Ask HN: What is the oldest thing you own that you still use? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What is the oldest thing you own that you still use?

4 pointsyen22310 comments

A lot of modern things are not designed with longevity in mind. I am curious about things that have survived the test of time.

Excluding things like your body!

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I have a Jura automatic espresso machine that I've used every day, multiple times a day, for many years now. I bought it used and didn't really expect it to last, figuring I'd upgrade in a few months. But several years and cross country moves later, it's still as reliable as the day I got it, even with all the moving parts and built up coffee dust and moisture. I've brought it to a few workplaces and coworkers were also impressed by it and used it throughout the week.

It's an incredible piece of Swiss engineering and such a stark contrast to the world of disposable personal electronics I'm used to. Best $800 I ever spent on a machine.

I have a pair of 10x50 Carl Zeiss Jena (East Germany) binoculars. Good optics, physically still in good shape. Bought them in an optical shop in East Berlin in the early '80s.

My partner came with a snow shovel that belonged to her grandparents. It's probably my favorite they-don't-build-'em-like-that-anymore object. I'm guessing it's mid last century, '40s, '50s. It's still solid af and easily better than anything I could get at Home Depot nowadays.

For most people this is probably furniture, but specifically for tech, it's a record player-FM radio combo from the 70s/80s with some records dating back to the same period. I also have a Bluetooth receiver hooked up to it as an audio input source, which means I can use it as a speaker system for my digital movie projector.

I also have plans to purchase some old landline phones to create a room-to-room phone system with a cheap PBX machine, but that's a long term plan.

Hmmm... my mountain bike (a Specialized Hard Rock) is from 2006 and I still ride it. So that's one candidate. Likewise my truck (a Chevy Suburban) is a 2004 model, so that's pretty old.

I have a few fishing rods / reels that date back to the early 90's that are still in my pile that I carry around when I go fishing; although of the two rods I use most often, none are the really old ones.

I have at least one toolbox and a few small hand tools (ratchets, wrenches, sockets, etc) that also date back to the early 90's. Most of that stuff is Craftsman brand.

My coffee pot (a Mr. Coffee brand drip machine) is from about 2004 or 2005.

Nothing else really jump to mind.

I use my Kindle from 2012 every day. It still has weeks of battery life and can connect to WiFi when I need to download a book I purchase with One Click to Kindle.

It’s honestly amazing. It’s the most longevity I’ve ever gotten from an electronics purchase.

My house dates to the 1850s, it came with a poorly designed wood cooking stove from the 1970s that we replaced with what was a premium stove circa 1900 which was refurbished circa 2000.

noodle-sieve from 1960's - an old USSR metal sieve with vitreous enamel coating and paintings on it. Love it like my grandma did, too.

Second oldest thing i own is a steamer for kirgizian dumplings (manty), with the price - 2 kopejk - embossed into on of the handles. Must be from the 70-80's.

And a few other old things, but none of them being older then me, except these two things :) love them and I hope, my kids will love them, too, soma day - if i find a wive whos is not pushed away by these things ahah

A hall mirror from the late 1700s we think: certainly before glass could be manufactured in one piece big enough for a single mirror.

After that I have a safe from 1925, so 100 years old this year.

I still have some pots of Citadel Miniatures branded acrylic paint from the mid 1980s that’s still good to use.

Plastic measuring cup I bought in 1975. Used it last night.

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