding more times than I can count.

Used so much that the green started coming off ten+ years ago. So I sanded it off and it now has a brushed stainless look.

The lip cover has been gone for at least 15 years, worked well when it was there though. The mug is far too big to fit in any cup holder and has been tossed around mercilessly in every truck I have ever owned without spilling a drop up until the day it broke off.

The lid has chew marks where sharp puppy teeth of my long dead forever friend had himself a munch.

I can't see ever replacing it and I don't see it ever breaking to the point I'll need to.

I also have a knife in the running that would fit the question.

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.

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.

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...

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

My apartment is from 1865 but "own" is a little tenuous... Beyond that it's probably down to probably 20 year old cutlery or my tv stand which is actually a crate that's around 100 years old

My mechanical keyboard. I bought a ducky shine 0 with mx blues when I first got into PC gaming about 11 years ago. I want to upgrade to something fancier but it just never dies!

Ducky shine zero! I have mine from probably around the same time and it's incredibly well built. Not my daily keyboard (I use an ergodox) but it is the keyboard for my gaming PC. I have the mx browns

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 car’s 25 years old. Can’t think of anything else.

My razor handle was manufactured in the 50s

Same. 1956 Gillette Super Speed. They used to make great stuff.

47 gillete aristocrat. There's alot of old razors in this post.

My house was built in 1955, same year my parents were born. I’m not going to count that though. I have a pair of high speakers from the early 70s that get daily use.

I have a folding card table that currently serves as my desk. I don't know how old it is -- 1960s, maybe, based on the style of the brand/sales label on the back? It's almost certainly older than I am, at least... Got it from my uncle back when I was in college and its still working well enough that I haven't bothered to replace it.

A plastic stepping stool that is probably older than me. It holds a subwoofer off the ground so that the downstairs neighbours don't get thumped too hard (they have never complained).

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

Hmm, probably my weightlifting gloves. I've used them at least five times a week for ten years, but they are starting to fall apart.

Still a great buy for $15.00.

Got a Gillette Fatboy slim safety razor, it's over twice my age!

I have a mix of hand tools like scrwdrivers, wrenches, and hammers inherited from my father in law who said some were from back in the 60s that I use as needed.

They are still in decent shape so they get put to good use regularly to make up for being left in a closet for a few decades.

1940s Parker vacumatic skyline.

Writes like a dream and it is neat to use a piece of history.

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.

This makes me want to build more stable rituals. I'm always changing things up.

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.

The US still does build things, just mostly expensive things.

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.

My back. Its getting creeky though.

My leather jacket for my motorbike

I've had it since the nineties

Refrigerator. 30 years old and still working fine. Had to change the compressor once

Same. 1991 RCA!

Damn I thought I was doing well with my 21 year old zanussi.

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.

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'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.

We've been living out of backpacks on the road for the last ten years, so it's easy to keep track of your stuff... Only item in our bags that hasn't changed is a zip-up flannel towel. It's perfect for keeping your toiletries in order, light-weight and washable, doubles as a flannel on the rare occasions you need such a thing, and has Hello Kitty on it.

Since the bags themselves have been replaced, it's the clear winner. 2nd place is a Tony the Tiger colour-changing spoon from a bag of Frosties in 2016.

We have a formica dining table made in the 50s, I think. It looks cool, is in great shape, and I love spotting them in older movies.

Everyday tools? Scissors and knives I've had at least since 2000. (Fiskars stuff is indestructible)

Computer stuff? My Commodore 64. (Don't use it daily but pretty regularly, sits in a box in my living room for easy access)

What do you do with the Commodore?

Games, mostly.

Also, I wrote the 2024 NaNoWriMo novel with it (and did the same in 2017). Can easily fit a daily sprint's worth of text in memory at once, heh.

I use a few modern add-ons: an SD2IEC drive (lets you use floppy images straight off an SD card) and EasyFlash3 (lets you use cartridge images, including the ability to pack random programs into utility carts).

