It might be an antique but....

It might be an antique but....It will still be working long after I'm gone.

After watching the first in the BBC series Electric Dreams as the programme follows a family as they are regressed back to 1970s technology (having to suffer 1970s style economic recession with the oil crisis etc, Oh the nostalgia ) what robust and simple technology will still be working in the next 50 years.

What piece of survival kit/household technology if you bought today will still be useful in 50 years time. I'll start the ball rolling with the Simplex copper kettle.

Can you still buy a Mangle like my gran used to use with her twin tub waching machine back in the 1970s.

Claw hammer
http://www.estwing.com/product.php?product_id=300

Cast Iron frying pans
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CastIronPans.htm
includes care instructions.

Interesting discussion. e-Bay indicates that camping gear can last 50 years and that's the bulk of my "survival" gear. Some of my camping gear that could still be around because they are no-tech or low-tech and sturdy:

knives
axes (Gransfors Bruks)
Thermette/Kelly Kettle
cast iron dutch ovens and grill
waxed cotton packs and bags
Coleman stainless cooler and jug
candle lanterns
campstoves
steel chuck box

Technology is advancing so rapidly I'd guess my flashlights and headlamps may not have batteries available for them in 50 years.

Super-lightweight fabrics in tents, clothes and packs probably won't prove very enduring, unless they are coddled in someone's attic.

My plastic Aqua-tiners are quite durable but I'd think they are less likely to be retained.

I'll second that - Any quality cast iron cooking gear, including pots, fry pans, and dutch ovens.

I fear much of it will be thrown out by unknowing children upon the death of their parents. Ohhh ... that stuff is gold!

(I've somewhat recently acquired a new appreciation for cast iron)


I would also like to think that my Ritter and Becker knives and my Snow & Nealley axes would still be around and useful 50 years from now - if my children recognize what they are when I'm gone. Will the synthetic knife slabs make it that long?

"Can you still buy a Mangle like my gran used to use with her twin tub waching machine back in the 1970s."

Yes, you can. For example, Lehman's (lehmans.com) carries two models that clamp onto your washtub. I have one that resembles their less expensive model; found it elsewhere online for about $110, under the name Dyna-Jet. Very useful for t-shirts, socks, underwear, towels...anything that doesn't have buttons or zippers.

My can opener!!!! I think my mom had it when she was young, in the 50's! It could use a hot oil bath, but still works fine.

Ok, maybe not THAT old...but it is certainly from the 70s.

I have a small collection of old straight razors, and yes, I use them to shave with sometimes.

My P38 can opener. Just hit it with olive oil to keep it lubed and it'll last forever.

Honestly, most housing. Think about it, shelter is one of the basics! And a house is almost always a wise investment for later.

I grew up in a 1960s era house. My grandmother's 1920s house is still in great condition (and standing, in earthquake-prone Los Angeles). Lots of early 1900s buildings are still around on the West Coast, and lots of MUCH older housing is around on the East Coast.

Canning supplies will still be reliable. Iceboxes/refrigerators might make it (my grandmother had a 30+ y/o fridge growing up). Some cars might, probably the ones that are less-electronically inclined. I can foresee '57 Chevy's still on the road, assuming one could find parts still. All in all, lots of 50-year old things aren't THAT unusual. Heck, my parents well, I guess that'd be me, in 50 years. They'd be centarians by then.

self winding watch.

I inherited my grandfather's Coleman two-burner stove.

Compass

Slide-rules (if you can find instructions), pencils, graph paper, all that stuff I used to do math before battery powered calculators were affordable.

Seems that if it needs batteries, electricity, has a screen &/or contact buttons, when the tiniest piece wears out, it's junk.

The October 2009 Popular Mechanics (Self-Reliance Issue) has a good article on people discovering the joy of fixing what's broken, rather than just tossing and buying a replacement.

Part of my goal in preparing, is to be able to "make it" with a minimum of stuff which requires external supplies to continue functioning, e.g. batteries. The tough part is that there's a lot of stuff I don't know how to do.

Seems the more technologically advanced we get, the more artificial life becomes.

Reading this link really reminded me of my grandfathers.
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/device/devicesToC.html

Colt Single Action Army

Colt M1911A1

Mark 1 / Mod 0 Rock
Mark 2 / Mod 0 Stick

RE: Tirec and Desperado - yup, I inherited Granddad's slipstick and .45 (and he ensured I knew how to use them both) as well as his chessboard - which I have no real idea on how to use, but I'm trying. Cast iron I'm picking up on my own and will be my grandkids problem.

Mine isn't an antique yet, but I'll throw in the indestructible, green, steel, Stanley Thermos bottle.

LW

It doesn't have to be an antique, just a piece of kit whose design can't really be improved upon such as the classic fisher space pen. (I sometimes still use an 20 year old but heavyweight Stainless Steel Coleman's Thermos Bottle)



I can't really see the AA or CR123 cell format disappearing anytime soon simply because of the huge number of devices that rely on the format. NiMh cells are rechargeable for use over 1000 times and the latest low discharge technology such as the Sanyo Eneloop may be able to hold some charge after even 5 years. So I guess there might even be some low discharge technology NiMh AA cells still around in 50 years time (I will have to research this further though). Freshly manufactured primary Lithium cells stored in cool conditions should still have more than 50% of the initial charge after 25 years.

