Old Gear Still Using

[TrailBlaser]

This fall I was rummaging through my old gear in garage attic and found an aluminum perk coffee pot. Like you said BWCA66, it is small and lightweight, so I pulled it out, straightened out a dent in it and plan to make use of it again this coming season. I am finding my old canoe camping equipment is still viable, not so much so with my old backpacking equipment, but there are even some exceptions there.

 

[Erica]

I still have a Peak 1 but don't use it. I had the aluminum nesting pots above, but got rid of all except the big one. I use Trangia now. I have a polyester filled sleeping bag that has kept me warm for probably twenty-five years, even when soaking wet, but this last trip, the fabric ripped straight across about mid-back. I patched it with duct tape. I hate to replace something that I know works in all weather, but so it goes.

The only thing I have from a long way back, which still goes out everywhere is a heavy duty swiss army knife, the one that even has the magnifying glass. That has got to be close to 50 years old. The amazing thing is not so much that it has lasted, but that I have managed not to lose it.

 

[stripperguy]

I gave my Peak1 stove and lantern to my son, they still get used by him on occasion, I switched to a Kelly Kettle about ten years ago.

I'm still using the bent shaft paddles that I made almost 25 years ago...they're showing their age (as am I) Similar vintage Al Camps were retired about ten years ago.
Also still using the 18 ft tandem that I built in 1995...
A Eureka 4 man Timberline that we bought on our 1st anniversary was used last year, so at 40 years old, I think it's my oldest gear still in use.

 

[Erica]

I just remembered that my Peak 1, on the first really remote trip, caught on fire somehow (splashed fuel? leaky cap? I don't remember) and we threw it in the river. I figured we were going to be without a stove for the next 12 days. Pulled it out, dried it out and it still worked! Gotta love something that durable.

 

[bahn.jh@gmail.com]

SVEA 123 stove that I've had since the late 1960's. Works fine but I can no longer find the needle cleaner.

 

[Boatman53]

I still have and use two Duluth packs a Shaw and Tenny paddle and my Svea 123. All purchased in early seventies. I’m sure there is more in terms of axes and sleeping bags and god knows what else. I still have the nesting aluminum cook kit, but it doesn’t get much at all in many years. Not sure why I still have them.
Jim

 

[PaddlingPitt]

SVEA 123 stove that I've had since the late 1960's. Works fine but I can no longer find the needle cleaner.

I think I still have my Svea 123, even though I switched to the Peak 1 about 40 years ago. I never throw anything away. "You never know when you might need it."

On one of my backpacking trips, when I arrived at the next camp, I noticed that the heat spreader on my Svea was missing. Hiked six miles back to the previous camp, and there it was. Lucky for me.

Don't remember why I switched to the Peak 1. Maybe I didn't like having to preheat the stove by burning fuel in that little depression. I did like that needle cleaner, though!

 

[Grandpa Paddler]

. I never throw anything away. "You never know when you might need it."!

Just bought another house and started moving stuff from my garage to the new basement and was surprised at some of the old cook stuff I had stashed away. I may even start using some of it again.

The oldest thing I still use (other than my wife) is my '72 Grumman 17J. Actually, my son uses it much more than I do. He has a friend with CP who enjoys canoe tripping but has difficulty swingin' a paddle so he and my grandson take him. Good enough reason to keep it!!!

 

[goonstroke]

I think I still have my Svea 123, even though I switched to the Peak 1 about 40 years ago. I never throw anything away. "You never know when you might need it."

On one of my backpacking trips, when I arrived at the next camp, I noticed that the heat spreader on my Svea was missing. Hiked six miles back to the previous camp, and there it was. Lucky for me.

Don't remember why I switched to the Peak 1. Maybe I didn't like having to preheat the stove by burning fuel in that little depression. I did like that needle cleaner, though!

Those flame spreaders give each 123 its own personality. Mine used to bug me because it would have a bit of yellow flame at the tips, not bad really but enough to annoy me. My dad had one as well and it burned with perfect blue tips. Swapping parts back and forth I eventually figured out that the problem was that my flame spreader top (the spoonlike part) was about 2mm lower than on my dad's unit. Apparently it was too close to the jet, so the glorious turbulance that's supposed to mix the fuel and air was cut short. (2mm!) Anyway, I bent it and now it burns clean blue. Still not the same as my dad's though.

 

[DanOver]

My Espreso maker for the field. Antler handles that won't melt. Worth the wait.

 

[Seeker]

My canoes are a Chestnut Chum restored by Robin (no idea the age), and an OT Yankee from around 1950.

