Hobbies/Activities other than flying.

Hang 4

Hang 4

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Hang 4
There seem to be certain non-flying activities that get a ton of traction. Barbecue, Motorcycles, Guns, Bicycles. Post something about one of those and there will be ton's of follow on posts. Extra points for posting about the right gun to bring to a Barbecue and which Moto to ride there.

What might be some other ones?

I'll start - just started playing ice hockey after a 45 year lay off. Skating is like riding a bicycle and comes right back. Stick handling, not so much.
 
Building replicas (non-firing) of various firearms.
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This was my first effort, in about 1974. Original intent was to tow a float for a homecoming football game ("Smash the Sioux!"), but cooler heads prevailed.

They don't fool people who actually KNOW something about guns, but do tend to shock the average citizen....

Next project will probably be a replica Spandau, to go with the Lewis Gun. Trouble is, the cooling jacket exceeds the capacity of my 3D Printer.
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Ron Wanttaja
 
A few months ago I asked people on here about different CAD programs for plastic and metal work, and since then I've logged at least a couple hundred hours in Fusion. That's rapidly become my favorite hobby; last night I was up til 4am tinkering with it. And that was the second time this week I've stayed up all night CAD-ing. Also bought a 3d printer (Bambu P1S) to bring some of those to life and wow... 3d printers have come a long way from my first $400 printer I got in 2017. The Bambu worked flawlessly right out of the box. I'm impressed.
Soon some of the ideas will be ready to send to a machine shop to be built out of metal. Though I still have a LONG way to go in understanding which metals/machining methods are best for doing which types of jobs and which tasks I can bring to a local shop over sending to Xometry and SCS.

Anywho, that's kind of my all-consuming hobby right now and fellow PoA'ers helped me get started in it :cool:
 
I re-started doing clay shooting. I love flying but this is a bit cheaper after the sunk cost of a couple of shotguns and the membership to a club
 
I would mention boating. Henning would post articles about boating in his day.
 
Blackpowder, gunsmithing, blacksmithing, wood working, metal casting, ceramics, horticulture, cooking, drafting, leatherwork, restoration (of all types from cars to furniture), hit and miss engines, sailing, horse training, hunting, canoeing, metal detecting, all things aviation, and most recently (within the last week) started learning how to craft things with stained glass. (I learn fast and get bored when I have gotten good at a hobby and move to another one, I enjoy the learning process).
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
A few months ago I asked people on here about different CAD programs for plastic and metal work, and since then I've logged at least a couple hundred hours in Fusion. That's rapidly become my favorite hobby; last night I was up til 4am tinkering with it. And that was the second time this week I've stayed up all night CAD-ing. Also bought a 3d printer (Bambu P1S) to bring some of those to life and wow... 3d printers have come a long way from my first $400 printer I got in 2017. The Bambu worked flawlessly right out of the box. I'm impressed.
Soon some of the ideas will be ready to send to a machine shop to be built out of metal. Though I still have a LONG way to go in understanding which metals/machining methods are best for doing which types of jobs and which tasks I can bring to a local shop over sending to Xometry and SCS.

Anywho, that's kind of my all-consuming hobby right now and fellow PoA'ers helped me get started in it :cool:
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Now that we have short days in Idaho the new non-aviation projects are getting worked on after the sun goes down.
I was going say various arduino based home automation projects seem to keep me busy learning and trying new things.

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But then this posted reminded me that the 3d printer and cad designs seem to keep me pretty busy as you can see on the box/display cover I printed for the arduino project in the photo.
And the Crealty CR-10s (haven't quite got to upgrading to the Bambu yet) is printing out some wire clips for some solar panels I am mounting for an off grid solar system I am building.

Brian
 
Skiing, SCUBA diving, woodworking, and several of those activities already mentioned
 
If I'm not flying or working on or otherwise modifying my plane (it's experimental so I can do that) I'm likely to be hiking or backpacking, or XC skiing in winter, designing or building or fixing something (retired engineer and I have a pretty decent wood and metalworking shop), or just hanging out at the cabin. Hunting and shooting (shotgun/blackpowder/bow) occupied a lot of my time in years past, not so much recently, same for free diving / spearfishing. Not sailing much either since we don't live on the water any more, and the rockcrawling and Jeep building and R/C modeling faded once I got back into flying.

The one thing I've observed is that almost all my interests tend to involve interesting expensive equipment. And tools. Lots of tools.
 
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Anything outside. Hunting. Mostly archery. But I do go on the occasional quail or pheasant trip with the dog. Also training the dog, which involved raising birds. Had chukar and quail. Had a weasel take out all my birds so I've gotta order some eggs to hatch. At one time I had turkeys, chickens, chukar, and quail. Now it's just chickens.