Many of the items already mentioned have stayed away from the electronics side but perhaps with the introduction of completely solid state SSD hard drives many computers such as this low power PC (just perfect for solar powered PC) may still be working 20-30 years from now.

http://fit-pc2.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Even with clothing, Ventile cotton material is still usable after 25 years especially if looked after and can be repaired more easily than Goretex (even Goretex I have found to be remarkably durable as I still own and use a 12 year old Berghaus Extreme 7000 Jacket during winter walks)

In the UK we are about to have a decade of austerity (mass unemployment not seen since the 1930s, with the politicians rhetoric already suggesting that the mass unemployed are just lazy layabouts even before they are made redundant in the next couple of years through government spending cuts ) and I'm looking to replace items which have in built obsolescent designed into them or are difficult to repair without having to rely on the manufacturer who might not be around in 10-20 years time.

As an example, one of the most annoying and frustrating issues I have at the moment is with companies such as bicycle parts manufacturers Shimano and Campagnolo for replacements for 15 year old bicycles I don't need 10 speed freehub gears and 10 speed chains I only need 7 speed gears and shifters of the same quality that was made in the late 1980s and early 90s. I need conventional headsets (not Ahead) and I don't need carbon forks because I prefer steel ones with threaded columns with old fashioned quill stems. (these companies have designed their components for designed obsolescence after a couple of years, i.e throw away parts that wear out quickly). My bicycle frames, which I made 15 years ago still have a 50 years of life still in them.

This is related. I promise.

So, my basement flooded a few times - not bad, but bad enough that I had to tear out the walls in the finished areas. One of the areas I had to totally tear apart was my workshop. It kind of grew in place over the last 8 years, and wasn't really optimal for anything in particular - it's too small for woodworking and it's not equipped for metalworking. And when I thought about it as I tore the place apart, I realized that what I wanted was a Fixit Shop of my own. So, over the course of the last 12 weeks, I've been very slowly building a fundamentally different shop from what I had before - a shop where I can dismantle, test, fabricate and rebuild things as needed. And fixing stuff makes me very, very happy.

So while "ending is better than mending" was a theme surrounded me for most of my life (except in my childhood home), I have been enjoying great success in keeping old things working. I can't fix everything (and you can't get parts for so many things) but I will try.

Heh. You know what prompted me to get my first lathe?

I had a woodworking frill pres I was restoring, and there was a part that was missing/broken. I no longer had access to a lathe and mill at work. For this job, I needed a lathe. End of story

Another "repair, don't end" story

Around here, there are a BUNCH of houses built by one builder. It has a screw tha hold the cylinder into the mortise lock - the odd part? It's left hand thread, and if you don't know this, you end up breaking the part (bronze, about 3 inches long, 1/4" diameter, with a left hand 20 tpi on one end)

Anyway, the real HUGE problem is that 1)The part is NOT available and 2)The lock is an odd size. I've picked up a few odd dollars making a bunch of this part (in brass - good enough) for the local locksmith so he can repair doors that folks have broken

Repairing antiques can be an interesting hobby and sometimes turns into a profitable sideline.

One of the places of interest in Edmonton is their Aviation Museum.
All the airplane restoration and display model making is by volunteers.
So there is no money in it directly, but what a great way to pick up skills and have access to a very complete shop.
Just south of the city is a really remarkable museum of old cars and farm machinery. It is another really great place to pick up high level restoration skills.
http://machinemuseum.net/
Some of the people go on to careers curating for other museums. Some people become restorers on their own.
You might be able to find places like those close to you.

Anyone remember these? I recall my stepfather loving them for the edge they kept

http://www.knivesplus.com/OLD-TIMER-KNIVES.HTML

have a look at Antique Radios.com..i have been over there to get some info and tips on recaping to bring back to life my old 1946 Hallicrafters S38 shortwave radio.these guys take junk and make it run like new,glowing tubes and all.with all the parts exposed and soldered together keeping something like that running should be easy next to a sealed transistor radio.
if you want something really antique that still works try wine making.i have 10 gallons working in the basement right now.if the stores are shut down i can always have a snort of homemade.

How long complex things last is also a function of how well you maintain them. A farm tractor, for example, is usually expected to last 50 years or so ... if carefully maintained. A used tractor can have significant resale value at 20+ years if well-maintained. A farmer has very different expectations, both in terms of maintenance put into a tractor and its longevity, than a city person has for a car (and those differing expectations also cause manufacturers to behave differently).

Modern electronics are a special problem since the chemicals used to manufacture integrated circuits cause the chips to degrade over time, even if not used or plugged in.

Much of the slackness in modern attitudes towards maintaining things for the long term comes down to economics. When my dad was growing up he would get in a *lot* of trouble if a wrench was not properly cleaned and stored at the end of the day, but nowadays people are far more careless. The reason is that 70+ years ago a good tool was expensive and an investment for a laborer, whereas today you can pick up a good wrench new for lunch money.

I have a 30-06 my grandpa gave me from around WWII... it would still be useful in 100 years from now, etc.

My cast iron pots and accessories.

My "brake drum" forge I`m building.

My granfrods bruks axe (spelling?).

P38 can opener.

Swiss army knives.