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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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.
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 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.
- 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.
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
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.
And some rat taste buds!
No wonder I love eating cheese and solving mazes so much!
lol this is excellent, bravo ^^
only if you believe the body of theseus is not the same body anymore after its been renewed.
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!
I’ve been using the same coffee cup almost every day for the last 50+ years.
Yup, I’m old.
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!
Probably my legs, or something 😜
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.
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!
Spine-tingling toast!
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.
My brain (since 1990), or at least I have been trying.
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.
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.
