Hobbies

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nativewooder

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Feb 26, 2009
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Fort Pierce, Fl 34982
My hobbies consisted of custom rod building for a few years until Dale Clemens passed and my independent suppliers began to run out of closed up factories. Built everything from ocean trolling rods to freshwater fly rods until the government began taxing everyone's casual extra money. Then, as I took up playing golf in the shade off the course, it seemed like I needed custom golf clubs so I bought all the equipment and books from Maltby and thought I was back in school. It took a lot of experimentation but I finally built myself a set of clubs that don't slice (with the help of a few hundred tips)! Still have all the equipment from both if anyone is interested. And my custom clubs are buried under a lot of wood dust! Woodturning is what I started learning in 2002 or thereabouts and am now retiring little by little.:eek:
 
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avbill

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Oct 18, 2007
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1,973
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San Bruno, CA, USA.
Stamp collection has a complete united nation collection mint. Have the first two US stamps also!

I hybridized African Violets. and grew Bonsai

Collected old cameras. For every camera I still have film for it. 8 x 10 to miniature spy cameras.

And a collection of fine wine. :wink:

Indian Head pennies
 
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Krash

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Feb 10, 2014
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Location
Albuquerque, NM
I think most of us older guys have had any number of hobbies - it would be interesting to know what all we've done....

My first hobby was collecting girl friends:biggrin:

Actually, my first real hobby was coin collecting - I started that just after getting married I collected modern coins until I had gotten all of the Lincoln Cents, Jefferson Nickels, Mercury dimes (I was one short) Washington Quarters and Franklin Halves. In those days you could find almost everything in circulation.

Next, I bred and raised Standardbred (Trotters and Pacers) race horses for a few years but had to give that up after the 5th and 6th kids came along - I had a good job but not good enough to afford both the kids and horses. This hobby makes pen turning look like chump change.

The third thing that was really a hobby was walking, I joined a walking organization and logged as many as 1500 miles a year for a few years. I still walk a lot but not nearly that much. Best thing about this was it was really affordable.

I then collected cast bank trucks...Only a couple a year but this held on for about 22 -23 years. Again it didn't cost a lot of money but finding room for them was a problem. At the same time I collected small cast cars - I gave these up when we moved into a mobile home and had no room.

Remodeling rooms in my house was really a hobby for me as well, I did all the work myself and truly enjoyed it - this went on for about 10 years when I ran out of rooms.

I had what some would call a hobby farm where we raised, Beef, hogs, lambs, turkeys, roasting chickens, laying chickens and kept a milk cow. We also made about 1000 bales of hay a year. I never really thought of this as a hobby because there was a lot of work.

Power boating was a hobby for a few years and to those who think this is expensive try boating where a $35K -$40K boat is just the down payment. And, it can "drink" 100 gallons of gas in a single afternoon along with slip fees, insurance maintenance ---- of course you also wind up getting GPS, Depth finder, Fish finder, Radio, half a dozen or so rods and reels, life jackets and on and on. Cost was about $10K per year with an Ocean Going boat. Could have been a lot more because mine was only a 24 footer.

I also collected toy soldiers and still have a small collection of them depicting the American Revolution.

Living where we do, we also collect a lot of sea shells - this is a hobby anyone can afford.

I also made cottage furniture until I got to the point where we didn't need any more in our house. That was fun and I suspect we have about 25 or so pieces that I made here in the house and probably another dozen or so pieces outside.

As a side to the above I like to make real and faux bird houses and we have them all over the place as well as giving dozens of them away.

I also did income tax preparation as a semi business and part hobby. I charged for some but did some for family and friends at no charge...I never did more than about 40 a year so it wasn't a real business although it always showed a profit.

I also collected 33 1/3 records and made a couple of amplifiers for playing them , two were kits but the third one was from scratch. Gave them up when we got to where we just didn't have room for them and my record changer broke so we had to play them one at a time.

So how about you.....