With the archery hunting it's mostly elk and bear. But do have moose and whitetail on the wall.

I've got bees to tend to and honey to harvest. There's the 5 goats I have to keep the brush in the woods under control.

I also have a detached garage. It had a small storage loft above. I jacked up the upper level. Poured a proper foundation and new slab. Took a chainsaw to the lower walls. Set it back down on taller walls so I can fit my truck in. Completely re did the upper level with a new roof. Ran electric and water from my house. Tied into my septic system. Did all the HVAC plumbing electric etc. Now have a 1000 sq ft apartment above my garage. Getting the granite back this week. Do some trim work and I think mom is gonna claim it since she can't stand her husband.

Prior to adulting, I raced legend cars all over the country then late models for a stint. So I'll follow the local short tracks and go to a few Nascar races a year.
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
A few months ago I asked people on here about different CAD programs for plastic and metal work, and since then I've logged at least a couple hundred hours in Fusion. That's rapidly become my favorite hobby; last night I was up til 4am tinkering with it. And that was the second time this week I've stayed up all night CAD-ing. Also bought a 3d printer (Bambu P1S) to bring some of those to life and wow... 3d printers have come a long way from my first $400 printer I got in 2017. The Bambu worked flawlessly right out of the box. I'm impressed.
Soon some of the ideas will be ready to send to a machine shop to be built out of metal. Though I still have a LONG way to go in understanding which metals/machining methods are best for doing which types of jobs and which tasks I can bring to a local shop over sending to Xometry and SCS.

Anywho, that's kind of my all-consuming hobby right now and fellow PoA'ers helped me get started in it :cool:
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Still need to take a trip out and get you some very different hood time. Maybe send you back with a burn or two.
 
Motorcycling (currently on my third Goldwing; I’ve ridden to 40 states and one province so far); shooting; weight training (been at it since 1980); guitars (haven’t played much at all in the last year or two, but am getting back into into it).

And over the last couple years I’ve become a pretty decent cook. I do all our cooking, and we rarely go out anymore.
 
At one time or another I've been into photography, coins, SCUBA,mountain climbing, competitive shooting (IPSC), motorcycles, sky diving, and sailing. With a bum knee a very little regard for club politics, the hobby I most enjoy these days is travel: that is just me and the Mrs wandering around on our own, no real itinerary. Just off on a whim. This was our last adventure, going to visit our son in Sigonnella, Sicily (we made a few stops along the way).
 

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-Hunting-Deer,turkey,waterfowl,small game,etc
-Fly fishing for trout
-Various mechanical/metal fabrication
-Wood working (trim carpenter by trade)
-Shooting and working on guns
-Traditional and Compound archery,building bows,shooting them a lot,also shoot 3d competitions
-Land management for wildlife
 
I drift from hobby to hobby. Over the years, it’s been scuba diving including cave diving and a little underwater photography, sports car racing, ham radio, trap shooting, hunting, fly fishing including fly tying, guitar, horseback riding, and breaking young girls’ hearts. Some of these I still engage in a bit, and I play guitar regularly at church, go bird hunting occasionally, etc.
 
Skiing. Got 50 days last year. Hoping for 100 days this year.

I recently got back into backcountry skiing. Hoping to build up to my first winter 14K peak this year or next.
 
Computers were a hobby, then I kind of wrecked that by turning it into a profession. Since then I've played around a little bit with PIC micro-controllers and some tiny programs, but not too much. If I ever retire I might pick it back up...small board computers look like fun.

Ham radio was/is a hobby. Have done a bit of public service stuff, and in particular a lot of testing and playing around with NVIS. Just too busy lately to keep it up. Similar with electronics. I played around a bit with some RF and DC analog things in the past few years, and want to do more of that.

A little bit of welding, enough to scare actual welders, and a tiny bit of metal and wood work. Again, want to do a bit more...keep having the mill and lathe on my xmas list. One of my goals is to learn TIG aluminum welding. Not "TIG making a puddle of aluminum on the floor". Steel is so, so much easier for me.

Used to do some fishing, some hiking and camping. A bit too lazy for that these days. Used to shoot a bit of competitive pistol, bullseye, and a tiny bit of rifle shooting, again a time thing.

I'm realizing there's a common thread here. And my priorities are a bit upside down. BUT...I'm still doing the flying thing, working on my IR now.

Still do cooking, nothing terribly fancy but I like making what I like. Comfort foods done right, more or less. A smoker is on my short list.

Great thread.
 
