What is your oldest, yet relied upon piece of equipment?

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Jags

Jags

Moderate Moderator
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Aug 2, 2006
18,489
Northern IL
I thought this might be a fun thread to get started. My question is: What is your oldest, yet relied upon piece of equipment? By this I mean, that you USE it. Not a wall hanger that still works. Is it a shot gun that you hunt with? Is it a 50 year old freezer? How about a kraught cutter from the 1800's (yeah, I do use one every other year that was my great grand dads). So what is it? And yes, you can count yourself as a piece of equipment (I had to throw that in for BroB, cuz we all know that gasoline wasn't even invented back then. :lol: )

In the era of throw away, and new is always better (in many cases true). I still get a kick out of seeing old stuff that is still doing the job. Throw it out there. I'll start.

I mow weekly with a 1939 Case VC that has a 60" Woods belly mower. Actually makes for a pretty high production unit. Yep, thats right, my goto mower is 70 years old.
 
I still hunt with my fathers J.C. Higgins 16ga bolt action shot gun. Not sure how old it is, but I'll be damned if I can't consistantly hit a 6" target at 100yds with slugs shooting out of that smooth bore with only a front bead.
 
we have 2 seeders for planting hay grass and alfalfa with that get used every year for something, either fields or waterways, one is a 1912 horse drawn wooden box and wooden wheeled that we rigged up with ropes to make it go up and down so we could pull it behind our farmall M and the other is a 1930, we have a team of horses on the farm so i hitch them up to plow our garden every year with a horse drawn plow and plant sweet corn with a horse drawn planter, our family puchased them new in 1861. by using them it reminds me how good i have it with the new equipment i use now and its just fun to keep a tradition going now days, my 13 year old son learned this year with me helping and loved it so its being passed to another generation.
 
jdscj8 said:
we have 2 seeders for planting hay grass and alfalfa with that get used every year for something, either fields or waterways, one is a 1912 horse drawn wooden box and wooden wheeled that we rigged up with ropes to make it go up and down so we could pull it behind our farmall M and the other is a 1930, we have a team of horses on the farm so i hitch them up to plow our garden every year with a horse drawn plow and plant sweet corn with a horse drawn planter, our family puchased them new in 1861. by using them it reminds me how good i have it with the new equipment i use now and its just fun to keep a tradition going now days, my 13 year old son learned this year with me helping and loved it so its being passed to another generation.
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Hell ya. Now thats what I'm talking about. I now own the homestead that my great grand father built. Lots of old family stuff (including horse stuff). I think that is why I take a liking to old stuff that is still in use.
 
thats cool. our farm was homesteaded in 1846 and has always been handed down to the oldest son, my good for nothin brother is still mad, he wanted to start learnin at 28 yrs old what i had started doin at 5 years old. i had to work he got to play. anyway have fun with the place.
 
My dead grandfather's craftsman jigsaw. Just used it last night to cut a new bathroom vent into my roof. It is so old that it has a variable speed drive that you don't need to hold your thumb on, it just runs while unattended.

For old guns I have a decades old Ruger 10/22 semi automatic 22 rifle that I bought from a pawn shop with my first paycheck at 16YO and that thing is a tack driver that works exceptionally well due to good design to shoot thousands of rounds per year.

All of these things work to this day because of good design. Not because of lack of use or exceptionally good maintenance.
 
LADYGO DIVA said:
brain!
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The requirements were that it is STILL in use. :cheese:

{Just pulling your chain Pook - all in good fun}
 
My late BIL's late 1960's / early 1970's (I think) Milwaukee Sawzall. 4 amp, all metal body. Slow but unstoppable. It appears that he had it rebuilt but got a newer, larger sawzall in the meantime, so this one sat in storage and was (I think) never used after being rebuilt until I cleaned out BIL's storage unit after he passed away 3 years ago. Also my BIL's 3 # craftsman ax. Don't know how old this one is, but with a new handle, it's a champ.

Peace,
- Sequoia
 
I still use my 1947 AC "G" model every year:

PotaoGmodel004.jpg
 
Hibeam, are you serious, a decade, I have socks older than that!
 
Stephen in SoKY said:
I still use my 1947 AC "G" model every year:

PotaoGmodel004.jpg
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Those old "G" models were cool beasts - screwy- but cool. I have seen a modified one using a Wisconsin V4 for a power plant. If I am not mistaken, wasn't the original power plant something like 14hp?
 
