What's the most reliable piece of gear you've ever owned?

[cbcbd]

My Columbia shorts - maybe not really a piece of "gear", but to me it's so functional and perfect for everything I do that I still sew the heck out of it to keep it alive.
It has gone through a lot of backpacking, climbing, biking... anything!

 

[jjmcgo]

My answer is the same as TEO's -- my 1972 WMG, although it's not reliably accurate anymore due to trail closings and relocations and regulations changes.
I would have said my small hatchet that I've had since Scouting in the late 1950s. Very good for cutting up wood for campfires, clearing brush for campsites, digging latrine trenches, opening summit vistas, and to use with rope lashings to make benches, tables, structures for cooking ... and many other once-traditional backwoods practices now frowned upon!!!
I think the last time this question was asked I said my WWII-era P-38 Army can opener and a whole bunch of people remembered them.
http://www.georgia-outfitters.com/images/p38add.jpg

 

[JOD]

My most reliable piece of gear is a camping axe my father gave me when I was a boy scout 35 years ago. I’ve had to replace the handle 7 times and the head 3 times. It still splits wood like it’s brand new.

 

[charlos]

Nalgene bottle....though i did replace the cap which got way toooo funky!

 

[Rick]

My most reliable piece of gear is a camping axe my father gave me when I was a boy scout 35 years ago. I’ve had to replace the handle 7 times and the head 3 times. It still splits wood like it’s brand new.

Did anybody else catch this????????

 

[Pamola]

Did anybody else catch this????????

Ship of Theseus

Time for this thread to get all paradoxical and philosophical.

 

[jjmcgo]

Grandfather's Old Axe

While it is not the same ax physically, it remains the same ax emotionally.
Great catch, Pamola.
The question is whether JOD stumbled into this or set us up?
Are we crossing the same river twice?

 

[JOD]

yah, it's a set up. Good on you for catching me...

I bet Pete Hickey has an axe just like mine too...

I couldn't resist while reading all the stories of reliable gear. I just had to reply with the wise crack. I couldn't get it out of my head!

 

[jjmcgo]

They might have something to help you at Bon Secours.
But don't, thanks to you I learned something today.

 

[marchowes]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

Very nice