Wow LeRoy. Quite a list of hobbies.

You gotta be either 3 people or 300 years old!
 

Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
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That or he doesnt watch lot of tv
You nailed it. I was never a huge TV fan. Of course Commercial TV broadcasting did't happen until 1939,,,then WWII interfered with it until after the war. The first TV in our house came when I was in 8th grade. I had seen it before (my brother had TV about 2 years before anyone else in the family) but not very often. When we first got it I watched quite a bit - but TV was not a 24 hour a day thing, in fact none of the channels at that time broadcast more than 7 or 8 hours a day.

During high school I found girls to be both more interesting and more fun than anything on TV so I spent my time chasing them around. During the summer months there was baseball, swimming, summer jobs etc. no time.

After high school I joined the Navy and didn't really have much access to TV - on the ship there was 1 TV and 200 to 250 people so nobody watched much - at sea it was turned off.

When I got out of the Navy, for 2 years I lived in a furnished room with no TV and at that time most of the bars didn't have TV's either, they wanted people to play the juke box.

Then I got married and we got a TV but I was working nights so I was at work when all of the good TV shows were on.

I was also an avid reader so even when TV was on I would often read and play records instead of turning on the TV.

Now, I would rather play 'free cell' on my computer than watch ads for drugs and for lawyers who want to sue the drug companies. I think on the commercial channels now they have almost 50% of the time going to ads and I just don't feel I need that. Our TV goes on in the morning for 3 hours and is back ground where we will be listening but not watching - it shuts off automatically after 3 hours. It then might get turned on after supper, but maybe not. If Helen is reading a book it stays off. Helen does watch a couple of shows now and then but mostly if we watch we go to a movie channel that runs commercials only between the movies.

In short, I can live very happily without TV - I do listen to talk radio when in my truck and sometimes in the house. We do have a CD player and listen to music and not and then we do put on a music channel on the TV.

My favorite all time TV Show was Hee Haw.

I should also say we "Pulled the plug" for 8 years when the wind blew out antenna off the roof and cable was not available. We just unhooked the TV set, bought a player and now and then watched a rented movie.
 
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sbwertz

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May 11, 2010
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Phoenix, AZ
Oh my...in 71 years I've had quite a few. The first one was collection bottle caps. I was about 6 and carried them around in the little red suitcase from my erector set.

Collected coins for a while, gave them all to my daughter when she married. I bred, raised, trained and showed both hunter jumpers and Belgian heavy draft horses. I still teach jumping and English riding to 4H groups, but don't have horses any more.

Years ago I got into fabric painting (remember Tri-Chem?) Gardening and sewing for many years. Target archery, first with a recurve and later with a compound. Trap shooting, rifle and pistol shooting, cooking (wrote and published a cookbook,) computer programming, (still have a computer consulting business, although I am supposed to be retired.) photography (I was a horse show photographer... and did some weddings, for my sins.)

And now, wood turning. I let several of my hobbies turn into businesses...photography, computer programming, horses...) and I am determined not to let that happen to pen turning. I want to be able to go out and turn whatever pleases me on any given day. I don't want to have to say "Oh, crap. I have to turn fifty pens by Friday." When it becomes a business, it ceases to be fun.
 
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Haynie

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May 20, 2011
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Page Arizona
Film photography, collecting large format film cameras, wood working, reading, Welding pen turning.

I don't have a lot of time for anything these days, but I still think of them as hobbies.
 

ashaw

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Jun 23, 2004
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Location
Phila, PA, USA.
Mine was coins and stamps, then pens and ham radio. Finally auto racing first was drag racing then dirt oval tracks. I raced until the late 90's when I put a sprint car into barrel rolls over the catch fence.
 

edman2

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Feb 2, 2007
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Location
Greenbrier, AR. USA.
Well, let's see:
wedding photography
collecting pin and ink drawings
depression era glassware (about 600 pieces)
deer hunting
and a few minor others prior to penturning.
 
