Shooting is expensive these days... Other hobbies

[ColumbusJBR]

Since shooting is a little pricey these days, its afforded me an excuse to play with some of my other hobbies. That included my very amateur interest in woodworking.

Built this sign the other day out of scrap birch to hang in our living room. Other fellow Buckeyes should enjoy.


Used this old Woody clock from my dad's garage as a basic template to trace on the birch. Added details later.



All cut out w/ my new jigsaw



Stained ebony w/ some Minwax



Hand cut some stencils out of some really thin cardboard and lettered the sign, just waiting to be clear coated



All done and just needs to be hung.

next on the wish list is a router and table, could get a lot more decorative with that.

Thanks for looking!

 

[AMS417]

I fly RC Aircraft, and enjoy boating. Shooting is still cheaper than either of these. Especially on the days I bring home one of my airplanes in a WalMart sack. With fuel what it is, we do a lot of sitting on the boat, drinking cold beverages with the engine off. My boat gets about 1.5 miles to the gallon. It hurts a lot when we leave the fuel dock.

 

[timn8er]

ColumbusJBR, that's a good looking clock. I used to do some leather work, & I've been toying with the idea of taking it up again. I believe I still have all my tools, its just finding them!

 

[Rgoodwin]

From Oklahoma but still admired Coach Hayes. But in 77 Von schamman lead the block that kick chant and booted the game winner in the last few seconds. Great game and have had a few buddies from Ohio. Great looking piece!

 

[ColumbusJBR]

I fly RC Aircraft, and enjoy boating. Shooting is still cheaper than either of these. Especially on the days I bring home one of my airplanes in a WalMart sack. With fuel what it is, we do a lot of sitting on the boat, drinking cold beverages with the engine off. My boat gets about 1.5 miles to the gallon. It hurts a lot when we leave the fuel dock.

Haha any hobby is cheaper than boating! You should have done what I did: find a good friend with a boat. Much cheaper

 

[rwsmith]

Most of my hobbies have been expensive

Music recording, photography... all big bucks.

Probably the cheapest hobby I've had is chess. It costs me $3/month to subscribe to an on-line playing site.

 

[jem450r]

I also do the R/C stuff... and agree not real sure if its the cheaper hobby...
Also have my jeep, mostly stock and goes a lot of places... Trying NOT to spend money...

 

[jem450r]

Music recording, photography... all big bucks.

Probably the cheapest hobby I've had is chess. It costs me $3/month to subscribe to an on-line playing site.

Have a smartphone? Get chesstime pro, its turn based over phones... Get so long to make a move back and forth so addicting and free! Or buy one time (no ads)for 5 bucks great game!

 

[walkin jack]

I have been blessed in my nearly 69 years. I have had and enjoyed 3 lifelong MAJOR passions. Motorcycles (both road and dirt), Fishing, and guns. one or more of these has sustained me since I was 15 years old.

Seems like everything I love to do and dream of doing and need to do must be done outdoors. Where I live that has caused some terrible disappointment in my life because of the spiky and evidently ACCURATELY unpredictable weather. But still I've had a very rewarding life.

No matter whether pursuing motorcycles, fishing or shooting I've met some wonderful people and had some awesome experiences.

I sold all my motorcycles a few years ago and I rarely fish any more. I was shooting 1 to 3 times a week before 2008. Now I go about once a month if that. Oh, and I guess you can figure out by my frequent presence in here that I do spend SOME time in the computer each day but I don't think of this as a hobby.

I hate to be one of these old guys that just sits around thinking about the past but I have been retired now for 12 years and while it leaves me a lot of free time it doesn't pay very well. I also have some arthritis and that is beginning to slow me down some.

Some years back I did some furniture building. I took wood shop in high school and have always loved the look, feel, and smell of wood. But I no longer have the tools and equipment not to mention the eye sight and manual dexterity to pursue it further.

We have 3 cats now and I spend most of my days just cat wranglin' the boys and piddlin' around in my fortress of solitude (aka man cave) Miss Pam has some health problems that are not life threatening but do effect her quality of life. Some days she just doesn't feel like getting out.

