My $12 cast iron skillet survived a campfire, a move to Denver, and my roommate using it as a hammer
He needed to pound in a tent stake and grabbed the only heavy thing in reach, and the pan didn't even chip. Now I want to know if anyone else has a piece of gear that outlived straight up abuse like that.
A buddy of mine had a Stanley thermos that fell off the roof of his truck going about 40 down a dirt road. He found it two days later in a ditch, dented all to hell, and the coffee inside was still warm. He used that same thermos for another six years until the lid finally cracked. Then there was his old Estwing hammer that spent a whole winter buried in mud after a flood and came out with just some surface rust. He cleaned it up and it still swings fine today. Some gear just refuses to quit no matter what you throw at it.