Originally Posted by
Duragrouch
I take your points.
Regarding goods that have been made unchanged:
Filson waxed cotton jackets (their traditional designs)
Mauviel copper cookware
LeCreuset enameled cast iron cookware
Lodge cast iron cookware
French (de Buyer and Matfer Bourgeat et al) carbon steel skillets
Winchester Model 70
Mauser Model 98
Ithaca Model 37
M1911 pistol (companies now have simply added as standard, what used to be offered improvements by custom gunsmiths, otherwise unchanged)
Kennedy toolboxes
LL Bean duck boots and heavy canvas tote bags
Red Wing 866 wellington and other boots
Klein tools
Channellocks
Zippo (petrol) lighters
Quality foods, from emmental cheese to prosciutto di parma to parmisiano reggiano and thousands of others, unchanged for hundreds of years and longer
Martin guitars
Steel and wood body resonator guitars, such as a Dobro
Steinway pianos
Bamboo fly rods and quality reels
Double-edge safety razors and badger hair brushes (both now back in fashion)
Quality alcoholic spirits, thousands of them, unchanged product and process for over 100 years
E6B flight computer
Freeland's spotting scope stands
Opinel folding knives
Louisville Slugger bats
Brooks Team Professional leather saddle
Ventile cotton fabric
Gransfors Bruk axes
These are products that endure, unchanged, because they are already evolved to a perfect state.
Very interesting list. I was curious, so, picking a few items at random:
Searched for "How have Steinway pianos changed over time?" Answer: '
The Steinway "B" has evolved over a period of 149 years with a redesign occurring on average every 15 years--a total of 10 Model B "evolutionary eras.” '
Same search, Le Creuset: '
The "Signature" series, introduced in 2010, includes improved phenolic lid knobs good to 480°F/248°C, larger, more ergonomic loop pot handles, and sand-colored interiors with improved durability and stain resistance
. Earlier, "classic" phenolic knobs were only oven safe to 375°F/190°C.'
Bizarrely, just yesterday I was rereading an old (2009) issue of
Premier Guitar with a pictorial spread where four builders of resonator guitars showed and discussed examples of their products. All said that they were always thinking up subtle ways to improve their guitars. One had, just the previous year, introduced a model with three interchangeable pan configurations.
Richie Sachs, too, has said that he's still figuring out little changes in his framebuilding techniques to make his frames better, or his methods better, or both.
Not a gotcha - I assume, for example, that the non-"Signature" Le Creuset pieces have indeed remained unchanged for decades. And that you're right about all or most of your other examples. And Sachs frames, regardless of his tweaks, are undoubtedly still functionally virtually identical to the frames he was producing when he first set up his show in Connecticut after apprenticing in England in the early '70's..
And some things change for the worse. I learned recently, thanks to someone pointing it out on Bike Forums, that inner-tube manufacturers have switched from the previous butyl recipe to a new one that is probably cheaper and/or easier to produce - with one result being that Rema patches and glue aren't working as well as they used to.