Hobbies??

[Paul_B]

It is that time of year that people think about the year past and the year to come. With this in mind I have thought I need a new hobby and I wondered what hobbies you lot have to give me some ideas.

My hobbies are basically all outdoors related but I have very few that I do at home. Basically TV and reading. Boring huh?! I could do some of the craft based hobbies a lot on this forum do that I love to read about but I have no workshop or anywhere that could be a workshop. Not many tools and even less ability creatively too. That is why I'm asking this question. I'm sure someone on here has a hobby that has not really been mentioned on here that I might find interesting and suitable for me.

So if you have time I'd be really interested to know what you do with your free time, particularly if stuck in or at home for some reason!!

 

[British Red]

Loading your own ammunition is the usual shooters fallback. All you need is an area with a heavy top (table, kitchen worktop whatever), basic supplies and you are saving money on your shooting even when tinkering. You even get to improve accuracy whilst saving money (a tuned handload is better than the most expensive factory ammo).

That, restoring the homestead, gwrowing our own veg, brewing beer and wine, making our own soap, canning our food, planting our little orchard, drying food etc. keep us happy. Oh, my wife also sews, knits, paints and plays music. I experiment with aking sauces, jerky, pickles and chutney.

Every pne of these hobbies adds fun and satisfaction to our lives - whilst saving us money!

 

[Harvestman]

Woodturning and woodcrafting, but I'm a newbie at both, and so not very good.

In season, jam making. All year round foraging, and always trying to learn to identify new plants and animals.

 

[spandit]

Buy a spoon carving knife & an apron. Sit in front of the TV & carve a spoon, collecting the shavings in the apron

 

[woodspirits]

paul_b, you say all your hobbies are outdoor biased, list them and think of some small part you could do at home, without knowing what you like specifically its difficult to be objective.

 

[JohnC]

I used to do silver work, making rings and stuff.. I'm hoping to get back into it this year (another resolution)

 

[Wayne]

Leatherwork and wood carving. Learning the ropes is also pretty useful various knots and bends etc.

 

[Elines]

Do you want something none-bushcraft related? If so you could learn French, German, Spanish or Italian by borrowing the relevant Michel Thomas CDs from the library, copying them and then working your way through them.

If you start with the introductory course this is 2 CDs and they are the first two CDs of the 'full' course if you decide to continue. You will be amazed at how much you cover in, say, the first 20 minutes.

By the way - don't just say 'I'm no good at languages'. The MT method involves no rote learning - of verbs or anything else - and if you give it a (free) go you will see it is totally different to learning languages at school or evening classes.

Using his CDs I picked up enough Spanish and German to make short city breaks much more enjoyable. (Forgotten it all now though!)

You can even listen when in the car - if that has a CD player. (The MT approach does not involve ANY reading or writing.)

 

[cbr6fs]

My Mrs recons i've got more hobbies than time

I do tend to get bored pretty easy though, and although i don't really have 1 hobby i do the whole year through i tend to hold onto my stuff and use it again a year or 2 later.
For my regular hobbies in particular order.

Radio Controlled stuff.
Just cars at this min, but i've had boats, planes, helicopters etc

Fishing
Sea fishing in Greece and usually trout fishing when back in the UK

Boats
Much to the pain of my bank manager i do have a soft spot for boats

Freediving
Only in summer though

Cars and motorbikes
Race, tuning, modifying, touring etc, pretty much anything with a motor.

Mountain biking

Fresh water fish keeping and aquascaping with plants


It's rare i'm in the house for long stints at a time, but if i am and the kids are in bed it's usually working on my RC stuff (repairs, modifications and maintenance), sorting out my fishing stuff and making rigs etc, or in the garage.


RC cars is a nice hobby:
If you want smelly and noisy there are Nitro or petrol cars out there.

On electric with modern batteries and brushless motors they can go as fast or put out as much torque as you want.
I have offroad cars, 4x4, rear wheel drive, tarmac touring cars, drifters etc.
Everything doesn't need to be fast though, i also have a couple of rock crawlers, with these it's more about picking lines up the side of rocks and fine slow speed and throttle control.
As speed is not really a priority on the crawlers the main restriction for torque on my rock crawlers are breaking the hardened steel gears

 

[Siberianfury]

leatherworks a good one, fairly cheap to learn and very rewarding.

on the other hand, have you considered psytrance raves? i hear its what all the cool kids are doing.

 

[Rich_]

fishing/carving and shooting come to mind

 

[Salaud]

Metal detecting, airgun shooting, shotgun shooting, sea fishing and if the weathers really crap, then I disappear into the shed and make some pretty unpleasant knives outta old metal files,

 

[Doc]

Amateur radio is a good hobby - you can combine it with outdoors stuff, but it's also good for long winter nights at home. The licence is easy to get nowadays.

I've also got a lot of pleasure from the motorcycle. You need to do compulsory basic training (one day, about £100) and then you can ride a 125cc bike (about £400 to £1200 used) on L plates. I've found doing maintenance to be much more enjoyable and a good bit easier than I thought. But the opportunities for riding are fewer in winter.

