Thread: Other "old time" hobbies

I've always been into aboriginal skills. I actually made a bow drill setup yesterday to keep the skill sharp. It's always a big hit when I start the s'mores fire that way.

I've found camping and hiking to be much easier without having to lug around all that gear. A debris hut will keep you warm just as well as a sleeping bag.

About the only outdoors skill I haven't picked up is flint knapping, but I keep meaning to.

I collect the oldest things in the cosmos, rocks and minerals. I also collect vintage mechanical pocketwatches.

I collect slide rules. I used to like using them too, but my work is a lot less math oriented lately.

I have a davis student sextant that I play with sometimes. I don't really know much about celestial navigation except how to take the noon sight and find my position that way (I'm right here, as it turns out). I'd like to get a real one someday.

I'm also interested in Letterboxing. I haven't really tried it, but it looks like a fun activity for my son and I to do together. Geocaching seems a bit too high tech for me.

Originally Posted by Tonsor

Fixed gears are cool. I used to race when I was in my twenties. I had one road bike with a fixed gear setup for training. I rode on nothing but sew-ups - nylons, I couldn't afford silk. Even nylons were great handling and they sang when you rode. I heard that nobody uses sew-ups anymore. That's a shame.

I still ride sew ups on a '73 Raleigh Pro and an '81 Gios Aero. I've come to like clinchers though. With the tires they are making now and the pressures that hold the performance is comparable IME. I love riding the fixed on the road. I don't go to the velodrome anymore as it is 50 miles one way and I'm too cheap to go for the gasoline.

I'm pretty obsessed with large format film photography and traditional printing in a wet dark room. Thats the kind of photography that uses a wooden view camera...the type where you spend time composing the image on a piece of ground glass under a big dark cloth. My 8x10 camera produces a negative that measures 8''x10''....awesomely detailed negs! I'm more drawn to old ways of doing things....while taping messages into cyberspace

I play old timey Appalachian clawhammer banjo and used to shoot black powder rifles and pistols, including flintlocks. Guess I was born in the wrong century!

I've been making chainmail for about 3 or 4 years now. I usually stick to jewelery but I once made a halter top for an ex-girlfriend along with a couple of ties for myself. It's great fun.

Originally Posted by BHChieftain

I used to fence foil and epee in college as well. Never liked the sabre, however. Also a train buff.
-Chief

I don't like electric sabre. It doesn't matter to me, because my elbow can't take it. One short sabre bout and my elbow is so sore that I'm finished for the day.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I still ride sew ups on a '73 Raleigh Pro and an '81 Gios Aero. I've come to like clinchers though. With the tires they are making now and the pressures that hold the performance is comparable IME. I love riding the fixed on the road. I don't go to the velodrome anymore as it is 50 miles one way and I'm too cheap to go for the gasoline.

I raced in the 80s and clinchers were just getting skinny but they were still pretty heavy. Clinchers were a lot cheaper than sew-ups and lasted longer. But I still remember the "zing" sew-ups made as I rode.

Originally Posted by KCurry

I'm pretty obsessed with large format film photography and traditional printing in a wet dark room. Thats the kind of photography that uses a wooden view camera...the type where you spend time composing the image on a piece of ground glass under a big dark cloth. My 8x10 camera produces a negative that measures 8''x10''....awesomely detailed negs! I'm more drawn to old ways of doing things....while taping messages into cyberspace

I have a Zone VI 4x5 and a full Zone VI darkroom (just no room to put it in now). I used to make my own platinum printing paper and contact print. Can't beat platinum or palladium for range.