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That or he doesnt watch lot of tv

What is this...."TV" you speak of??? :confused:


BTW Great thread Smitty!
Dawn, TV is that little box with a screen that you used to fall asleep in front of....before you started falling asleep in front of your computer screen.

Ahhhhh but at one time while asleep in front of the TV, you'd be awakened by the Star Spangled Banner, then the white noise of a snowy screen
 

Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
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Milford, Delaware 19963
That or he doesnt watch lot of tv

What is this...."TV" you speak of??? :confused:


BTW Great thread Smitty!
Dawn, TV is that little box with a screen that you used to fall asleep in front of....before you started falling asleep in front of your computer screen.

Ahhhhh but at one time while asleep in front of the TV, you'd be awakened by the Star Spangled Banner, then the white noise of a snowy screen
I remember that Well. In fact, I can remember when even during the day there we times when no program would be on any of the 3 channels we used to get.:)
 

Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
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Milford, Delaware 19963
You forgot the test pattern on the screen!
That came later - what I first remember is the blank screen because the channels actually stopped transmitting when they weren't actually broadcasting a show. Later on, because they had more problems when they turned the transmissions on/off rather than leaving them 'broadcasting' and because TV set users could not tell if their set was working when the station wasn't broad casting, and because adjusting the picture was a fine art that was much easier with the test pattern they started transmitting the test patterns when no shows were being sent out.:):)
 

Spencer2112

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Joined
Jun 23, 2014
Messages
8
Location
Greenville, Texas
Current
1. Penturning (duh)
2. Disc golf
3. Motorcycle rides with son who is autistic He has been on 16k of the 17k miles on the bike

Prior
Coin collecting (still have it)
Antenna ball collecting ( about 400), got to build racks to display them.
 

Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
In Memoriam
Joined
Nov 23, 2009
Messages
12,823
Location
Milford, Delaware 19963
Current
1. Penturning (duh)
2. Disc golf
3. Motorcycle rides with son who is autistic He has been on 16k of the 17k miles on the bike

Prior
Coin collecting (still have it)
Antenna ball collecting ( about 400), got to build racks to display them.
That is harder than it looks isn't it?
 

sbell111

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Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Messages
3,465
Location
Franklin, TN
Current
1. Penturning (duh)
2. Disc golf
3. Motorcycle rides with son who is autistic He has been on 16k of the 17k miles on the bike

Prior
Coin collecting (still have it)
Antenna ball collecting ( about 400), got to build racks to display them.
That is harder than it looks isn't it?
I tried it once back in college because my roommate thought it was the best thing ever. I found that I couldn't throw a frisbee straight for the life of me.
 

sbell111

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Jan 16, 2008
Messages
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Location
Franklin, TN
That or he doesnt watch lot of tv

What is this...."TV" you speak of??? :confused:


BTW Great thread Smitty!
Dawn, TV is that little box with a screen that you used to fall asleep in front of....before you started falling asleep in front of your computer screen.
Been there, done that. I've now moved on to the iPad. I cannot tell you how many times that I've woke up in the middle of the night with my iPad on my lap. The junk that I posted in my dreams was gold, I bet.
 

Sandsini

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May 11, 2014
Messages
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Location
Lake Arrowhead, California
I've been interested in crazy stuff all my life. As a frustrated musician, I have (tried) to play everything from guitar, bass, banjo, drums, flute, clarinet, violin and even bagpipes... never particularly good at any of them. When I purchased my lathe and other penmaking equipment, I finally let go of my drum set and now have no instruments at all. I told my wife it was time to let go, it was only a vanity.

In the past I have collected books (mostly first edition and first appearance Phillip K. Dick) and Swiss watches (had to stop because I couldn't afford it anymore!) and brewed ale.

I have also been a lifelong car nut, having raced and restored many, many cars. Mostly European sports models. I currently feel privileged to own an 87 Porsche Turbo that I just took on a central California Coast run with some other car guys (what a joy that car is to drive).

