CONTEST QUARANTINE FUZZ CONTEST (Omicron variant edition)

CONTEST
So in the winter pedal building usually takes a back seat because my backyard ice rink has become my newest hobby. Started it last year and it was a ton of fun. It goes up in the next week or so the building will slow down. It's a ton of maintenance band upkeep but I've never enjoyed the cold more! This was last years rink. This year we have a fire pit and I'm going to try for an ice bar!
 

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JamieJ said:
Oh shit - so Joe wins the ‘Who has the most awesomest hobby competition’

Seriously @peccary , that is a super cool hobby and it’s great to hear about what you doing to with getting the non-profit going.

We need to see some of the stuff you have made!
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Here's one from a while back, these were all Xmas gifts. I haven't done anything cool like knives or axes or anything. Lots of bottle openers, hooks, spoons, key fobs, hinges, that kind of thing. Most of what I've made though are tools so that I can make other things. I really love making my own chisels, punches, bending forks, forming tools and all that. There's something very satisfying in making your own tools.

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New photo · Tuesday, Dec 11, 2018 📸

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Just before getting into pedal building, I actually purchased a RC airplane and all the gear from a co-worker. I always wanted to be a pilot and since that didn't pan out, I thought this might be a great alternative. After hanging in the rafters for almost a year without any flying time (I couldn't seem to shake the fear that I would crash it on my first flight)...and with a growing number of pedal, guitar, and amp projects piling up in the basement...I decided it made more sense to focus on music. Fortunately, I think I made the right choice!!
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
That’s wildly awesome! Ever since I got to make an S hook at a colonial field trip in 2nd grade I’ve wanted to learn how to blacksmith! My dad and I tried making a small forge around 6 or 7 years ago, but it was a disastrous failure before we even got to fire it up, and we sorta just abandoned the idea and instead decided we’ll put together a proper starter setup somewhere along the road after we get other things sorted out. Care to share any pics of any of your blacksmithing projects?
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An S hook is a lot more difficult than people might think! Thinking about how the material is going to move in three dimensions is hard enough, but also knowing where to heat it and hit it to get it to go where you want is pretty difficult.

I put a photo of a couple presents I made a few years back a few posts up.
 
peccary said:
Here's one from a while back, these were all Xmas gifts. I haven't done anything cool like knives or axes or anything. Lots of bottle openers, hooks, spoons, key fobs, hinges, that kind of thing. Most of what I've made though are tools so that I can make other things. I really love making my own chisels, punches, bending forks, forming tools and all that. There's something very satisfying in making your own tools.

photos.app.goo.gl

New photo · Tuesday, Dec 11, 2018 📸

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That's awesome Joe. Eager to see what you'll make in the new space!
 
carlinb17 said:
So in the winter pedal building usually takes a back seat because my backyard ice rink has become my newest hobby. Started it last year and it was a ton of fun. It goes up in the next week or so the building will slow down. It's a ton of maintenance band upkeep but I've never enjoyed the cold more! This was last years rink. This year we have a fire pit and I'm going to try for an ice bar!
Click to expand...
Awesome rink Ben! Hopefully, I'll get both boys skating without help this year. And I could also use some practice...
Happy skating! It won't be long here as it was a cold one today, and it's only going to get colder.
 
carlinb17 said:
So in the winter pedal building usually takes a back seat because my backyard ice rink has become my newest hobby. Started it last year and it was a ton of fun. It goes up in the next week or so the building will slow down. It's a ton of maintenance band upkeep but I've never enjoyed the cold more! This was last years rink. This year we have a fire pit and I'm going to try for an ice bar!
Click to expand...
That is really amazing! And what a beautiful view, too. I am a big hockey fan but never played beyond parking lot roller hockey and have only ice skated a handful of times. That looks like a lot of fun!
 
SYLV9ST9R said:
Awesome rink Ben! Hopefully, I'll get both boys skating without help this year. And I could also use some practice...
Happy skating! It won't be long here as it was a cold one today, and it's only going to get colder.
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Thanks! It was a ton of fun and it's nice because it gets us out of the house. The kit came your @SYLV9ST9R's way... I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who has the weather for it! Just need to get a Zamboni.
 
