91–100 of 205 posts
Wigwam, smart wool, and other brands of socks may at one time have been durable but now the heel wears out after a single season of wear. Horrible quality!
A traditional "Guernsey" wool seaman's sweater in navy blue. I've had mine for 30 years. A "Bar style" blender. (Very powerful motor and the jar has the blades permanently attached). A full set of Henckels knives. Keep them sharp. (I use a stone, but it doesn't really matter... You can even use an old mousepad with a sheet of automotive sandpaper glued to it.) Hardcover versions of the books I like.
I use my pocket knife every single day for something.
SmartWool Socks
Asolo hiking boots. I had a pair for more than 10 years now. They appear very fatigued from the outside, but don’t show any structural issues. I don’t think I own any other clothing item that gets at least semi-regular usage that lasted this long.
Plex. Great for internet outages or finding old gems.
Sometimes a useful heuristic about what items really are durable is, do your parents own anything that you are using / would want to use? (In my own case the answer was: nothing.)
Lacking any physical inheritance, I guess memories and ways of thinking--possibly including prejudices--are also durable in a sense.
That made me ponder what I would leave behind to the next generation.
Maybe Thinkpads, an upgradeable router/firewall, a custom AI/ML rig? A homelab? Books for sure. Hopefully some wisdom :)
I have a Unicomp keyboard. It's still going...
Going into year 4 of keeping me warm when temps dip towards 0F and wind is picking up.
Anything by Pearl Izumi will simply also last a lifetime. Year 3-8 of some of my cycling and other gear.
My Columbia Gear (coat, gloves, boots, hat) Going into year 4 of keeping me warm when temps dip towards 0F and wind is picking up. Anything by Pearl Izumi will simply also last a lifetime. Year 3-8 of some of my cycling and other gear.
Good silverware. I'm probably going to use that fork/knife/spoon until the day I fucking die, so I might as well make sure it's damn good.
This is the biggest and most succesfull marketing trick from the last few generations. The truth is that any metal cutlery will outlive you, regardless of the price. And metal cutlery is also very cheap to produce, a full set should cost less than $20, and will last a lifetime.
Now I buy stainless from liberty tabletop, literally the last remaining stainless steel tableware manufacturer in existence in the us. It’s not that expensive and much better quality.
- Mechanical keyboard: Splurged a bit on a keyboard after going through a bunch of membrane keyboards early in my career. My current keyboard has been up and running for nearly a decade and shows no signs on wear and tear and I expect to have it running a few decades from now as well. - Cast Iron cookware: This is on the opposite end of the price spectrum, since cast iron cookware is (usually) quite reasonably priced…