Wow, it's hard to choose just one thing! So many generations of us have lived around here that everything I use is old now, including me. My Dad passed away 25 years ago and Mom has been gone only a few years. We just got done cleaning their house out and I found a lot of really old things that I plan to put to use as needed.

Anyway, my stove is 40 years old, the 6# maul that I split wood with for that stove is 30 years old, and the handle on that maul is 25 years old. I guess out of all the old things I use, those are probably used the most often and for most of the year. Oh, and my wife, who is older than the stove. :cheese:
 
Well, until I get a spider bite...
 
BrotherBart said:
Well, until I get a spider bite...
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BAAAAAhhhahaaha! Ya never know....maybe it will just swell up and........never mind.
 
BrotherBart said:
Well, until I get a spider bite...
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LOL

Mine's not so reliable. Often it does the thinking for me and gets me in trouble.
 
Re the G, actually I think 14 is a little generous, more like 11 IIRC. My Dad bought it new for plowing tobacco. When he was alive it was an annual thing for me to whine about him not getting optional hydraulics, he said that hydraulics cost an extra $6.50 when he bought it. Then he always elaborated that after looking at a mules azz for a few years, those levers to raise the cultivators practically raised themselves, therefore he kept his $6.50. All in one's perspective, isn't it?

I've got the hilling disks on covering this years tater crop here:

PotaoGmodel006.jpg


But cultivating 1 row at a time is where the little G excels. You don't have to look around anything, just look straight down between your legs:

PotaoGmodel007.jpg
 
On a Hearth related note, up until a couple of years ago I still used this beast most every year:

Saw2010.jpg


Yes, it was an "S":

Saw2041.jpg
 
gzecc said:
Hibeam, are you serious, a decade, I have socks older than that!
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You missed the "s" it is decades old. I wan't certain but I checked the serial number and I believe it was made in the 60s. I didn't know they even made the 10/22 that long ago. Ugh, now I have to research.

Safe to say that the real good old items in this thread were not originally purchased by the poster.

I have a WW2 military issue compass that my grandfather used in the war. He was a high ranking officer so it is more of an heirloom.
 
My oldest piece of equipment is ... my 72 year old dad. He was out with me last night thinning some undergrowth.
 
First thing that comes to mind is my 1970 F350. It's seven months and a few days older than me. I hope it still counts if I've only owned it since Feb. '06
CatherineSt4-30.jpg

It does most of my wood hauling as well as lumber, dirt, stone, etc. I usually drive it at least once a week. I was hoping to restore it for both of our 40th birthdays next year, but I don't have the funds this year. Maybe for the 50th. I do know the son of the original owner. His shop is 1/2 mile down the street. I've also got a bunch of hand tools that were my grandfather's.
Who was it that answered "my wife"? That takes some you know what's!
Some day I hope to find a nice Gravely walk behind from the 60's with a mower, plow, and snowblower.
 
Well I inherited, and occasionally use the Singer sewing machine that I inherited from my mother - purchased to celebrate my imminent arrival on the scene....

My Ariens snowblower is uncertain vintage, but circa 1977-78 judging by the engine numbers (the chassis numbers are not readable)

I have a large number of hand and tools from my father, both hand and power - vintage unknown, but I believe some came from HIS parents...

My Guzzi's are both mid 1980's models

I have a Kemp chipper / shredder - don't know the year, but Kemp went under in the 70's...

It isn't as ancient, other than by "digital year" standards, but the computer I'm posting this on is a 32-bit Athlon...

Gooserider
 
Flatbedford said:
Who was it that answered "my wife"? That takes some you know what's!
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SSSHHHHHHHH! Not so loud. She's watching Wheel right by me.
 
I have a Remington Model 600 in 308 cal that was passed down to me by my great grandfather. I dont use it for every hunt but when I climb the mountains I do because of its small size and high power.

I think it was made in the 60's but only for a few years. Very accurate for the first 2-3 shots but after that the barrel gets hot and the bullets start flying all over the place.

Kicks like a mule and the only two scope scars on my forehead are from it. If I shoot it while its just getting dark or light out you can see a flash of flames coming out the end of the barrel.
 
My anvil is most likely over a hundred years old. I use it often.
 
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