Like a few I used to be into cycling. Road and mountain. Still have a nice old early 90’s steel Bianchi with all the Campagnalo fixin’s. For about 15 years and built and hunted with hand crafted self bows. That can be a rabbit hole of endless proportions. My main other hobby that is always around is photography. I do have a nice DSLR, but I mainly shoot old film cameras. Old Pentax SLR’s that I’ve had for 40 years as well as mid 50’s rangefinders and medium format TLR’s. My favorites are a 1957 Kodak Retina IIc I had completely refurbished to new, my Bessa 1, and my Mamiya RB67 Pro. The Mamiya is a monster camera mainly used in the past for portrait, but it’s my favorite landscape camera. I mainly shoot B&W so I can develop the film myself and the fact I just don’t visualize in color well.

Here’s the Bessa 1. It’s been refurbished as well.
 

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Probably painting. My wife went out with her sister to a group painting/drinking event at a restaurant/bar once upon a time and I thought that would be fun as hell. Was kinda jealous.

Started to handpaint my pedals which has ended up taking up way more time than the actual soldering/assembling. Horribly amateurish paint jobs, but they're mine.
 
Covid got me into band training. I set up a mini home gym outside with different bands and a pull up bar. It worked out fairly good but certain exercises irritated my elbows. With free weights, when you get near the end of the range of motion, the tension usually eases off. With bands, it just keeps ramping up the more you stretch the band. That can put a bit more strain on your joints (especially if over 40). I was going to look at TRS (ropes and body weight training) but then all the gyms opened up here. (Covid hasn't had as much of an impact on daily life in rural Queensland). I always wanted to take up sailing but something always gets in the way.
 
I don’t know if breadboarding counts here but I’ll say it. Pedal building is fun and all but starting this year I really wanted to learn WHY pedals act the way they do. That turned into a rabbit hole pretty quickly.

Secondly, when I moved into my house last year we needed to replace baseboards in the entire home. They were original and the house was built in the 50s. So, we bought a miter saw and I had tons of fun learning basic building skills. 2 months ago I took it upon myself to build a shelf for my workstation and fell in love with woodworking. Now my wife wants me to make all the Christmas DIY crap out of wood. I’m having a blast, but dreading putting it away and buying more storage containers. Our attic space got reduced by half when we had AC installed this year.
 
What a generous and clever contest! Thank you for the opportunity. It's been great reading all of the interests in the replies.

I started getting into pedal building because I knew that I could make comparable products for less money. I did and still do and love the fact that I can be frugal and get the same (or similar) end result in building my own.

Most hobbies I've had were in some way to take an interest and do it for less $. I built up my own mountain bike in college (30 years ago) with a bit of trial and error and a lot of price checking on the available mail order catalogues available. I didn't get past the first bike on my own, but loved being able to spec, assemble, tweak and use something by myself.

I use that same motive to work around my house. Instead of paying someone $75-$100 just to walk in the door for maintenance, I research and learn on the fly. Hardwood flooring, drywall, painting, electrical stuff, the well...I was able to do much more without shelling out the money to have it professionally done. Furniture building is another one that is kind of related. Read magazines, spend time on forums, find a project and get building. I've made a solid walnut queen sized bed, a variety of end tables, benches and other things around the house that will last for generations and for waaaaaay less and waaaaaaaay better quality than what can be found in furniture stores today. I'm currently working on a walnut trestle dining room table. It's going to be a major fight between family members after I'm gone!

But back to the focus of the contest. I've always enjoyed time outdoors and bushcraft was a nice extension of my hiking and backpacking. I bought a couple nice bushcrafting knives (which can get pretty spendy!) and once again did the research to make my own. I've put handle scales on a number of blade blanks, but have yet to take a bar of steel and craft it into a usable tool that fulfills my needs in a custom way. I'd love to not only do stock removal (basically grinding away until a knife appears) but also some blacksmithing. I don't spend as much time in the wilds but I do love cooking and I've got my eyes set on making a collection of kitchen knives for my very own. I'd love to dip my toes in this hobby and most likely will do so after retirement in a handful of years. I'm getting all inspired by this thread! Maybe I'll start sooner!
 
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