35 Well-Worn Things That Show Exactly What Years Of Use Can Do
Time moves slowly enough that we rarely get to see what it’s doing right in front of us. But every footstep, handprint, button press, and repeated movement leaves a tiny mark.
Give those marks enough years, and suddenly the stone has grooves in it, and everyday objects barely resemble what they looked like when they were new. That’s what makes well-worn things so fascinating. They’re physical evidence of thousands, sometimes millions, of tiny interactions adding up.
These pictures shared on Reddit capture incredible examples of things worn down over time and show just how dramatic the effects of years of wear and tear can be.
1. “6 years of holding my keys vs brand new”
2. “These 100 year old butcher blocks at the local butcher”
3. “5 year old mousepad vs a new one”
“5 year old custom mousepad vs a new one i got freshly printed
The art is by my friend who drew a funny experience I had in high school. I had classmates sleep at my house to do a school project but they started making out on my bed while I sat on my desk trying to ignore them by playing terraria.”
4. “6 year old Roomba side sweeper brushes old vs new”
5. “My great great grandmother’s, great grandmother’s, and grandmother’s spoon”
6. “Laptop after 5 years of heavy use”
7. “My boyfriends drumsticks after 5 years”
8. “Bottle cap wall art at a dive bar rusting away from from the water spray of a hand dryer”
9. “Shovel after 2 years”
10. “Brother had no idea that you can replace the blade”
11. “Replaced my studio headphones after a decade of use as a professional voice actor”
12. “My original cricut scraper and the one I just bought to retire it.”
13. “10 year old Boba Fett”
“Got this keychain a decade ago and has been on my keyring ever since.
He got ran over by a car a few months ago.. should I retire him? He looks tired.”
14. “The sticker on the cap shows its original color.”
“Bought three years ago. I left the sticker on the visor, so you can see the original color before it faded from sun exposure and sweat.”
15. “Apple pen tip after probably ~2-3 years of daily use vs replacement”
16. “Original sun beaten 2008 WALL-E sticker still in local Cinema window.”
17. “My parents knife with 40 years of toast wear”
18. “the way the map in Chicago’s Union Station has been rubbed away from years of people pointing at their destinations”
19. “37 years of wear on my mail truck key”
20. “3.5 year old Red Wing boots vs. brand new”
21. “What a few months of seasoning on clay teapots look like”
22. “My coworkers 70 yr old vice grips vs my new ones”
23. “22 year old Rubbermaid spatula”
24. “Free boots I walked every penny out of”
“Left. Bates combat boots given to be by my grandpa. He’s gone now so I don’t know if I can bring myself to part with them. Around 6 years old.
Right. Some Red Wing boot given to me by a coworker when my wolverines wore through. Cool snow shoe style knob for tightening the laces.
Couldn’t wear them because the steel toe would flip over my foot and get stuck. Super uncomfortable Around 4 years old.”
25. “Stairs in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. They were very difficult to climb up on, and scary to climb down on”
26. “Two years of work”
27. “My 2 year old name tag. Just put my 2 weeks in.”
28. “Probably 70 odd years of a preferred side up the stairs.”
“These are the stairs in the community hall where my mother in law is having her 66th birthday. This is in rural Lithuania not far from the Polish border. I’ve been told that the hall was built in early Soviet times.”
29. “Mine and my neighbor’s dog have progressively dug a trench chasing each other back and forth”
30. “New vs. 6 month old scrub daddy”
31. “Red Wing Iron Rangers after 5 years of daily wear”
“Been my daily wear work boots for the past 5 years. Cleaned and wax once a year, had the heels replaced once, same laces.”
32. “My kids swing hooks after four years of use”
33. “This door handle”
34. “Inside vs. outside door handle in my uni house”
35. “This threshold in an 1850s Lower East Side tenement.”
