Your oldest bit of kit that is still going strong?

[Panama Jungle]

What's the oldest bit of kit you have that still works perfectly long after its expected lifetime?

Mine - my rucksack - an olive green Karrimor Jaguar 6 KS-100E. Bought for £65 in 1985 from Millets, still going strong 26 years later, it's been backpacking around Europe, served in the TA and now regularly treks through the Panamanian rainforest. Superb bit of kit.

What's yours?

[John Fenna]

Other than my wife(?) - I now realise that it is a small Frost knife aquired some 40 years ago from my sister who used it for carrving rock salt (crazy art student at the time) then gave it to me when it was too blunt to cut warm butter.
It has had a new handle (mahogany type) one of my first rehandling attemps, and new sheath - again one of my first efforts.
Although a fair bit slimmer than when new the blade is razor sharp and still holds its edge well.
The fairly poor handle could do with replacing (now I have more skill in that area) as could the sheath... if only on aesthetic grounds...
Good Swedish blades last for ever!

[Bluebs4]

my dads army knife,and his denison smock thats only a memory of pre pre packed/cooked takeaway foods .ie when it fitted him then me and now the coat hanger .

[Hugo]

That rucksack you have, I have the Lynx, still going strong, also my Bulldog mess set made of alloy bomb proof, North Face Celestial Peak gortex jacket and trousers.
All these items were purchased at the same time from Surf and Ski in Brighton 23 years ago.
Still going strong, mind you the jacket could do with it's first re proofing.

[blacktimberwolf]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79305

[shaggystu]

.....an olive green Karrimor Jaguar 6 KS-100E. Bought for £65 in 1985 from Millets, still going strong 26 years later, it's been backpacking around Europe, served in the TA and now regularly treks through the Panamanian rainforest. Superb bit of kit......

mine's an olive green jaguar S-80 KS-100e that i found on a car boot sale 7 or 8 years ago, it was already 10+ years old then, and it was receiving envious looks as recently as this weekend. as you say, superb bit of kit

stuart

[rik_uk3]

Loads of stuff, WW2 KFS set, army knife, mess tins, pre WW1 Primus stove, lots of Primus/paraffin/petrol/meths stoves that are 40-60 years old, Bull Dog billy cans, Vapalux/Bialaddin lamps, and more, can't remember off the top of my head.

[bilmo-p5]

No.1 favourite all-round, ex-table, cooking knife, bread knife, butter knife, veg knife, carving knife, pallette knife, pastry knife, dough knife and whatever else it falls handy for.

Probably into its 3rd century and still going strong.

[TomBartlett]

Reading John Fenna's post I thought he was going on to say that after the new handle, he's put a new blade on too!

[spandit]

My Mk. VII gas mask bag (like the one Indiana Jones carries)

[Shewie]

I've cleared out a load of stuff recently so most of my older bits have gone, my 80's Bulldog billies would have been my pick but they've gone. My Ortleib 4L water carrier is circa 1996 so I'll go with that.

[woodspirits]

mine's an olive green jaguar S-80 KS-100e that i found on a car boot sale 7 or 8 years ago, it was already 10+ years old then, and it was receiving envious looks as recently as this weekend. as you say, superb bit of kit

stuart

hi stu, ive got one of those bought it new donkeys ago backpacked all over the highlands, lent it to my brother who hiked around oz for a year. and its still rock solid! one of my items up for sale at north wood meet

the other item is a ww2 jacknife i bought off ebay a few years ago, once again rock solid as tight as the day it was made.

[Pict]

My US Army canteen cup, made in 1965, just like me.

[stekker]

You're right, Dutch Nato mug.
They're really bulletproof.
Probably my axe will end up in second place.

Theo.

[jackcbr]

Got to be my grandfathers hatchet, and knowing him, probably quite old when he "acquired" it too. Got to be 100 years old at least. Ready for another handle too.

[neoaliphant]

Fisher price yellow plastic canteen, got when I was 5, so its 31 years old, fits nicely in US old army ammo pouch

i would love to get my hands on a ww2 gas mask pouch tho

[jeffz]

A late 80's waxed-cotton Blacks jacket in the same mould as a Barbour Beaufort (wouldn't be surprised if they were from the same factory). Still with me over 20 years on, still getting waxed every year, and still waterproof. Got no reason to replace it with a Barbour-branded one.

[NS40]

I've got a 58 pattern poncho that I got in 1982 which I've used as a tarp, bivvy bag, made into a coracle, an improvised sail, used as a stretcher (e.g. carrying a 17st friend with a twisted knee a few hundred yards to the car) and an emergency shelter on several occassions (last time was sheltering a group of DoE participants I bumped into lost and poorly equipped on Ben Venue during a snowstorm in May...I had a few choice words to say to their leader when I tracked him down). I've also worn it as a poncho on loads of times - I actually love wearing it during the worst of weather. Despite it's adventures, it still looks good as new after a quick shower - wish I could say the same for me...

