Using Old Items in the Present Day

Discussion in 'The Good Life' started by Chuck Naill, Dec 21, 2019.

  1. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    It occurred to me I use a 60 year old Big Ben Westclox alarm for a desk clock, near 70-90 year old Esterbrook fountain pens, and 100 year old razors on a daily basis. I occasionally carry two Hamilton rail road watches. My Brown Betty Alcock, Lindley, Bloore tea pot was made before the '30's.

    Are you like me where you've incorporated ancient items to accomplish a modern need or one sort or another?
     
  2. poppi

    poppi Well-Known Member

    The only really old thing I incorporate into my daily life is my bride. Hope she doesn't read this!
     
  3. Terry

    Terry Tool Admirer


    ....and he was never heard from again.
    Well...

    tp
     
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  4. Jrdelgado

    Jrdelgado Well-Known Member

    Woo! Hahahaha! I of course use the old razors but most other old items are decoration. I have an old stove and an old crank phone just to look at. However I have a Remington 1903A3 rifle from 1943 and a Turkish Mauser 8mm I often shoot targets with. Not really accomplishing a need with them but fun hobby.
     
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  5. richgem

    richgem suffering from chronic clicker hand cramps

    And that's how the fight started...

    Let's see... old razors, old fountain pens with vintage ink. I don't use it regularly, but I have a 1919 Vitanola (mechanical record player). Some of my recipes qualify as vintage at this point, I guess.
     
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  6. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    How about dial-phones that you have to turn in a circle to dial? A bit different from today's "bababa-babababa"
     
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  7. PanChango

    PanChango Not Cute

    Not me, but one of my clients has an old dos based system running on a token ring network (coax and bnc) over an ISDN connection.

    I left the job years ago, but he still calls me to service this old tech.
     
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  8. lightcs1776

    lightcs1776 Well-Known Member

    Token ring? I haven't worked with token rings in more than 20 years. And the last ISDN connection was at least ten years ago, when it was upgraded to a cable connection running a VPN back to the core.

    As for old items, some of my favorite woodworking tools are from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
     
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  9. John Beeman

    John Beeman Little chicken in hot water

    Razors
    Shaving mugs
    Coffee makers
    Hand tools
    A few home furnishings (in a very old house)
    Brass garden hose nozzles
     
  10. Enrico

    Enrico Popcorn

    Let's see, I really hadn't thought about it, but ...... my stereo system is from the 60's. My most used chair is a mission style rocker from the 20's. Our turkey roster is from the 20's. In the summer I use a floor fan from the 50's. My end table is a milking stool pre 20's.

    The list of things would go on and on, but sufficient to say I enjoy older items in my life. Even to the point my main shopping areas are yard sales and Craig's list.

    :eatdrink013:
     
  11. timabababaluka

    timabababaluka No exceptions. Except.....

    Only three things: Eveready 1912 razor, MMOC, and a collection of 78 rpm vinyl jazz and big band albums my grandfather left me.

    Inevitably it will only be be the razors. The Missus is pushing for digitizing the collection and donating the albums--they take a lot of closet space. The good news is that project will take forever ;)
     
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  12. brit

    brit in a box

    shaving gear including razors,furniture,tools,misc. household items..
     
  13. PanChango

    PanChango Not Cute

    This system was old 20 years ago, but still works. I haven't seen another one in use and this guy is getting pretty old. It would just cost a lot to upgrade the system.

    When people think of development, it is not in COBOL, but as of 2017, it was estimated that there were still 220 million lines of COBOL in use that handle $3trillion in daily transactions.
     
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  14. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    Are dial phones still possible to use?
     
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  15. S Barnhardt

    S Barnhardt Old, Crusty Barn

    Don't know that I use anything "old" on a daily basis, but have amassed a collection of odds and ends from times past. Some legitimately old and some "historically accurate" representations of 18th century items left over from an old hobby of 18th century American Revolutionary War reenactment. That was kind of fun, but old bones and sleeping on a bed of straw between woolen blankets with a rolled-up hunting frock for a pillow, is not conducive to a fellow my age.
     
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  16. lightcs1776

    lightcs1776 Well-Known Member

    We still have cobol on the mainframe. It works, but it is getting harder to find developers for it. The first programming language I learned was Pascal, and I didn't go to college until several years after high school (I knew it all in high school, so why learn more, right?).

    Anyhow, I could keep going down this road, but I have already steered from the primary point of the thread.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
     
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  17. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    Go ahead and steer away. I learned on Fortran. Didn't get it then, but I bet it would be a different outcome to learn it now.
     
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  18. Weasel640

    Weasel640 Well-Known Member

    Yes, and No. If you have a land line, or home phone connection (cellular base station for land lines), you can still connect a dial phone, and receive calls. But due to the changes in the service/technology you would not be able to dial out...
     
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  19. lightcs1776

    lightcs1776 Well-Known Member

    I highly recommend going back to school if you have the desire. I am in my early 50s and working on a graduate degree and my father did his doctorate in his early 70s.i find I have a lot more of an appreciation for learning these days.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
     
  20. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    I went back to finish in '05. I was just speaking about computer languages. I agree however because I had a wonderful experience.
     

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