So the idea of “buy it for life” is to buy items that are durable and last for a long time, things you could buy once and have your whole life, which can save money and be good for the environment
What are some of the top items you recommend for this?
Like most things they aren’t what they used to be. Find one with the old label inside, that will help. Supposedly also if it’s made from the Canada line, not from China.
I’ve had mine going on ten years and it’s well seasoned with the groans of wife and children. Best hat I’ve ever owned.
Knipex Cobra and/or Pliers Wrenches. Unbelievably helpful, and they will actually last forever. The XS variants are popular as a pocket tool.
Mora Companion knife. Srsly, if you need one utility knife in your life, it’s this. Dang cheap, good steel, easy to (re-)sharp, forgives a lot of abuse, and did I mention it’s dang cheap.
Lundhags shell boots (e.g Park, Forest, Vandra). Best bad weather hiking boots. Basically indestructible, easy to maintain and repair. Waterproof, no GTX membrane that pollutes the environment forever but dies after a year or so. But be aware you need to take out the insole to let it dry and wear several socks. They’re waterproof from both sides… If you can live with that they’re excellent value, insanely comfortable, and will probably outlive you.
They make stubbies. These are prettyuch ubiquitous here in Canada where they’re made. I’ve never had an issue with one except for losing bits which is on me.
I’m sorry, I was looking for a very small mouse for a computer. This is a small screwdriver. Did I miss something? Just the same company that makes them?
Oh, here’s another one. For people who do yard work, I’m a big fan of using a machete instead of a weed whacker machine. So much fun to let out your inner Star Wars Kid. I bought a cheapo $7 Walmart machete a few years ago and haven’t used the weed whacker since. And I expect the blade to last forever, unlike the string trimmers.
Scythes are awesome, but you need to get the hang of it. They’re best for something like a meadow.
If you have an actual lawn I‘d recommend a manual lawnmower. You have to look what the quality product in your country is, sadly they’ve become cheap trash mostly. And you need to take some time to align the blades properly, but then these things are so much fun actually.
I saw a video of someone cutting their lawn so I think it may be possible, but tedious, so from seeing that vid I figured weed whacking here and there might be doable (this was my thought process anyway, they do look like a challenge and easier to use on a meadow like you say)
manual lawnmowers seem like a cool idea, or allowing grass to grow in to meadows (no mowing) or letting animals graze, where that kind of thing can be done
Nah, a scythe is not tedious. I mean, if you consider it a chore, sure, then it is. Everything is.
But once you got a proper rhythm and a smooth motion, it’s really a relaxing, meditative thing. Also great workout: youtube.com/watch?v=OeMxwt6MC3Y
Beats sitting on a screaming hell machine by a long stretch.
But here you’d also want to get a handmade fitted one, not the one from home depot. In Central Europe that’s not too hard, don’t know about US for example.
Manual lawnmowers only work for lawn though, anything high and/or weedy they can’t do.
A titanium spork (specifically the Snow Peak one) is, in my opinion, the best utensil you will ever use. It’s a perfect balance between a spoon and fork, and just works so well.
It will last ten lifetimes, I’m sure.
Been using mine since 2016, multiple times a day, and it still looks brand new.
Also, a good-quality chromoly steel frame bike should last a lifetime. I’ve got one that’s 30+ years old and still hauls 60lbs of groceries at a time. LOL
Toaks works great too. I’ve used my Toaks titanium cookware for hundreds of nights camping.
Also, steel bikes rock. For those reading, you can spray the inside of the tubing with a rust inhibitor from any hardware store. Any scratches on the outside of the frame can be touched up with clear nail polish to prevent rusting.
Yes! We actually have both the “narrow” and “wide” (if that’s what they call it) Toaks sporks. The wide is very similar to the Snow Peak spork, but the fork portion is slightly longer on the Snow Peak (while still maintaining a very good spoon shape).
I’ve been using the narrow version as a secondary utensil and my son the wide version for as long as I’ve had my Snow Peak spork.
You can’t go wrong with either of those. I’m a fan of titanium and use a titanium mug on a daily basis. Just love the durability and light weight!
Carbon steel unseasoned wok. I’ve used mine multiple times weekly for almost 20 years for stir frying and deep frying. Nothing fancy, just a Joyce Chen wok with some accessories that was $30 at Bed Bath Beyond (RIP). My mom has used hers for 50 years.
Use either a hairclipper first or make head shaving a daily routine.
A fresh blade lessens irritation but increases the risk of nicks.
I prefer an evening shave to let eventual nicks or irritation settle down before work. I use an alum stone to stop the bleeding, if any.
When lazy I decide the hairclipper is good enough.
I have one. Blades cost literally about ten cents. If you really want to be crazy they can actually be sharpened, but I guarantee you will spend more than ten cents worth of your time doing it.
My only issue is that I can never quite get a good smooth shave out of just them, so I end up also using one of the expensive-as-fuck three-blade cartridge jobs for cleanup at the end, but even so using it only for that makes those expensive blades last an unusually long time, too. (Wish I could find a cheap version of those, though...)
You can sharpen the cartridges on a piece of fabric. Have to experiment a bit to see which works best. The texture of some old cotton Columbia hiking shorts has been ideal. Maybe it doesn’t result in like-new sharpness, but can make old cartridges passable for some time.
I find a single with-grain pass with my DE is good enough but need to do a second pass against-grain to get baby smooth. I had the same experience using cartridges though.
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