other hobbies.

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unclebaldie
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by unclebaldie »

Patrickpioneer wrote:G0RBI, G4SDZ, G3YQW and myself GW0VMR, if we carry on like this we can have a net on here (HI OB)
take care
Pat
QRZ?


And G8HTW on the side, QTH Staffs.

73,
Phil
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al_yrpal
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by al_yrpal »

I used to sail but havent done so for several years, sold the boat (yacht) a few years ago after 20 years of waterbourne fun.
Guitar and Banjo
Painting pictures in oils acrylics and watercolours. Realistic and impressionistic. Carry an A5 pad on holidays and sometimes bike rides to make quick pencil sketches to be turned into pen and wash.
Designing and making wooden furniture. Design and construction of garden buildings in green oak.
Tinkering with my VW T25 Devon Camper
Little time for hobbies now due to the Mrs becoming disabled. :(

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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661-Pete
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by 661-Pete »

One of the troubles with post-retirement hobbies, is that it's all to easy to chuck them in - especially when the menace of the Black Dog threatens to dominate and overwhelm...

I took up the astronomy - including the astro-imaging - before retirement and it did, I suppose, sustain my enthusiasm for a few years. Here is one of my favourite efforts:
M13 23Sep09 003r.jpg


Alas! my telescope is now back in England, in a box gathering dust in the spare bedroom, and I don't know when it will come out again. And ironically, they now turn off the streetlights in our neighbourhood around midnight, meaning conditions are better than they were...

About a year and a half ago I took up solving - and setting - crossword puzzles. Mixed fortunes in the latter, and I've several times considered chucking that in, too. Whatever happens, my offerings won't be in any of the national dailies any time soon! :oops:
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
Cyril Haearn
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Stories, fairy tales, legends for children and adults, in two languages

Like to spin them out, upgrade them, dream up new endings
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Spinners
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Spinners »

Aviation History (especially WW2 and post-war military aviation history).

Computer Graphics (but only associated with the above - making decals and skins for 'What if' flight sim models - example below).

Movies (but not Marvel/DC/Superheroes).

Music (60's, 70's and 80's).

Image
Last edited by Spinners on 22 Mar 2019, 1:36pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Cugel
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Cugel »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Stories, fairy tales, legends for children and adults, in two languages

Like to spin them out, upgrade them, dream up new endings


The daughter Numero Uno did a Masters in children's literature, specialising in English fairy tales. She has some very weird ones. Perhaps I sowed the mental seed as many of her own childhood books were of the slightly fey ilk. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass but also various George MacDonald, E R Eddison and something called The Nowadays Fairy Book, which even now I still read myself.

If you haven't yet come across him, try some Jack Vance, specially the three volumes of "Lyonesse" but also the Dying Earth books. They are strange, addictive and very insightful of the human condition. You may also come across a fellow you already know!

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Cyril Haearn »

I like climbing towers and looking down on my peers
Already 'conquered' the highest church tower in the world :wink:
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Cugel
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Cugel »

Cyril Haearn wrote:I like climbing towers and looking down on my peers
Already 'conquered' the highest church tower in the world :wink:


I have noticed you looking down on your peers; but also them staring back up, sometimes with a frown of annoyance as they view your high-held nose (and everything else up there). :-)

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
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Bonefishblues
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Bonefishblues »

I'm restoring a rather lovely wooden canoe at the moment, expecting water-based fun and japes over the next few weeks once painted.

BTW Cugel et al (wood-bothers in particular), what's the best way to strip back the varnished but deteriorated ash, and then restore it to an ashen colour*? I already know that I'd like to protect with a specialist soaking oil once done. This one: https://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/deks-olje-d1/

*There's always the hard way (the one I typically select) and the rather less hard way IME, hence the Q!
pwa
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Re: Other hobbies

Post by pwa »

My other hobby is walking. Over the last two years I have done less cycling and more walking, which is fine because I see them as two manifestations of the same impulse. Getting out and moving across a landscape under my own steam, reliant on my own navigational skills. I was out with the Missus a couple of days ago walking from Monmouth, down the bank of the Wye for a few miles to Redbrook, then back over the Kymin hill (following the Offa's Dyke route), 6.25 miles on total and just the right length and difficulty for my wife given that she is recovering from illness. Walking is something we can do together. We walk and talk, then we have a couple of miles with hardly a word, then we talk again when we feel like it.

