241–250 of 769 posts
Using crooked knives [0] for woodcarving. They're essentially a combination of a plane, spoke-shave, draw-knife and gouge but all in a one handed tool. They were primarily used by Native Americans to build things like canoes, snowshoes, baskets etc. I first found about them from reading John McPhee's Survival of the Bark Canoe [1] but there are lots of uses of them on video on the website below (which I created). If…
That's pretty niche!
My strange hobby was going on what I called "leak walks". I lived in a town where on any sunny day I could go for a walk and be almost guaranteed to spot a water mains leak I hadn't seen before, which I'd then report and see how long it would be before it was fixed. The record was over a year for one of them. ( Yes, it was a Thames Water area. )
If it is a Thames Water area, you are lucky if the leak is only water...
Mains-water leaks however are easy to spot, because they're damp patches (or flowing/trickling water) in otherwise good weather.
My hobby is organizing in-person meetups for random people to get together, chat and make friends. Barely structured, if at all. I've found this rewarding and ended up making friends this way. You have to accept that 5-15% of the people who would show up to something like this are genuine weirdos you probably don't want to be around. And another 10% at any given meetup are autistic or neuro-divergent but well-meaning…
https://successfulsoftware.net/2024/08/04/making-your-own-ho...
It's quite easy and you don't have to make it super hot.
I am currently growing chillis for the next batch.
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…
Deep in the Eurorack rabbit hole myself. Trying to avoid anything that has a screen and anything that requires a computer to interact with. Patching cables and twiddling knobs is great fun. Sometimes it even sounds good xD
- an amazing crazy chorus module based on one I built for vcvrack
- a pad synth using the PADSynth algorithm
- a pulsar module
- a fun pitch shifting heavy reverb
endless hours of fun!
I build ukuleles and guitars from scratch. That's not as niche as what a lot of people do -- it's just woodworking -- but I do software for a living and enjoy making durable, physical things in my free time.
Did you go to a luthier school or self taught?