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Comment by scrooched_moose | Hacker News Reader

I've probably given away 15-20 endgrain cutting boards over the last few Christmases to various family and friends - nothing fancy, just random pattern to use up scrap from other projects instead of tossing it in the fire pit. I know of at least 4 that have never been used for anything but serving trays because they're "special".

I find it hilarious every time - they're made to be used and abused. I've told every one of them "if you actually manage to use it enough to damage it, I'll just make you another one", but they still sit there in pristine condition.

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you gave people who know you your time, your thoughtfulness, and your acquired and honed skill. those are not cutting boards - they are photographs of a moment.

anywise, the way to solve your issue is to give them a second cutting board - then the first one becomes a non-scarce commodity and both will likely get used.

I like this perspective. I think it applies well to many things we collect.

I've been collecting fountain pens for more than a decade now and I've observed that new collectors end up buying their "trophy" pen only to have it remain uninked and kept in a drawer someplace. It's only a few more years later, when another "trophy" is inevitably collected, that both pens see use.

Similar story with watch-collectors - some people buy their grail, then leave it in a safe.

There's a big mismatch between people who have "pristine" watches, and those that have seen life and suffered the inevitable scratches, dents, and damage.

Yeah. I love watches but I decided I'm not going down that road. That's why I wear just a Casio. Though admittedly it's a $1600 titanium Casio with DLC coating and sapphire glass.. but it's still just a quartz watch and in the grand scheme of things not a huge deal if it gets dented or smashed. Wear it every day, everywhere. Really the only thing I regret about it is the integrated bracelet. Can't replace it with a cheap nato strap when the pins fall off and links vanish in snow.

That will absolutely work; I'm exactly like that - if I have one (1) of something I will over-cherish it and never use it. If I have two (or more), I will now comfortably use one knowing I have a spare.

Not logical, but I haven't broken the habit yet :)

How is this not logical?

Abundance turns people into wasteful, inconsiderate assholes. This is true on so many levels, I am struggling to understand what is your point of reference

As crude as this comment is, 100%.

As a species, we are obsessed with RARE. We will willfully kill animals, to the point from abundance to rare, and only then, we will then spend millions to "protect" that rarity.

its so backwards, but such is life.

I don't think it's necessarely backwards. If you spend your life almost hunting to extinction and then protecting a species, you'll always have something to do.

I mean, for the sake of argument, what's the alternative? Protect abundant resources and use rare resources? Use rare and abundant without discrimination? Or don't use anything / huddle in a hole and die?

More seriously - I think we went very fast from my post of "If I have a unique hand-made-with-love gizmo I will cherish it" to "having things makes assholes" and "we love to willfully kill animals for no reason". And that's fine, we all have our priorities and passionate topics and axes to grind, but I'm a bit sad we didn't get to explore that specific interesting tidbit of human psychology before reducing it / switching to one of the top-10 massive issues of the day...

a species is not a thing. it's a concept - a thought. a concept doesn't do anything, because it's thoughts. so a species cannot kill an animal. a species cannot spend millions to protect. because thoughts cannot perform an action, because they're not a thing.

what does happen is a group of people, which is a thing, kills animals to the point of them being rare. then another, opposing group, spends millions to protect those remaining animals.

i'd expect something like this from a reddit post, where I often see, usually on redneck antivax subs i visit for entertainment, things like: reddit is hypocritical. because the redneck is not capable of comprehending that different people, with different opinions and actions both post on the website.

it's so backwards to think that, but such is some people's life.

This reminds me of how farmers in the Middle ages did many things that lowered their expected crop yields but also improved their worst case scenario.

It does make sense if you are trying to minimize risk to use cheap disposable tools when times are good and reserve durable long-lasting tools for when times are bad.

The first thing I do when I get a new tool or work bench or what have you, is to whack a dent in it. That way I can stop being careful with it and start using it properly without worrying about keeping it pristine.

This is also why I prefer buying used items.

It’s one thing I prefer about used cars too. I don’t have to worry about the first tiny scratch or ding

Probably better to wait until you know it's not defective before doing that.

Depends on your local consumer protections. Over here you're entitled to a product that is fit for purpose. A defective product is clearly not that, with or without dent. Of course getting the store to honor that is going to be a lot of effort pretty much anywhere in the world, but I don't feel like a small dent contributes to that.

To take a random example: I bought ear defenders in a hardware store. I used them fairly frequently for a couple of months, after which I put them on my head and the headband promptly snapped right down in half. I had to argue with the store that that's not a normal way for ear defenders to "wear down", but I got a new pair in the end which have been holding up for years now.

That's an interesting story, but to relate it to my previous comment, we have to ask: did you purposely damage the ear defenders for emotional reasons? If so, did you tell them that?

No, but as long as the damage is unrelated to the defect it's not relevant as far as the law is concerned. I have a right to a product that's fit for purpose. That right doesn't specify anything about the state of the product otherwise.

It's sensible to avoid having to argue about what's relevant to the law when returning merchandise.

Yes! This is the exact reason I drive an old car (2008 Prius with 180k miles!). I could buy a new vehicle like a Black Model 3, but then I'd have to go through the hassle of buying and insuring a new car, and then I'd be nervous about scraping it on a sidewalk or getting bumped by a car door. Or what if the fancy new vehicle has software or hardware problems and I have to send it back to the shop for months?

I guess that they already have cutting boards (and this one is not superior in this role), but their trays were uglier than this one.

So keeping it in "pretty tray" role makes sense.

Try framing them as charcuterie boards instead of cutting boards - betcha they get some use that way.

I've received a couple of wood cutting boards that I almost never use for cutting, mostly because I prefer to cut on plastic.

Is it also possible that they aren’t using them because they don’t want to (or don’t know how) to do proper upkeep? They can’t just throw them in the dishwasher like their plastic cutting boards…

Friends valuing your work (even your scrap) to the point of becoming a "white elephant". Maybe use create a stamp that says "use me or lose me, give me away!"

i'd purposely immediately started using a nice butcher block cutting board that my friend's dad (who made it) gave me last year so that i wouldn't fall into that specialness trap. but because it is special, i do tend to use it sparingly and care for it better.

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