I've also got a pair of leather Salomon walking boots my wife bought me for my first wedding anniversary nearly 15 years ago. Despite constant use stomping through snow, mud and various streams/rivers, a quick brush when they're dry and they look as if they're fresh out of the box.

[WolfCub]

A sleeping bag.
Got it for Christmas when I was 12, in '82. Bought form "George Fishers" in Keswick, Dad and Mam had to save for it.
Used pretty much every night till I was in my early 20's (Couldn't get on with blankets) Aswell as at home it's been on countless camps and bivis and used it in Romania and Canada.

When my eldest son was about six he was a bugger for throwing off his blanket so I passed it on to him. He's used it every night since, now 13.

It even has it's own name now in the familly, "The Muddy Green Maggot".

Trully cracking bit of kit !

[Imagedude]

My Optimus 111, handed down by my father
1970's SAK
PTC Igloo tent from the 1960s
Bulldog pans from the 1940s

[wattsy]

1905 pfaff sewing machine rescuers from a skip lovely bit of kit

[oldtimer]

Wm Rodgers "Bushman's Friend" knife, 1966 present from my wife before trip across Europe to Crete before the tourists. Sierra cup USA 1975: we've had them in our packs ever since. Part of a WW2 parachute my dad "liberated" I've had since a child: first it was used as sleeping bag cover, then a pack cover and now its got progressively smaller over the years its usually a scarf. I've had my wife since 1962 and she's still going strong.

[TinkyPete]

I have an old 85 pattern metal mug had since 1991 used all over the world been in my army kit since i bought it. SOG Seal pup my main work heavy knife had since 95 used from Bosnia to Afghan still going strong and the crab air haven't confiscated it yet
My issue clasp knife had since 94 when I was working as a "liney" and completed all my class 2 liney tests even though I am an operator
My old 58 green maggot bag looking a bit thin in places and feathers starting to come out after I leant if a friend (think he washed it wrongly) had that since 1990

My old grand fathers leather knife had acquired it when I was about 10 and found it in my dads garage rusted up. cleaned and oiled and sharpened it and abused it for years but still going marked up as Herbert & Sons west smithfield, warranted.

My great uncles Jungle Kukhri he was given when he served with the Gurkha's in Burma with the two small knives but is their wood chopping/ war kukhri 12" blade, the leather perished when left in a shed for 20 years and the blade had rust on it but the wood of the sheath was ok so I have improvised something to work as a sheath for now but a long term project or going to get a Gurkha to sort out the sheath out properly.

Lastly my "Pioneer" John Hall cutler Bristol Bowie knife marked up also with Wade & Butcher, Sheffield England, and also a B in a circle an arrow and Maltese type cross was also my Gand fathers and handed down to me the year he died, I was 7. I have looked after it ever since but it has also been used on many adventures when I was young

[sandbender]

My fathers billycan, which must date from the Forties if not earlier.

[tartanferret]

My old ridge tent which is still going strong after twenty odd years,

Many dome tents have come and gone in that time.

Heres a picture of "old reliable" pictured in Edale alongside "old not-so-reliable"

http://s1103.photobucket.com/albums/...=ridgetent.jpg

[loosehead]

some great gear coming out
for me it's a buffalo shirt i got as a present when i joined up in 1990 - had some heavy duty use and abuse ( just about manage to slip into it - supposed to be figure hugging lol ) and a good old sigg bottle from the same year - wouldn't swap it

[ged]

... Lastly my "Pioneer" John Hall cutler Bristol Bowie knife ...

Is that the one I used to cut up the sausages at North Wood last year?

I have one a lot like it, had it since I was in the cubs so at least half a century. It lives by the wood-burner, also curiously enough with a SOG (Toolclip). That's practically new. I've only had it for a couple of decades.

Not sure if my sister's ex-WD folder that she had for the guides is older or younger than me. She could never open it, so she gave it to me when I went on DoE about 1964-66.

[Simon H]

Shewie your Bulldogs are still going strong, they get used a couple of times a month and are still bombproof.I think my oldest bit of kit that's still going is my grandad's issue penknife ( a Taylor's Eye Witness one without the Marlin spike) from WW2 dated 1940.

[Laurentius]

Old as in the sense of made a long time ago, or something you have had for a long time? I don't have anything much over a decade old, in terms of how long I have had it, which is in regular use today, I had a lot of stuff stolen some years ago and what else I have has been replaced by more up to date kit.

In terms of venerable old tools however, I have a few of indeterminate age and probably considerable vintage. I don't have my grandfathers axe, but I have my great grandfathers gilpin hammer.

I don't know whether spectacles count, The frames I am wearing now, date from WW2, but you would hardly call them bushcraft kit, although I couldn't do a lot without them.

I do have a couple of other items from WW2 which I have had since the 60's, a leather ammo case for a vickers gun and a gas mask case, both of which have served for my cameras, or sarnies before now, but they were retired a long time ago, along with my dad's original bergan which fell apart eventually.

[Man of Tanith]

my oldest bit of kit which is mine alone has to be my scout neckerchief had it from cubs and now wear it leading my old scout troop so about 20 plus years old