Ask Lemmy

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

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...

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

My knees

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.

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

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 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.

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

Your mom

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

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.

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.

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.

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 razor handle was manufactured in the 50s

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

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

Bedside table.

Maybe 50 years old.

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

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.

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.