Debt
Student loans
Lodge cast iron cookware. my pan is 20+ years old and literally better than new.
Lodge is pretty good, but the best cast iron is the old stuff. Most of mine has come from thrift shops.
Yes. I had a pan for almost 20 years and it was never great. In desperation I sanded it smooth.
Turns out that was the problem. New pans aren’t sanded as part of their manufacturing.
I fucked up the seasoning on a newer lodge and just sanded it down with 80 then 120 sandpaper then seasoned from scratch. It is now as smooth as any older pan I’ve found.
I’ve seen some available that are polished smooth from the factory, but I think they’re made in China. Quality seems good though.
American made guitars are still some of the best. Fender, Gibson, PRS, Collings and more. All USA made and BIFL.
PS: Ukuleles from Hawaii (the “k” brands).
EDIT for clarity: I am specifically referring to the USA made models. Many companies, including Fender, Gibson and PRS (not Collings) sell less expensive models made in other countries.
And on a much cheaper note, American drumsticks. They’re not a buy it for life dealio, though. Unless you’re really, really, really gentle.
Ernie Ball Music Man as well
Now that you mention it I’m struggling to come up with any other nation’s brand of guitar. Like I know some low end budget Ovations are made in Korea, Fender makes their cheaper guitars in Mexico etc. but like…name me the Volkswagen or Toyota of guitars that’s a home grown major international brand based outside the US?
Ibanez, Yamaha
A lot of fender guitars/basses are made in Indonesia and Mexico. Hell, some of the best fenders ever made were made in Japan and are highly sought after.
Same thing with Gibson. The others I don’t have any knowledge of.
I am specifically referring to the American made instruments. OP did not ask about the Japan, Mexico and Indonesia made, which are at this point undeniably well made.
Your last sentence makes it seem like you’re saying they’re all USA made, which they are not.
Fair enough. Edited.
Medical debt
Socks from Darn Tough Vermont are about as long lasting as it gets for socks. They are pricey but I’ve bought a pair or two a year starting in 2018 and I have yet to have a hole in any of them, and they’ve been worn a lot and have seen some things.
I’m tempted to buy a pair every time REI has a sale. Merino wool is amazing.
Redwing boots
some redwing boots
Mine are over 10 years old and still look great. I wear them everyday and walk several miles a day in them.
‘for life’ is a pretty tall order for shoes, but with available refurbishing, I have had two (identical) pair of Mephisto cap-toe shoes for… About 22 years?
Both have been sent back, rebuilt and returned more than once.
Also, about as comfortable as running shoes. If you are stuck in a suits-required career field, do yourself a favor.
Didn’t know you could get Mephisto in the US! Very French company, their shoes are absolute tanks
They’re starting to push nicer women’s shoes here, but they’re still a bit “old-person-y”
Thanks for the recco, I’ve been looking to get a better pair of boots for awhile.
Also, I feel like this is a good example of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
Spend $400 on a reputable pair of shoes from this company, keep them for 20 years, refurbishing for $155 occasionally.
Or buy a cheap pair of shoes for 40 bucks every 6 months for 20 years
I always see this shit and laugh. It’s sound logic, sure, but not applicable to most people living paycheck to paycheck in America. Which bills should I skip for multiple months in order to have excess money to buy $400 footwear that I HOPE stands up to the test? I usually get a year or two from my shoes and spend about 50 on them on average, and that sucks, but say least I can then also still get groceries and my bills paid. I think a lot of you guys who post these comments think you’re extremely clever and no one else understands long term investments, but it’s way more often the case that you guys have better lots in life and can afford to dump a wad of cash on stuff like this and not break the bank.
I think this is meant to highlight how expensive it is to be poor, not to serve as financial advice for purchases.
I completely agree with you that it’s unhelpful as financial advice but I think the idea behind it is to point out that because poverty forces people to buy substandard products or not products in bulk, it ends up more expensive in the long run
While there’s some degree of QC issues, benchmade knives.