My new Scarpa boots (replacing my old Scarpa boots) performed well. I didn't think about my feet the whole way round, whether going up or down.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Cugel wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:I like climbing towers and looking down on my peers
Already 'conquered' the highest church tower in the world :wink:


I have noticed you looking down on your peers; but also them staring back up, sometimes with a frown of annoyance as they view your high-held nose (and everything else up there). :-)

Cugel

Right again Cugel maybe, had not occurred to me that I might also be metaphorically looking down on my peers :?
100% suggested I seek help but refused to suggest where, can you help?
Might be hard to make me out up there mind, 143 metres above the ground :wink:

Climbed another tower, 544 steps only, I tried it 15 years ago but was scared of the exposure, turned back before the top, this time I did the Full Monty
Could I be getting reckless with age?
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Lance Dopestrong
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Lance Dopestrong »

Yet another radio ham checking in here. Full shack at home, though I tend to use it more as a haven to clean my guns in peace than as a transmitting station. V and U in the car, sometimes /P on the bike.

And I go shooting - I've a shotgun FL holder and do the clays, but also have a selection of air rifles for hunting, plinking and range work. Some pistols too, a few years ago was getting into practical pistol competitions, but one thing or another has conspired to keep me from competing in recent years so mainly range work with those too.

I'm also quite into Search and Rescue for some reason. Not sure why, perhaps too much Thunderbirds as a kid? I'm qualified as a search technician, search planner, search operations officer, and search manager. Typically I either deploy as a technician out on the ground, or as a search manager to run the whole show. One of the cycling disciplines I teach is SAR cycling, so there's some overlap there too.

And I also quite like cycling.
MIAS L5.1 instructor - advanded road and off road skills, FAST aid and casualty care, defensive tactics, SAR skills, nav, group riding, maintenance, ride and group leader qual'd.
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Cugel
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Cugel »

Bonefishblues wrote:I'm restoring a rather lovely wooden canoe at the moment, expecting water-based fun and japes over the next few weeks once painted.

BTW Cugel et al (wood-bothers in particular), what's the best way to strip back the varnished but deteriorated ash, and then restore it to an ashen colour*? I already know that I'd like to protect with a specialist soaking oil once done. This one: https://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/product/deks-olje-d1/

*There's always the hard way (the one I typically select) and the rather less hard way IME, hence the Q!


You have many options for ridding the canoe wood of that varnish. Some are more fraught with danger than others.

With a chunky piece of furniture one can just sand the surface until the varnish is gone, revealing another layer of the timber on the surface of of the chunk. But with your canoe, the parts will already be thin, not chunky, so sanding back to bare wood may reduce the overall thickness of the wood by an amount that's would be unwise. Holes will occur more easily when the canoe is paddled madly into an underwater branch-end. You will sink and perhaps drown! At very least you will be wet and morose.

Some varnishes can be chemically softened with the likes of nitromors, then scraped off. This too is not ideal on thin wood parts. In addition, ash is open grain so you'll not get the varnish (or nitromors) out of the grain pits very easily, if at all.

What's the varnish on it now? If it's oil-based rather than polyurethane or acryllic, putting another oil-based varnish on can soften the old varnish, blend with it then re-harden. This will also retain the colour and any muck present in the old varnish though - no pristine ash revealed.

In short, I have no easy answer. But then I've not that much experience with renovating old varnished surfaces on thin wood. I suspect there may be other more effective methods.

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
Bonefishblues
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Bonefishblues »

Thanks. The varnish is confined to the fiddly stuff up top, the planking I'm well along with in terms of smoothing the old paint and providing a key for new primer and marine paint. Any chemical means of removal is out for obvious reasons when you see the link below. I think that I am coming to the view that 95% will be rubbing down with paper/flexible blocks, but any and all ideas are welcomed.

The images here of the white boat are the actual boat I have:

http://valkyriecraft.com/overview-of-bo ... open-canoe

Btw when I do have the crud off I will be using a specialist wood renovator from the same stable as the oil prior to oiling it for the final finish.
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Re: other hobbies.

Post by Vorpal »

Bonefishblues wrote:Thanks. The varnish is confined to the fiddly stuff up top, the planking I'm well along with in terms of smoothing the old paint and providing a key for new primer and marine paint. Any chemical means of removal is out for obvious reasons when you see the link below. I think that I am coming to the view that 95% will be rubbing down with paper/flexible blocks, but any and all ideas are welcomed.
I have on some other varnished items used a combination of linseed oil & white spirit. Steel wool, or even scrubbing cloths, like you use for doing the dishes (if it can withstand the mixture) can be enough to work. I apply the mixture, and scrub. With care, it only affects the finish, and not the wood (except to allow some the oil to soak in). It largely restores the looks, and can be used for most things, as if they were varnished new. I've redone several wood floors using that approach, and some were in use for years afterward, and still looked good. I would think it would work for a canoe, though it might need a little more maintenance than a fully revarnished surface. You can varnish over it, after it's left for a few days to dry. If you like, you can try it in a small area, and see how it goes.

The only thing is that the combination of linseed oil & white spirit is extremely volatile. The mixture and any rags or other materials need to be treated with caution and cleaned immediately or left in a fire-proof container.
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