Buy it for Life

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A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!

Guidelines:

Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!

Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.

Videos links are not allowed as post titles, but you may use them in a text post.

A limited amount of self-promotion is accepted, IF the item you are selling aligns with this criteria:

The item must be made with sustainable or recycled materials.
If electronic in some way, the item must be open-source.
The item must be user-serviceable (if applicable).
You cannot be a large corporation.
The post must be clearly marked with a [Self Promotion] tag in your title.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

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166

Is BIFL Still Possible Today? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 2 days ago by rosahaj@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/buyitforlife@slrpnk.net

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Hi there, I came here to the BIFL Lemmy out of suspicion that the reddit posts are just unlabelled marketing, and I was wondering the possibility of sourcing goods that are more to a BIFL standard? In my area, second hand goods tend to be really quite poor in quality (reselling fast fashion) or otherwise not present, and I have not inherited anything that does last. So I would apprecite advice or reccomendations for finding goods at a BIFL standard. I was also wondering if maybe there would be anyone with good advice for finding sustainable, local textile production so that I may be able to tailor what I need without having to buy from the poor selection aforementioned, does anyone know of any of this?

TL:DR I am suspicious that a lot of what is claimed as 'BIFL' has been enshittified, and would like advice on being able to search for sustainable goods for a local area (not specified because I'm hoping for advice with searching, not exactly for specific reccs)

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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

It's a bit like how you'll see things advertised as being made of "aircraft grade" aluminum.

I'm an aircraft repairman, there is no such thing as "aircraft grade" at least in the United States; the aviation industry does not maintain its own standards for metallurgy, it uses SAE standards, and a lot of different alloys get used in aircraft for various applications. Sheet metal skin and structures is usually 2024-T3, you'll see 6061 or 6065 in castings, hell they make pure aluminum rivets for fastening placards. So most things that say "aircraft grade" on them usually mean they're 6061-T6 or similar. which is legal for use in aircraft construction if its properties are called for in the design. It's just some wank they can legally get away with putting on retail packaging.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

For me aircraft grade aluminum is right up there with space age technology. The space age was 50 years ago.

[–] schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business 2 points 12 hours ago

Ugh I always hated that phrase. Like, space age technology is ball point pens, Tang, and those MPET blankets you find in first aid kits. Oh and freeze dried ice cream.

It really really does not mean shit at this point.