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So, what old item do you still use?

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Tomorow I will be cooking lasagna in a cast iron Dutch Oven for some friends I got from my great uncle in Wyoming. He was a cook in the Army and bought the Lodge oven in the 1930s. It looks modern except only the diameter is embossed on the lid. It is even more valuable to me after being sunk on the bottom of the John Day River and recovered by being dragged across the bottom of the river on a rescue line.

We will be camping in the backyard in the shade of ppines, ponderosa pines that I planted 20 years ago. I have pot lifter that my brother made on his home forge a long time ago.
 
I have a canoe from 1901 that I use occasionally. Another one from circa 1904 is shorter and lighter so it gets used more often. They both work fine. The links below have more details.

Benson




 
I still use a lot of old stuff, not just on paddling trips but also in the course of daily life. I finally convinced the missus that I will decide when to throw out my old underwear and socks.
 
CC Filson Alaskan tuxedo from 1974. I will be wearing it today for some forestry work with a group.
 
Los manos. My hands. Building a cedar fence today. Most of my tools are from before 1990. Some were given to me by my grandfather.
 
I used the 1991 Blackhark Zephyr yesterday (formerly The Bob's). Before yesterday I had never tried putting a dog in a Zephyr and since our latest dog is small I was hoping to put the Zephyr back into regular use. Unfortunately I learned that it doesn't have enough space (small problem) or capacity (big problem) to add an 18 pound dog; the boat is so small it makes my dog look big.

20250519_180128.jpg20250519_174214.jpg
 
I'm still driving my first car, which I have owned and daily driven for about 15 years now. I have more money in modifications and major repairs than what I paid for it. It was super reliable up until about 200k where now it seems like there's something wrong with it almost every month and it has left me stranded several times in recent years.

I'll probably get something else to daily drive in the next few years but I'll never get rid of my truck.

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My first car was a '79 Jeep CJ5 & I still own it. In fact, in 45 years of driving, I've owned a total of 6 vehicles. I currently own 4 of them (although the Ranger is destined for salvage as soon as I get time).

That's cool! I have always been partial to the small jeeps, the CJ 2, 3 and 5. Almost everyone in my family owns a jeep, and I think my uncle's 76 CJ5 was probably my favorite of all of them. I loved how small it was, without being cramped to ride in, and how the short little wheelbase just effortlessly rolled down every trail like a little goat. It was mostly used for hunting and running around S-trails and fire roads in the woods (not hardcore rock crawling) and it was amazing how capable it was just stock with some super swampers.
 
Still wear a Patagonia baggies pullover that’s got to be 25 years old…maybe more?

Don't know about the pullover, but I had Patagonia baggies shorts in the mid-1980s. I no longer have them, but I do have many paddles and other canoe gear (and canoes) from the early 80s.

My oldest canoe is my 1980 Mad River Royalex Explorer, seen here with my daughter in Maine in the mid-1980s, probably with my oldest paddle, a Mad River Mitchell:

Kelly North Pond Mad River Canoe.jpg
 
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