I’ve owned about a dozen over the years, and still have most of them. The ones I don’t have I gave to people I know. Every single one is still in great shape. The worst of them is the first I ever had, a model 710, and the only thing wrong with that is the tip being slightly rounded from before I got better at sharpening and had good gear to do so.
I actually have three of that model, one a special edition that’s dressed up all fancy, the original one, and a brand spanking new copy of my first one that was dead stock that got sold off just this year.
I’ve also got other models, though I tend to give those away since I’m so happy with the design of the one I carry (the 710). I only buy them if they’re way underpriced because benchmade is usually way more expensive than most brands, even other us made ones. That means I usually buy them with gifting in mind, and just use it as an excuse to play with it a little.
A caveat though. You have to be careful where you buy them. Amazon has had a bad track record of accepting fakes as returns, and eBay is flooded with fakes from the makers as well as resold amazon fakes. So you have to be able to identify a fake to be certain the deal you’re seeing is a deal and not a scam.
The original 710 I have was purchased the year they came out, which I think was 99 or 2k, but I can’t promise my memory is right on the exact year, though it is around that time.
Even if it had been 2001, that’s 23 years of carrying the same knife almost everywhere, and carrying it at least part of every day. I took the thing camping and abused the hell out of it, including batonning with the damn thing. If you don’t know what that is, you won’t get how stupid it is to do with a folding knife of any type, or how impressive it is that the knife survived, much less did so without anything bragging breaking.
But, that’s when you take a knife, and use it to split wood by slamming another piece of wood against the back of the knife. It breaks fixed blade knives sometimes, it’s meant to be something you’d only do in an emergency because a knife just isn’t the right tool for splitting wood of any kind other than maybe balsa.
It got to the point that even when I carried another knife it was alongside the 710 because I could, and do, trust that damn knife with my life.
I haven’t abused other benchmade folders as much, but I have put them to hard use. Never had a single failure, even of the one spring that is commonly a problem that needs replacing.
There’s other knives just as reliable. But not that exceed the track record I have, and not that are us made
I want a 42 SOOOOO BAAAADLY AAAAAAAA
I had a change to buy one at 140USD when I was 17 and passed it up. I have SO MUCH RAGRET
Oooh, that is a damn disappointing miss. Especially considering current prices on them.
Gotta say though, if you can save up, they’re one of the best feeling balisong on the market. Just so damn smooth, even the heavily used ones. I regularly regret selling the one I had. I never actually carried it though, and I needed the money in a major way.
I played with one when I was 17, but yeah, that was “fuel money counting” days. Nowadays if I found one for 200, instant buy. Ah well.
Benchmade makes such amazing stuff.
I have a whole set of older Craftsman handtools that were made in the US and they are excellent. I have some other Dewalt tools that were made in Taiwan which are less so, but still much better than tools made in China.
Those old craftsman tools were fucking legit. And if they ever did break, you could just go get another one at Sears. Craftsman was a god damn national treasure. Crap now tho.
I agree I’m not a stickler for made in the USA so much as not made in china when possible
Colt 1911 Government Model. Accept no substitute.
I cannot imagine wearing this thing out, no matter what. TWO WORLD WARS!
I joke, but BIFL and “made in the USA”? That one fits the bill to a T.
Kirby vacuums. They’re pricy because they basically do door to door selling and there’s a huge markup. For example the starting price the guy quoted was 2k, I declined a few times and he went down to 1k. I later got one from my parents who bought one but didn’t like how heavy it was.
They are monsters. It’s basically a small shop vac with a ton of attachments, including a carpet shampoo scrubby thing. Replacement parts are easy to find 3rd party and I’ve never really had to repair it except replacing a belt and removing hair from the brush. Pretty sure they have lifetime warranties too.
I’ve got some pretty good wooden kitchen utensils still going strong. My cast iron skillet is pretty solid as well. I can’t tell you if they were e in this country though. Probably not.
in the u.s.?
I’ve always wondered what the limits are for headstones, since you’re supposed to own the land. Can you erect a giant veiny phallus and just make your eternal neighbors jealous?
So, the Washington Monument?
Like this?
Yes
Flowfold wallets. Made out of recycled sail cloth and have a lifetime warranty.