So we are pretty much home bodies these days. I have been keeping my eyes open for something to get into that I can afford and that is interesting to me. I learned when I retired that you can NOT pick your hobby or what you are interested in. It must pick you if you see what I mean. It would be great if at my age I could discover something new to get involved in.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Active bicyclist. Still have my first really good bike-a 1976 Raleigh Super Course Mark II, plus 2 other 10 speeds, plus a hybrid, a mountain bike and several 3 speeds-all bought used. Cycling is a hobby where the initial outlay is somewhat high-all my bikes have lights, computers, racks, tool bags, and I am a devotee of the Brooks saddles, but once you get them set up about all you need are new tubes and tires. Build my own wheels, do all my own maintenance.

 

[aguablanco]

Nice clock.Since components are, at best, scarce I have decided to upgrade my scuba skill level to Divemaster. Not any less expensive than shooting, but more readily available. Even decided to become an instructor so I will have something to do in retirement, hopefully in the Caribbean. Certainly will get back to shooting when the hysteria ends.
RichH

 

[HermanH]

My hobby has been kept simple when I'm not reloading.
I drive the car I built - a Factory Five MkIII Roadster. It took 3 years to complete and have about 18,000 miles. I just think of an excuse to go somewhere that has no time table for a return and I will always take the long way home. Other than that, when I'm home, I just do a bit of Facebook to catch up with people, and visit other sites of interest such as calguns.org, ffcars.com, and check up on my investments which has become a hobby of it's own as of late.

 

[silentflyer]

All my hobbies are expensive, firearms,Harley's,airplanes,Wild Turkey,fly fishing and women, I may die broke, but I will have had a good time...

 

[David LaPell]

Fishing and car shows. I don't have some of the hobbies I used to after getting hurt, I really wish I could do my woodburnings, I miss making them, especially the John Wayne Shootist sayings I used to do.

 

[Maddog 521]

My Harley Davidson take's up a lot of my time. It is a perfect way to get to the range.

 

[RussC]

I fly RC Aircraft, and enjoy boating. Shooting is still cheaper than either of these. Especially on the days I bring home one of my airplanes in a WalMart sack. With fuel what it is, we do a lot of sitting on the boat, drinking cold beverages with the engine off. My boat gets about 1.5 miles to the gallon. It hurts a lot when we leave the fuel dock.

You must have a big boat. We own a 18 ft Searay v6. I can get 1 hr of constant boating for 2 1/2 gallons of fuel. I figure a day at the lake sets us back $60 which includes gas to transport boat 1 hr round trip launch fee and fuel for the boat.

To put it in perspective my family plus a friend (5 total) can water ski / wake board swim play on the beach and eat lunch for about the cost of one brick of 22 lr shells.

I can see why the indoor range is half full on a Saturday.

Russ

 

[rdcl]

I build model ships & aircraft. Have been for years. It is just as much a passion to me as the shooting sports.

Russ

 

[nachogrande]

HOBBIES

reloading that expensive ammo and shooting it again and again, a viscous cycle. that and this NEW AGE IDIOT BOX, that sucks the life force out of you, that you never wanted to touch in the first place, but your wife made you learn. now her honeydo list gets neglected cuz you are on here. my wife asks how come you can reload ammo in the same day you shot it but it takes 6 months to change a lightbulb? (cuz it's not the lightbulb over my reloading bench!) maybe I'll take those Christmas wreaths down today if I get the energy.

 

[Old TexMex]

Fishing. And cleaning out my shed. (is that a hobby? It never ends and I don't get paid for doing it)
Thanks nacho for reminding me about reloading, that's a hobby i suppose for me too.
Since I leaned my last bike up against a tree, as we say, I haven't that activity after fifty years of riding British bikes.

 

[cmort666]

Reading, mostly. I just bought a copy of the Collector Grade book, "The Sten Machine Carbine". I've got a number of Collector Grade books, including their books on the Maxim and Vickers guns. Their stuff is first rate, and quite literally without equal in current firearms books.

I also buy a lot of Squadron-Signal "In Action" aviation books. They're full of photographs and illustrations that you never see anywhere else, and other than Schiffer (or Koku-fan, if you read kanji) the best technical and historical information.

I'm also trying to (on a VERY tight budget) get into macro photography. I took the following photo of a spider in my bathroom a few days ago. It's around the size of the nail on your little finger. I used a ProMaster 70-300mm macro zoom with a 20mm extension tube and a Sigma flash on an extension cord. If I can finally manage to get a real job, I plan to buy a Canon 100mm macro lens.