Over the years I've been in and out of a bunch of things. Ham radio, which led to playing around with PIC microcontrollers, which led to circuit board design, and making those combined into a side business for a while. I did some SCCA autocross for a while, but nothing serious. I still do some shooting and reloading. More recently it's airplane building, woodworking, slowly getting back into ham radio, blending my own pipe tobacco (partly from home grown tobacco leaf). Hoping to make travel a primary hobby over the next few years.
 
I’ve caught the fly fishing bug again after 40 years of being away from it.

Paragliding consumed over a decade of my life recently. So much fun.

Hiking, skiing, scuba diving, R/C flying fill in the rest of my time.
 
Have to chuckle that about 50% of the posts replying to "what besides guns?" include using guns :). If I ever decide to buy a gun, I know where to ask which one.
Longer list for me. Hang Gliding, Skiing (Alpine and Nordic), Scuba, woodworking, car wrenching, golf, tennis, running, RC Gliders, Sailing, Surfing.
 
Albany Tom said:
Computers were a hobby, then I kind of wrecked that by turning it into a profession. Since then I've played around a little bit with PIC micro-controllers and some tiny programs, but not too much. If I ever retire I might pick it back up...small board computers look like fun.

Ham radio was/is a hobby. Have done a bit of public service stuff, and in particular a lot of testing and playing around with NVIS. Just too busy lately to keep it up. Similar with electronics. I played around a bit with some RF and DC analog things in the past few years, and want to do more of that.

A little bit of welding, enough to scare actual welders, and a tiny bit of metal and wood work. Again, want to do a bit more...keep having the mill and lathe on my xmas list. One of my goals is to learn TIG aluminum welding. Not "TIG making a puddle of aluminum on the floor". Steel is so, so much easier for me.

Used to do some fishing, some hiking and camping. A bit too lazy for that these days. Used to shoot a bit of competitive pistol, bullseye, and a tiny bit of rifle shooting, again a time thing.

I'm realizing there's a common thread here. And my priorities are a bit upside down. BUT...I'm still doing the flying thing, working on my IR now.

Still do cooking, nothing terribly fancy but I like making what I like. Comfort foods done right, more or less. A smoker is on my short list.

Great thread.
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Lemme know if you need some Tig aluminum pointers. AC polarity and light the torch till you see it shine.
 
Fellow hockey player here, adult rec league. Also landscape painting, building PCs and flight simming, making sweaters out of human hair I find in the metro, occasional woodworking.
 
Kitch said:
If I'm not working or flying I'm usually lifting heavy things in my basement. Pushing towards the 1250lb challenge on my 50th birthday in July. Squat, bench, deadlift a cumulative total of 1250lbs
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you could take off either the first number or the last number and that's more my range
 
Kitch said:
If I'm not working or flying I'm usually lifting heavy things in my basement. Pushing towards the 1250lb challenge on my 50th birthday in July. Squat, bench, deadlift a cumulative total of 1250lbs
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Good luck! Both 50 and my heavier lifting days are in the rearview mirror.
 
Tinkering in all it's flavors including airplane projects, car projects, gunsmithing, house projects, computer projects, etc.

Also anything water. Swimming, SCUBA, sailing, boating, etc. Water is my happy place.
 
Sailing for fun and working on a few boats. I never liked racing sailboats.
 
Racerx said:
Lemme know if you need some Tig aluminum pointers. AC polarity and light the torch till you see it shine.
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May take you up on that, especially if you have any good video pointers. High level, I think I'm just going way too slow, letting things heat soak, and then it's like I'm trying to solder a chocolate bar with a propane torch. Steel is so much easier, I can work slowly and it still works.
 
Hobbies right now revolve around my kiddo and scouts (stem and more). But also hiking, camping, scuba, cycling, skiing, ham radio and astrophotography.
 
Albany Tom said:
May take you up on that, especially if you have any good video pointers. High level, I think I'm just going way too slow, letting things heat soak, and then it's like I'm trying to solder a chocolate bar with a propane torch. Steel is so much easier, I can work slowly and it still works.
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Pm me anytime. I'll nerd out and make your eyes glaze over if you let me. Lots of factors factors in play. Can probably add some tips based on pics of your project and what setup you're using.

Steel and to an even greater degree stainless are terrible thermal conductors compared to aluminum. It's why stainless cookware has an aluminum plate on the bottom. Spreads the heat quicker. Aluminum pulls heat in and spreads it out, so you need amperage to get the localized heat hot enough to start. But depending on how thick the material is you very likely have to back off the amps once it's up to temp. Adding filler and moving also helps keeps temps right. Welding a couple plates and making a fillet is kind of difficult because you've got to be so active on the foot pedal or thumbwheel. Really have to back waaaayyyyy of the amps once you're going.
 
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