Now it appears that Penturning, so far, is the only pastime that I feel equals my love for automobiles. I am obsessed with it, and eager for my skillset to grow as I turn each new pen.

Cheers,
 

Rick_G

Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2007
Messages
1,994
Location
Bothwell, Ontario, Canada.
Coin collecting
Stamp collecting
electronics
ham radio
computers both building and writing some of my software
Handgun competition
Woodworking started with flatwork now doing turning as well
 

znachman

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Joined
Apr 17, 2013
Messages
147
Location
Israel
Astronomy, Building telescopes,Mosaic,StainedGlass,Flightsimulator and more :wink:
 

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Pete275

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Jul 26, 2010
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Location
Houston, Tx.
Wow what a great thread Smitty! I collected stamps as a kid along with marbles, I still have all of the marbles. Two of my buddies and I had a modified Camaro we ran on the strip for a while till it broke the bank. Playing music (or playing at it) has always been part of my list, these days its the guitar. I collect interesting post cards from all over the world and of course woodturning and I dabble in flat work. And I bet as think about this thread I'll remember more!

Wayne
 

Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
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Nov 23, 2009
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Location
Milford, Delaware 19963
Wow what a great thread Smitty! I collected stamps as a kid along with marbles, I still have all of the marbles. Two of my buddies and I had a modified Camaro we ran on the strip for a while till it broke the bank. Playing music (or playing at it) has always been part of my list, these days its the guitar. I collect interesting post cards from all over the world and of course woodturning and I dabble in flat work. And I bet as think about this thread I'll remember more!

Wayne
Well you added one to mine...marbles. I had a large collection from when I was a kid many "shooters" and I was particularily fond of clear marbles that had an air bubble or bubbles.
 

Rockytime

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Jun 3, 2014
Messages
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Location
Arvada, CO 80003
My first hobby was stamp collecting then I graduated to a Daizy BB gun. Shooting sparrows in a grain elevator was fun sport. Photography was a big thing with me from my high school days through most of my adult years. Made many trips chasing trains around the country and taking 35mm slides. I was also an avid model railroader for nearly 40 years. I am a hobby machinist with a fairly complete shop and now I have graduated to pen turning. What pleasure, I get to buy more machinery. My wife wonders when and how I will get rid of all my stuff. I don't plan to. She can dispose of it upon my demise which I hope is not too soon. Oh, I forgot, I spend as much time as I can on my CanAm and riding with friends.
 

Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
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Milford, Delaware 19963
Hey?

You hit another one for me. I did model railroading for a few years - with 6 kids though, it just took up too much space and we had to let it go to make room for other things (like beds).
 

Mike Powell

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Jul 26, 2013
Messages
551
Location
League City, Tx 77573
I'm a tinkerer.
In my twenty years in the air force, I'm on car number 28/29. I've had a 79 cameo z28 that ran 11s, a 68 mustang coupe, just to name a couple.
I did a stent in Utah where I was really into jeeps, and rockcrawling.
I collect guns and knives. Nothing special just like them all
I also collect antique decanters I have a fewfrom the twenties.
Now it's penturning, which lately had been more of a job than a hobby.
 

Sub Vet 10

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Joined
Jul 16, 2011
Messages
223
Location
Houston
I'm one that if I had all the sports cards I had as a kid I would be set.

I also spent way too many E-2 paychecks on CD's and guitar gear right before everything went Digital.
Books- cooking/grilling (signed ones included), Clancy, Tolkien, Coontz, etc

Still have a bit of Sports and Navy memorabilia and ballcaps.

Had a suped up 89 Mustang that took a Ford Ranger, doing 65, broadside.

What I have and know about firearms scares most people. (It's Uncle Sam's fault I'm a numbers/ballistics nerd)

Would like to get back into geocaching, with the babies growing up.

Right now I collect kits and frequent flyer miles. Their accumulations are inversely proportional.

Far too many interests, not enough time/money.
 
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