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.

Probably my legs, or something 😜

I think my laptop, a Samsung Notepad with touchscreen. Before I got it it was already used and has been with me for more than 10 years. A couple of years ago I gave it a new life by installing Linux and I hope it will last me another 10 years.

Nice! I have an old PC that was built back in 2012. It has "retired" as a youtube and media machine and has been on every day in the morning for the past 13-ish years. Its running PoPOS mostly because we put a 1070 in it in 2019 to play some games before we got our steam deck.

Linux + old machines is n awesome combo.

My Laptop from 2009 still works like a charm

You have me beat by a bit if you're still daily driving it. OS support is getting hard, though.

Wirth's law seems to have passed Moore's law sometime around 2010. Or maybe we just ran out of non-gaming problems that are computationally hard. Either way, hardware from the time that isn't physically broken is still quite usable, if you've escaped from the proprietary software treadmill.

What operating system?

Arch with XFCE

Not sure if fruit trees would pass the “use daily” criteria, at least not in the generally acceptable sense.

I have a workshop that was converted from a barn quite a long time before I was born.

I make jams/preserves. So I guess preservation makes those super productive trees daily use if you count toast in the morning :D

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

'Stuff'.
No questions please.

Yeah, stuff. You know - stray boxes of Lego, some shoes, keys nobody knows what opens any longer..

I think there might be some pillows in there? Probably spiders.

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 car and also my scooter are from 2009. I use them (for commute) alternately depending on which season it is and if it's raining or not.

I have a teeny tiny screwgate carabina from about 1997 that I use as a key ring.

I wet shave. Ordered a vintage Gillette Fat Boy from the 70s. Definitely my oldest personal item. I've had it only about 10 years though.

Probably my razor, shaving brush and soap mug. Bought them around 2012.

The soapmug is an Old Spice mug I got second hand off ebay. Not sure when it was made. 80's maybe. The others were bought new.

A Mackie mixer and two nearfield speakers I bought 25 years ago still see hours-daily usage. When the fancy Kenwood tuner died 2-3 years later, I replaced it with a Boss 50w/chan 12vdc transistor amp that still never even gets warm.

Speaking of Casios, I have an F-105 [1572] 'Illuminator' that's 20 years old and still using the same battery. It gains about 1 minute per year.

I have several vintage film cameras I use pretty often, oldest are probably my Nikon F or Leica M3 from the late 50s.

TI-83 plus

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.

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!

Still using my microwave from my wedding. It's from 2009 and it's a Panasonic. Also my Kettle is from around that same time too and still chugging along, it no longer beeps though.

A great-grandparent's dresser.

Oldest thing I use frequently may be a 100~ year old ring.

My teapot probably from the 1940's

In terms of actual daily use the oldest thing that I can actually date would be the table my computer sits on - that's been in the family since at least the 60s (when one of my uncles scratched his name into the drawer). It's just a basic solid wood desk, still holding up fine and unless abused will continue doing so for quite some time yet.

Aside from that some of my dinner plates are over 30, the motorbike I usually commute on is a '97 model, and the butter knives I like are not dated but I believe could be anywhere from early 1900s onwards (faux bone handles, made in England with various Sheffield makers marks).

I do have a few tools, cameras, and telescopes around which are also reasonably old but they aren't daily use items.

I have a Grundig radio my grandparents bought in the fifties. It's completely restored and I had the aux changed to a mini jack, so I can play stuff on it over Bluetooth.

Can it still receive regular radio too?

Yup absolutely. FM and AM, thats why I had it restored.

Leuk, there's something cool about being able to listen to an ad for crypto on a device made when cheques were the new rage.

Hmm, probably cookware from the 1960's. Furniture too, if that counts. It's possible something in the kitchen is actually a generation older, although I'm not sure.