 

[John Fenna]

Making your own Bushy gear - this is an indoor/outdoor/shed hobby depending on what you are making

Sewing your own clothing (indoor) basic needs - sewing machine (charity shop specials are great to start with) fabric (charity shop/market stall = cheap) basic threads, ruler, tape measure, soft pencils/crayons for marking out the fabric. patterns (charity shop/ website)

Wood carving (outdoor/shed) basic needs - wood and knife to start with. Specialist tools (ie spoon knives for spoon carving) may be needed later

Metal work (shed/outdoor) basic needs - forge (I use a wok on top of fire bricks on top of a busted Workmate) charcoal. hammers, anvil (I use a bit of rail line on top of a stump) steel - Old files for knives and flint strikers, scrap from anywhere for other projects, belt and disk grinders, bench grinders, files etc for shaping, drill, hammers, punches etc.

Leather working (indoor/shed) basic needs - leather, a sharp knife, metal straight edge, hole punches, needles, thread, awl for heavy leather, your clothing sewing kit for light work

Bone working (indoor/shed) basic needs - bone (dog food shops have some good bits if you cannot find a handy corpse ) hammer, abrasives, scrapers, files.

If - like me - you get interested in them all you will never be bored again ... you may end up needing a larger house, a divorce and addiction counseling ... but you will never be bored!

 

[Bowlander]

Tying your own fishing flies - its very satisfying catching a fish on a fly you made. Some of the most effective flies are the easiest to make - Black Knight is my favourite.

 

[nunzionuk]

I just started with Axe throwing, its pretty easy, and strangely hard, to learn. Plus, my throwing axe is good for carving.

 

[Hoodoo]

You might consider weaving. All you need is some wool yarn and some pointy sticks.

 

[Magentus]

You might consider weaving. All you need is some wool yarn and some pointy sticks.

Hoodoo that looks pretty pretty good - how do you do it? Is there an on-line tutorial?

 

[mark]

I do a lot of my bushcraft crafts sat in front of the TV. Leatherwork - few tools needed and you can improvise using everyday items. I do a bit of carving - I have a large sheet I put on the floor to catch everything. I also do a bit of knife making - I buy the blades and do most of the work on the handles in the living room - for some parts I have to go outside as it does make far too much mess.
Something I haven't done for years is fly tying, but it's very easy and can be quite cheap to get started with. You don't even have to be a fisherman to tie flies and you could also turn some of them into jewellery.
I'm also a dab hand with the hoover and duster

 

[Paul_B]

A lot of hobbies listed there. I do like the languages one having done a few (Latin, Ancient Greek and modern French) in the past up to GCSE grade. Especially the free part. A mate also learnt a few languages via some total immersion technique where you just learn by talking. Now she goes to these conversation classes where they spend a certain number of weeks on each language just talking to each other. Sounds hard especially if you have 6 weeks speaking a language you have never learnt but apparently it works at keeping language skills up and helps to learn new ones too. I reckon however I'd get bored too easily with them. I can't sit and listen to something I have to have at least one more thing to be doing at the same time as listening. No CD player neither in my car.

I was sure you lot would have some very interesting hobbies. The supplementary question has to be how much do you spend on them?? My spare cash tends to go on my house, eating out and outdoor gear. Wish I had more to spare on hobbies, particularly on learning and doing the more crafty ones. I know some people who knit. Seems it is now fashionable again. One friend used to commute into Manchester by train occasionally and regularly saw two guys knitting on the train!! Not as manly as forging your own knives but still something easy enough to do. Wool and two needles to get it done don't sound too expensive I think. Think I know enough women in my family who knit to get instruction in it.

For a hobby I can't afford classes and can hardly spare much cash so getting tooled up would be difficult for a lot of these hobbies. That is my problem. If it wasn't I'd be going to guitar lessons, drawing classes and language classes. That would take up most evenings I reckon but even the cheapest of them seem to be £100+ for only a few weeks round here.

I don't even have time for most of my outdoors hobbies as I only really have the weekends and my half days to get outside in. These hobbies are mostly walking, scrambling, cycling, kayaking (whitewater) and backpacking (mostly overnighters but I try to do a full week once a year). The kayaking has had to take a back seat in the past few years as I have been active in a few walking clubs and challenge walking scene. In the summer I can get out in the evening and often join a local cycling scene on rides out. Also I like to get out to a local crag and sit on the edge with a stove making a brew, reading a book and listening to music all while watching a sunset over Morecambe bay!! All these are impossible in these dark months, hence my desire to find more hobbies based indoors, at home.

This year I intend to convert my road bike into a fast and light tourer with the intention to camp out on tours. Also fancy (money permitting) to hire a canoe and do some touring in Scotland. All for later in the year but what to do in the long evenings right now?? Cheap and good for the cack handed / impractical types too.