# Stuff that works, stuff that holds up **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 8, 2017, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781 "2017-09-08T04:45:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/41 "2017-09-09T01:34:44Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Zippo lighters I have an ancient Zippo that has some personal meaning. I inquired about getting the hinge repaired (cost was no concern). They accepted the lighter and a month later returned it to me completely restored. No charge. Great people. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/42 "2017-09-09T01:59:09Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Cool that you have a spinning wheel. Two questions, if I may: > > 1. Do you still use it? Yes, occasionally. I’m more of a weaver than a spinner, but I enjoy having it. It’s a bit annoying when it needs repairs as it’s hand-made and nothing on it is standard, so parts have to be custom made for it. > [@](#): > > 1. Is there any reason why the spindle needs to be particularly pointy? Pointy enough to, say, prick one’s finger upon… I’ve never seen an in-use spindle that is actually pointy enough for finger-pricking. They’re about as pointed as crochet or large gauge knitting needles. Some depictions of, say “Sleeping Beauty” and “Rumplestiltskin” actually show a _distaff_ as the finger-injuring tool (I’m looking at you, Disney), probably because animation artists usually aren’t spinners themselves. The few distaffs I’ve seen are somewhat pointy, but, again, not enough to cause injury by touching them. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/43 "2017-09-09T08:47:51Z")
Shoe laces last. It’s pretty hard to find a pair of shoes now that will outlast the laces. Before I throw away shoes, I remove the laces to be saved and repurposed later. I have a magnifying glass continuously in my pocket and in daily use. It is about 100 years old, was my grandfather’s. Glass lens in a tortoiseshell rim, folds into leather sheath, on a brass swivel rivet. No modern materials. Probably made entirely by hand. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/44 "2017-09-09T11:19:22Z")
Still listening to the Klipsch speakers I bought in 1981. I suspect they’ll outlast me. Most of my hunting is done with a 1964\* Winchester model [94](http://www.winchesterguns.com/content/dam/winchester-repeating-arms/products/rifles/model-94/carbine/Model-94-Carbine-534199-2407hr.jpg/_jcr_content/renditions/original.img.jpg). That gun has put more venison on the table than some entire hunting clubs, and for 53 years needed zero maintenance beyond cleaning. It will go to my son in my will. Every time we have a “Which barbecue grill?” thread, I mention my [Holland](http://www.bssauce.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/grill.jpg) grill. It’s approaching 15 years now, and has needed only cleaning. We grill, quite literally, at least 3 times per week so I estimate it has cooked around 2500 meals. \*The last microwave I bought had 9 different warnings in the manual. The Winchester manual contains none. A sad commentary on the competence of the average consumer today. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/45 "2017-09-09T11:42:55Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I have a[S&W Model 15 revolver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Wesson_Model_15). It’s the weapon that I carried when I was a deputy sheriff back in the 70s. It was worked on by a top-notch gunsmith and has about a three pound pull on double-actions, smooth as glass. > > I don’t know how many thousands of round I have fired with this pistol. We used to have shooting weekends where my friends and I would spend Saturdays reloading literally thousands of rounds of brass and then spend Sunday shooting them all. For a while, it hung in my closet, then I started shooting again. > > It still fires like a dream. And people wonder why there are umpteen million guns in the U.S.A.: it’s because with even basic care and preventative maintenance, the durned things last forever. My cousin has a WWII surplus M1 Garand, purchased (and used) by his father, that he regularly hunts with and takes to the range for “fun time.” Beautifully lacquered wood stock, gleaming blued metal, and scary accurate. I’ve offered to take it off his hands, but the going price is somewhere north of an arm, a leg, a testicle, and a 1st-born child (plus an obscene amount of money). I have a roasting pan that was a wedding gift to my parents in the late 1940’s. I have two Corningware “Cornflower Blue” casserole dishes gifted to my Mom one year for XMas; according to her, it was the year they first came out (1958). ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/46 "2017-09-09T12:37:52Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > My sewing machines is a 1910 Singer. Still working. Mine’s a relatively modern one, from 1940 (I was given it with the receipt, in case I ever need to take it back 😃 ). I used it earlier on this week to shorten a dress, though I had to use the hand crank rather than the motor, which isn’t currently working; I think I blew the fuse last time I used it. It don’t do much compared to a modern machine, but what it does do, it keeps on doing. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/47 "2017-09-09T12:44:28Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > The last microwave I bought had 9 different warnings in the manual. The Winchester manual contains none. A sad commentary on the competence of the average consumer today. Or a testimonial to the deadliness of modern small appliances 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/48 "2017-09-09T18:37:09Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > My cousin has a WWII surplus M1 Garand, purchased (and used) by his father, that he regularly hunts with and takes to the range for “fun time.” Beautifully lacquered wood stock, gleaming blued metal, and scary accurate. > > I’ve offered to take it off his hands, but the going price is somewhere north of an arm, a leg, a testicle, and a 1st-born child (plus an obscene amount of money). Have my Dad’s original issue M-1, and a [1917 P.08](https://i.imgur.com/dsnlimj.jpg), and a [Sauer and Son 38H](https://i.imgur.com/C49EdLq.jpg) - he ‘acquired’ those somewhere along the Ruhr Pocket [along with a Silver star and a Bronze star] and you will have to pry them out of my cold dead fingers [sentimental reasons, not second amendment reasons, though those apply as well.] I also have a Webley ‘British Bulldog’ with ivory grips, 1890s vintage, a functioning Brown Bess that was vetted by a gunsmith for my dad sometime back in about 1980 [he was cleaning the basement and decided to see if it was still ok] vintage probably 1820 or 30. My family really _doesn’t_ throw much away. You are right, a properly maintained weapon can live damned near forever. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/49 "2017-09-09T18:46:32Z")
Maybe not quite as sexy as some of these other posts, but in 86(?) I bought a bread knife that I’ve used for cutting/dicing everything, pretty well every day, to this day. Have never required a cutting knife/cleaver. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/50 "2017-09-09T20:26:53Z")
The Kenmore washer that was installed in the house built in 1979 (we bought the house in 2006) still runs, but it is almost done. It needs a new part that is no longer available, but we can still wash our clothes in it. We’ve owned the washer and dryer far longer than we did the house. We had a Subaru go for 10 years and 220,000 miles before it died. I don’t want to buy any other make of car. I still wear a dress I purchased in 1994. It’s still good to wear to church or work. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/51 "2017-09-09T21:20:00Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > My KA mixer is also about 25 years old. Ma’s will be either 44 or 45 this Christmas - she and her sisters each got one from Grandmother in either 1972 or 1973. All 3 still work fine. Ma has loaned hers to The Boy, but she has a backup: Grandmother’s, which is at least 55 years old. Maybe 60. > > I use my father’s Black and Decker circular saw frequently. I think he got it for Father’s Day in 1972. It’s a PITA to adjust cut depths and change blades, but it seems to be immortal. Ditto for lots of hand tools - I know that a lot of the shop’s contents were Daddy’s, Grand daddy’s, and Grandpa’s, and maybe a few wood planes and such that were inherited from great-grandfathers. > > The little 1995 Toyota pickup might be the best $900 I ever spent. It was a friend’s company truck for 16 years, The Boy drove it and bashed it around for 2 years as a first vehicle, it’s now Girl 2.0’s first car, it hauls trash and furniture and whatever. It’s not pretty, you have to know how to get in and out (one interior door handleworks, and one exterior, and one window crank lives in the door pocket,) but 'ol Taco is a great little truck! Yeah, many hand tools are just indestructible. I have several old Stanley hand planes (pre-1950) and scrapers. I just put new blades in them after I bought them, and they are as good as when they were made. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/52 "2017-09-09T21:36:03Z")
I still wear the Rolex watch I got for my 21st birthday and I’m 68. We also have my grandfather’s grandfather clock. My grandparents bought it as a wedding present for each other in 1911. It still runs and strikes every quarter hour. Even the moon dial that shows he phase of the moon works. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781/53 "2017-09-09T23:04:19Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > My sewing machines is a 1910 Singer. Still working. > [@Filbert](#): > > Mine’s a relatively modern one, from 1940 (I was given it with the receipt, in case I ever need to take it back 😃 ). I used it earlier on this week to shorten a dress, though I had to use the hand crank rather than the motor, which isn’t currently working; I think I blew the fuse last time I used it. The only motor my 1910 Singer has is my foot - it’s a treadle powered model. When I was in the shoe repair business one of the shops I worked at had an Adler industrial sewing machine from the 1860’s. Another treadle machine, still working after all these years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-works-stuff-that-holds-up/795781.md?page=2)