If you include decorations as opposed to just tools it goes back almost arbitrarily (I have 19th century heirlooms, pre-settlement arrowheads and Cambrian period fossils), but I think the spirit of the question is more about things finding a totally pragmatic application.

Edit: I also have a touch-sensitive lamp of a similar age to the cookware. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but I'm guessing the entire exterior is one big capacitor, and it must have a very early transistor inside to switch it. It's not quite used daily, but it's sure interesting.

Obligatory Technology Connections

https://youtu.be/TbHBHhZOglw

Huh, very cool! Nobody in the family could remember where mine actually came from. Nobody else knew enough about electronics to be impressed by how old it is, either. Actually I'm lucky it came up.

There's no markings I can see. If Alladin had a patent on it maybe that would be the place to start looking for the model.

There's no mechanical relay I can hear and no tube warmup period, but on the other hand it has no boot period and it does behave oddly depending on the quality of mains power (so analog). The person who almost certainly bought it died in the 1970's.

Two things come to mind.

My recently acquired Technics hifi system from the early 2000s from which I listen to the radio, my music tapes and my CDs.

And my old Telefunken HDTV from 2006. It's remote doesn't work anymore but that's okay.

My mom bought me a little Leatherman squirt on my birthday in 2010 and I've been carrying it ever since. 15 years on it's still my most consistent EDC Carry.

My house but it isn't really that old, around WW2.

Although I have some games that are 100s or even 1000s of years old, but that is a set of rules rather than a physical thing.

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 stove that is a little older then me. I have a cheese grater that no one in house kniws where it cane from or when we bought it. I have a towel i go in the 90s on a trip. That's about as old as a robotech art book i have kept since around then. And I have my grand father's dresser. Not sure how old that is

I have a 1973 Gibson ripper bass and a 1971 ampeg svt v9 with a late 70s 8x10 ampeg cabinet. I don't use them daily but more than twice a week, they both still work perfectly. Just regular maintenance

One of my bike's is 30 years old, and I use it all the time.

But as far as oldest stuff I still use, probably things like certain furniture, tools, and kitchen stuff, which would have been inherited from grandparents who have long passed.

I have my grandma's speed square I use it every day, it's from 1987

Until last year I used a ski coat from 1940 as my winter coat

What happened last year? 😳

fascion Nazis took it.

I bought a 1200w power supply in 2013 that is still going strong. Daily driver I've moved from case to case as I have upgraded over the years.

I have the metal 'polenta spoon' that my great grandparents brought to the US from Italy in 1896. I don't use it, but it sits in the utensil bin by my stove. No idea how old it is or why it was deemed important enough to bring on a boat.

I have some old wooden chairs at the dining table that could be old. Certainly before 1940s.

I think the apt. building I live in is from the 1920s or so.

Probably my Ron Jon Surf shop beach towel I got while on holiday in Florida in 1997 (I live in the UK). Still in great condition and I wouldn't say I've looked after it particularly.

Also honourable mention to my oldest tech which is an HP touchsmart 600 PC I use for youtube in my bedroom, it's from 2011 and still just about hanging on.

Maybe the iron skillets. I don't think a day passes that I don't use those. Or my house, it's from the 1940s. Some of the furniture is older than that too, though I don't think there is any one piece I actively use each day.

Truly oldest? Double entry accounting, I use nearly every day and that's from around 1300.

I have a washcloth I got when I was like 6.. I’m almost 40. It’s a really nice mesh washcloth and somehow it only has one extra hole that shouldn’t be there, as well as a seam for the edging that needs to be fixed.

I’ve used it almost daily for my face that whole time.

But the oldest thing I have that I sort of technically use is a wheelchair from WWI. It functions as a chair in my living room. I don’t really think it counts, being furniture, though.

That's cool. Where'd you get the wheelchair? Got a pic?

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 pocket mirror had a copyright date of 1914, but it's reasonable to assume it's a bit newer than that. It's probably around 100 years old.