In around 2005, I gave my old (80s?90s?) Kelty Trekker to my brother, who didn't use it for 12-13 years, so I got it back out of his basement and have started using it experimentally again. Will buy new straps/pads/mesh/belt for it in May, when they come available again, but it works for now. I've got a thing for old canvas packs though, so I pulled off the deteriorating Kelty bag and mated the frame to a 70s-era NATO/German canvas rucksack, and will likely continue to use that for awhile.

I have a couple old hunting knives I still use on occasion; Western L66 is probably the oldest, maybe from the 60s.

I like old brass stuff too... they just don't make it anymore. I have a couple old brass cigarette lighters I like, kinda work like a Zippo, but without the flip top... it's a pull-off. And one of my compasses is an old pocket-watch type Longines Wittnauer from the early 1940s.

My mentor uncle/godfather/scoutmaster gave me a Sven Saw once... guess it's from the 70s. I don't use it much.

Most of my other stuff (tarps, sleeping bags, clothing, paddles, life jacket, water containers, wannagans, stoves, cooking gear) is newish.

 

[pblanc]

Basically, all body parts except for my right hip joint.

 

[Guest]

Basically, all body parts except for my right hip joint.

Still got your Wisdom teeth?

I'm trying to keep it going as a Classic '56, with all original parts, but it's getting tougher.

 

[ppine]

W/C OT Guide 18, hand made paddles, Duluth Packs. Trapper Nelson, old axe, aluminum cookware from 1961.
In the backyard the wall tent from 1980 is set up with a stove and a pile of Dutch Ovens. My oldest oven a 10 inch Lodge is a family heirloom I got from my great uncle in Wyoming. It is from the 1930s. It sank in a canoe wreck on the John Day River in OR and was dragged across the bottom of the river on a rescue line.

 

[Smokey]

My heavy canvas and leather Duluth packs.When I eventually have to stop travel it will be a shame to seem them head to the landfill.

They sell on Ebay

 

[Smokey]

I have the Kitchen Pack, got it in 1999. Been on most trips. Took a while for the leather shoulder straps to wear in. I would hate to see that go the dump.

They sell for a good price on Ebay

 

[PaddlingPika]

Probably the oldest item I take regularly, partly for nostalgia, is the Sierra Club cup I got in 1969 when my family went on a Sierra Club boundary waters trip. The leader's gear list for participants included a Sierra Club cup with name written on the bottom. The idea was that when you wore the cup on your belt it would serve as a name tag. That cup has been on assorted backpacking and paddling trips in various states during the last 50 years.

One of my red cotton bandanas probably dates back to the 70's, though most of my cotton bandanas are newer and turquoise color. I almost always have one or more cotton bandanas along on trips. In girl scouts we were told they were referred to as 104's because they were supposed to have 104 uses. I keep wondering why there doesn't seem to be any updated version in a modern microfiber material. Maybe I just haven't looked in the right place, but all the microfiber towels I've seen are either rectangles or smaller squares, not bandana size/shape.

 

[stevet]

Thanks all for the memories. Forgot all about my Sierra cup from the 70s, but it’s buried somewhere in the equipment closet. The one piece I absolutely would never go without is an old Patagonia baggies pull over. Best material they’ve ever used, still fits me, and is over 25years old (probably way older, I just can’t remember) and still the best single piece of outdoor gear I’ve ever owned. They have slimmed down the fit of their gear over the years….. I however, have chosen another path.

 

[goonstroke]

...
One of my red cotton bandanas probably dates back to the 70's, though most of my cotton bandanas are newer and turquoise color. I almost always have one or more cotton bandanas along on trips. In girl scouts we were told they were referred to as 104's because they were supposed to have 104 uses. I keep wondering why there doesn't seem to be any updated version in a modern microfiber material. Maybe I just haven't looked in the right place, but all the microfiber towels I've seen are either rectangles or smaller squares, not bandana size/shape.

I also find cotton bandanas very useful. I usually bring two on a trip, one as a neck shade/face towel/etc, and one for around the fire, the latter one going in the food bag since it usually smells like food.

Assuming some of those 104 uses are around the campfire, microfiber would lose those since it melts so easily. Cotton is well behaved even when it's smoldering.

 

[PaddlingPika]

I also find cotton bandanas very useful. I usually bring two on a trip, one as a neck shade/face towel/etc, and one for around the fire, the latter one going in the food bag since it usually smells like food.

Assuming some of those 104 uses are around the campfire, microfiber would lose those since it melts so easily. Cotton is well behaved even when it's smoldering.

Good point about microfiber melting! That would definitely limit usefulness for things like grabbing a pot off the fire. Hadn't considered that limitation. I may still try cutting a bandana size square out of a larger microfiber towel, even if it wouldn't be a 104.