Old-timey, sentimental/nostalgic gear?

Prompted by the thread on gear that could be called art…

Do most of us have something that we bring along that isn’t really the best or lightest option but that either has personal sentimental value or looks/feels like something that connects us to our past?

Since I always carry  a relatively heavy knife I wish I still had one or two that my grandfather gave me; I think it would be nice to bring with me as I learned so much about the outdoors from him. There are a few items that I own both for the trail and at home that somehow connect me to times and places or even just ideas that mean something to me.

My Opinel knife. Got my first one from my brother. Think of him whenever I use one.

I have a knitted cap from a cherished friend that gives me joy as well as warmth when I wear it.

Same : Opinel.

We had one in the family when I was  a kid and that was the knife we took on our very long day trips.

(starting at 4-6AM , finishing at 5-6PM)

So eventually when I started do do longer hikes I bought my own small Opinel.

Double post

That’s nice to hear Ken :)

Since both of you mentioned Opinel I now have to look it up. Not familiar with it..

Yep and YES

I know better but I always bring my old army water bottle and stainless steel kidney cup, partly for sentiment but also because I find them so easy to drink from without dribbling when 900ml is your standard cup of coffee or tea

Ditto a big warm head cover I was gifted when I left Nuigini Everybody needs a bad taste beanie in the bush after all

Winchester Model 12.  Engraved as a gift to my great grandfather in 1933, it was his main bird gun.  Then it became my grandfather’s bird gun. As my father didn’t hunt, it then went to me.  I take a lot of joy from backpacking and hunting with it.  I fell down an embankment and put a nasty gouge in the stock a week ago…but better to keep it alive in the field than to let it die unused on a shelf.

I’ve been carrying my Mora for about 10 years now.  Best $14 I’ve ever spent.  Now I’m terrified of losing it.

That is really special Craig. Your great grandfather. Wow.

Please indulge me a story:

I’m a Mac guy. Have been ever since I first used a Macintosh SE at an advanced photojournalism course at the Univ. of South Carolina back in 1988 (paid for by the Army). Got home, sold my Hyundai (yes, they used to make home PCs) 286 computer and lots of software and bought my first Mac, a IIsi. I once flew with it in my carry-on luggage to attend a communications course at the Univ. of Oklahoma (paid for by the Army, love that Army training).

Anyway, I spent a lot of time buying Macs and peripherals and upgrading my Macs myself, installing hard drives and memory and such. Bought much of these things from either OWC or Small Dog Electronics.

Years later, two friends and I did a short bicycle trip in Vermont to celebrate my 50th birthday. Rained on us pretty much every day. Loved pretty much every minute of that trip. I was on my bike, on an adventure, on my birthday. Can’t beat that.

Anyway, we’re riding down a nice country road when all of a sudden we come upon Small Dog Electronics! No way! This wasn’t planned at all, and they only had one store, and this was it! Too cool. We chained up our bikes and spent some time in there, a nice trot down my Mac memory lane.

When we got to camp that night, my friend Ken handed me a small parcel. “Happy birthday.” I opened it up and there were two small dog figurines (each about the size of a cherry tomato) that he picked up at Small Dog Electronics. He bought two because I had two dogs.

I’ve carried those two pup figurines on most of my backpacking trips. Cherish them still.

@Doug picture?

Mom gave me an official BSA pocket knife when she sent me off to Scouting in the mid-60’s. I have it on my gear list at 84 grams. My biggest fear while out on the trail does not concern bears, marmots, snow storms, tornadoes or lack of food or water, I just can’t misplace this knife. I have left it at home but then   nothing feels “right”.

Emotionally attached to this: yes.

Miss my Mom: every day.

This reminded me to give my 1960’s vintage Mischabel ice axe a coat of linseed oil. I don’t carry it much since I got trekking poles. I bought it, used, for $7.98, at Whittaker’s Chalet, in Tacoma.  I see a similar model just sold for $125 on fleabay,

Seems like knives are a “popular ” sentimental item.

Nice little dogs Doug.

When I got out of the service in 1971, I bought a complete backpacking kit. Most of the items I still have and use.

Here’s my 1971 Kelty external pack at GGG IX

My Svea 123 stove and companion SIGG TOURIST cook kit.

A Tough Traveller internal frame pack, part of the gear given to us when I was a Nordic Ski Patroller for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.

A pair of K2 XC racing skis, again, gear given to 1980 Winter Olympic Nordic Patrollers. Later I skied the 100 mile, 2 day Canadian Ski Marathon with them. Still great skis with the then revolutionary honeycomb aluminum core. Damn near unbreakable but the P-Tex bottoms are wearing thin.

I have my dad’s altimeter which I carry on all my backpacking trips. He used to hike all over the Olympics and Cascades. I would take a photo of it at the high point of whatever trail I was on, and send it to him. Now that he is gone, I’ll still take it and photograph it in his memory.

I have my Svea 123 I bought from REI in 1975 for $11.25… it’s still going strong. Also have all the Sigg spun aluminum pots and fuel bottles from the same era. Ditto ice axes, crampons, etc. Most of the gear I had than is gone, but I’ve kept a few pieces…

Nick, I picked up the same pack a while ago at the Salvation Army for $5 Looks unused.

That is really sweet Diane.

Yeah, I found a Kelty D4 in the thrift store recently too…would’ve bought it but all of the padding in the shoulder straps and hipbelt was hard as a rock and brittle.

Do my 2008 Double Rainbow, 2007 Golite Jam and 2003 Golite Feather bag count as old-timey? Because that’s the oldest gear I have, and I still use them. They hold a lot of sentimental value for me :)

Danny Milks is trying to post. Can we wrap this one up please? NEVER MIND

ps weird. When I saw Danny’s name in the recent posts and then clicked on the post it was not there…

i see him

Nah, you’re too young, Danny. Ya gotta be old to have old-timey gear, like Eric, Nick, and me.

My humble offering here is a pair of Fischer Europa 99 X-C skis that I probably bought in 1979. I think they were one of the first to have metal edges. I cheated and mounted some Voile cables to help with the turns. But man are they long and skinny. They are now relegated to cruising the flats in my favorite open space here, as they are pretty hard to turn quickly with. Eric knows what I’m talking about here. And you have to wax them. I’m now more into wax-less fish scale skis, for the simplicity.

But my pride and joy (you know, the kind of gear that you just sit and fondly fondle while watching a ball game), is a pair of Paul Ramer’s innovative snowshoe/ski poles – the ones that break down to create a functional avalanche pole, and the replaceable grips that can be used for self-arrest. These are like a collector’s item, and I kinda hate to even use them now so as to not scratch them up. That, and the pair with regular grips weigh 1# 6 oz; heavy, but pretty bomb-proof. Ramer was a genius.

Hee, hee, young whippersnappers think early 21st century gear qualifies as “old” gear.

Ya gotta have something made in the 20th century “Sonny”. We’re talking aluminum canteens and brass stoves, A-frame tents and heavy leather boots with original rubber Vibram soles, external frame packs and flashlights with lead acid batteries. (1960s BH – Before Headlamps)

BTW WEISNER!, that’s a beautiful Winchester Model 12 shotgun. My grandad had a beat up Model 12 that went to my grandma’s brother.