My house is from the 1950s and my truck from 2007. I also have a shemagh scarf I bought when I was about 13 - so around 20 years ago. I’ve got a Leatherman that’s about the same age, too. Then there are two military surplus jackets from Austria - one from 1996 and the other from the 1980s - though I haven’t owned them that long.

Bedside table.

Maybe 50 years old.

Alarm clock I bought at the end of 2006 or early 2007. About 18 years ago

Hmm, do you literally only own things you bought new?

The question was about what I use daily.

The oldest thing I own is an end table from late 70s. Don’t use it very often though

Ah, okay. There has to be someone out there that's fully in this material century like that.

kitchen radio. It is one of the first portable tube radios, built 1958 or 1968 (dont remember). Internals died a few times, retro-fitted by a UKW radio receiver, then an MP3 player, now its a Raspi radio. It runs most of the time if I am at home

I still have a clock radio from the 1970s around. No repairs needed, it's amazing the difference no moving parts makes.

I have balls of yarn, knitting needles, and crochet hooks from the 60s and 70s. Also, most of my home appliances, like fridge, tv, washing machine, and microwave/oven, are about 20 years old and working perfectly.

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

I have a cupboard from 1789. I use it to store stuff, so yeah, I use it every day.

My '97 car?
Clothing? Furniture?

A 1797 George III Cartwheel penny, and some other old English coins. I don't use them as such, but I look at them daily. It's a great distraction from trivial issues to look at them on my desk and wonder how many people have owned them and what the owners bought with them.

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.

If it's truly daily use only, then surprising myself, I think it might actually be my phone.

A large tooth comb I’ve had since middle school. I used it everyday until a couple of years ago when I switched to a brush better designed for my hair type, but I still use it on occasion. Not sure how I haven’t lost that thing throughout the years.

ETA: I’ve had the thing for over 2 decades!

P-38 can opener from World War II. This little thing is the best can opener I've ever owned.

Drat, I was hoping it was shaped like a little Lockheed Lightning.

The radio alarm clock, couldn’t find the specific year only to narrow towards the late 70s.

My flat, the building was built around the beginning of the 70s.

  • house, built in 1900
  • me, built in 1974
  • pocket knife, built in 1994

I have a Razer mousepad that I've used for probably 15 years now.

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

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.

A vehicle.

My 1880 foursquare.

My dick. I've used that every day since I was born.

The dresser in my bedroom was my dad's and it's older than me. I think it's around 50 years old.

I was going to say this… but depending on how old you are the term “use” gets a little loose. It performs bodily functions.

My house is from 1884 so that’s used pretty often.

I’ve moved continents so I haven’t brought too many older items with me generally speaking

Holy shit, same. It's either 1884 or 1887, i'm not sure.

My knees

Technically the rest of you is basically just as old but hooeee I know it sure doesn't feel that way

I wear a cord jacket from first grade as a bolero (I'm in my mid 30s). I got older stuff but this usually weirds people out.

Probably my Granddads 1950s East German office chair. Got it when he passed since I always used to sit in it when drawing at his desk.

Gas spring is a bit leaky and the leather is a bit faded but it's more solid and comfy than anything new under €500 I tried.

I have a Marvin the Martian mug I got in 1995 for my 10th birthday. I don’t use it daily, but every few days for sure.

I bought recently a Psion Revo organizer and now use it to, well, organize my life

Probably my original day 1 psp.

"Heet" liniment. I have an old bottle found when my father died. It still burns but it helps with the arthritis and other pain.

My body. Had it all my life and I'm planning on using it until I die. Or until I can put my consciousness in a robot body if that becomes possible first.

My wallet was a gift on my 12th birthday.

I am ollllld.

Crumpler bag, Ibanez guitar, lammy pens, and darn tough socks have all held up well

My flat was built in the 70s. So probably that. My violin is much older but I don't play much these days (certainly not daily).