I have one of those! It was my granny's. Like you said, it still works like a charm.
This is kinda a dumb thing... But I can't eat raw walnuts. One or two is alright... but something in the oil will eventually irritate my mouth... And once that starts I am sore and swollen for days. Something about heating em makes a difference, and I can eat all I want... So in baked goods, and even in oatmeal (which I do quite often), I can eat all I want. So that little tool is particularly well used around here.
I get these mixed nuts from the Costco... It's their 'heart healthy' mix... There is a mental exercise in every bag, as I sort out the edible nuts from the preponderance of walnuts. After a few days of picking through em, I am left with such an overburden of walnuts that the Pickens are getting Slim (didja see what I did there?)... So that's what I did today. Dumped that bag into a bowl and started shoving walnuts through that machine... Filled it five or six times, picking out all the almonds as I went, of course, till there were no walnuts left, or almonds for that matter (which being the best prize).
All that walnut crumble will get use soon enough. I will feed it into my oatmeal on the stove, or into my cookie dough, and by next month there will be another bag to pick through.
That's how it works these days. I wonder for my grandchildren who have never learned all that - I mean, their cookies come from the grocery... They never learned the quality and discipline of making those cookies, not to mention shelling the nuts, being very careful to pick out the pith, to make that sheer gold found in a mere what, cup and a half of walnut crumble?
There's a something missing that can be found there.
I know you are a computer guy and it's really a good thing most of the time. But when integrated into every day appliances and cars/trucks it goms things up.
Oh no, darlin, I hate it. HATE it. Just as I was tipping over, I was running into small engine machinery governed by computer chips. SO DUMB. Tons and tons of small appliance, same thing... The actual thing still works... I can hot-wire it to make it go... But it's hopelessly busted because of some plastic POS, or a computer board that always goes out on em, and so it is never found used (because all of em busted the same way)... And you can't get the part - Forcing the otherwise good thing to be thrown away to go buy a new one. It is our doom.
When I HAD to replace my 35 year old washer and dryer I went with SQ. I paid a little more. Actually, I thought to myself, berdie these won't last 35 years like the old ones did. But then I thought, berdie if you are still alive and washing clothes in 35 years... 
LOL! That's right. I make a load a week if I try hard. Them big heavy duty machines are flat loafing left to me. But I do admire how they bring the womenfolk around... Somebody is always comin by to shove something in there... And that they are around means I get to see them - A thing all too rare otherwise, as they are all worrying over their own houses or around my mother, which is only proper.
Refrigerators really tick me off. The expected life span in ridiculous. And I need a new wall oven but put off buying it. Dishwasher? Mine hasn't worked in years and would like to have a new one. However, it's an odd size and replacement is too darn rich for my blood. I have become used to hand
washing dishes.
That again... I got lucky. Well... not exactly, as I am a tinker in my own right, and my uncle spent his whole life fixing appliances... So just a call to Uncle Johnny, and he will guide me down that trail. In fact, he bought me those Speed Queens as a house warming gift. And he recommended all the major appliances I own. I have had ZERO trouble since '12, except for coffee makers (which he did not recommend), and microwaves (also outside of his ken). Microwaves have been my bane, having replaced that 4 times.... And it's mounted hard, over the stove, so it's a thing.
As for dishwashers... Well, we had one once... One of them ones you drag out and hook up to the faucet... Never had one built in... And having one at all was rare. Seems to me thay never work very well, and have a hard time with stainless steel... By the time your done knocking off all the stuff it won't eat. you might as well do a proper job by hand.
As already been stated, not only do companies plan for obsolescence...people just play along because they want the new, prettiest, most better. I like old and reliable...and able to be repaired.
That's right
I think folks have been led down that garden path. I think a little knowledge would change that.
People are always amazed that I can fix a thing. They are flummoxed by the thought.
I think they don't do right by their kids, letting em play computer games instead of shucking corn, snapping beans, shelling walnuts, and cleaning stalls - The sort of thing that are taken for granted by you and me. Dishes, well they are like that too.
