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Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

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Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#41

Post by SunshineTheCat »

Traditional archery.

I started a few years back and have been doing it off and on since. It's challenging but a lot of fun.

I shoot a lot of older style "recurve" bows, but the main style I shoot are horsebows, that is, bows that were historically shot from horseback.

They're very lightweight and you can shoot much more rapidly than you can with a more modern/mechanical recurve or compound. Right now I shoot around 20-25 arrows a minute. Not amazing compared to experienced archers, but a lot of fun.

I have a number of bows, but here are my favorites:

Assyrian: https://www.bogararchery.sk/image/cache/catalog/product/boga... Buryat: (No longer available)

I also shoot an English longbow from time to time.

The horsebows use a technique called "thumb draw" which is very different from the way most bows are shot in the west.

Here's a great YouTube channel if you want to explore getting into it: https://www.youtube.com/@ArminHirmer

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#42

Post by ZTX »

skyberrys wrote: post #20

I'm into innovation in HCI as a hobby, but it does get expensive so I would like to bring in some additional financial support for my unusual builds. I didn't really plan to build HCI as a hobby, but I have a strong interest in hardware engineering and eventually I wanted to switch back to building things that anyone can physically see. Years ago I built a hemisphere keyboard and now I've built an LED globe with a vi…

HCI innovation is definitely an interesting hobby - anything you can share or point me towards?

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#43

Post by ribs »

I had a route around San Francisco that I would visit, and all the places on the route were where there were good blackberry bushes. I’d take a bucket. Around Golden Gate Park and the Inner Sunset mostly, heading down into the Forest Hills area as well. I did that for a few years. Would pick up some plums along the way as well.

Now on the other side of the Bay I have a couple spots, not as dense a network. About an hour away there are masses.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#44

Post by getlawgdon »

duckkg5 wrote: post #28

I was into woodworking, then I got into building fly fishing rods from bamboo. Fly fishing has been around for a long time. They used to build rods by hand out of bamboo - a specific species of bamboo native to southern China - before factories started making them out of graphite, fiberglass, etc. for cheap. Modern fly rods are a few hundred bucks. If you try to buy a bamboo rod in a store, they run $2K-$5K. They tak…

This is very cool. Thank you. ...and that video is a pill-quality destressor. thanks again.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#46

Post by vectordust »

Despite AI starting to crowd this space, I've been spending all of my free time learning music production (doing it the old fashion way without AI). It's a great mix of technical and creative problem solving. Mostly focusing on dark ambient/cinematic composition, playing around hardware synths (Prophet 6, Subsequent 37, modular / eurorack, Digitone II).

If anyone is curious, I put out a single recently (remaster from last year): https://soundcloud.com/vectordust/ion-dunes-1

My main personal goal right now is to release a full length album this year.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#47

Post by duckkg5 »

getlawgdon wrote: post #44
duckkg5 wrote: post #28

I was into woodworking, then I got into building fly fishing rods from bamboo. Fly fishing has been around for a long time. They used to build rods by hand out of bamboo - a specific species of bamboo native to southern China - before factories started making them out of graphite, fiberglass, etc. for cheap. Modern fly rods are a few hundred bucks. If you try to buy a bamboo rod in a store, they run $2K-$5K. They tak…

This is very cool. Thank you. ...and that video is a pill-quality destressor. thanks again.

I come back to the video every once in a while and it is total zen.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#50

Post by vectordust »

patapong wrote: post #38

Synthesizers! I like it because it's tactile and immediate, and you're not glued to a screen, but can create fun-sounding beats. Nowadays there are nice, cheapish groove boxes that are perfect for noodling on the couch. I started with the Novation Circuit Tracks, and also really enjoy the Teenage Engineering EP-133. Not to say that I am any good at this, but it's an enjoyable hobby! Bonus if you are friends who are a…

> Bonus if you are friends who are also into it and you can jam together :)

How does one find these people? Asking for a friend! :D

I've also gone down the synthesizer rabbit hole: prophet-6, full modular setup (rip bank account), subsequent 37. It's great fun!

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