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Your hobbies

3

37chief

Well-known Member
Location
California
I know others here must have hobbies other than repairing tractors. I can't say the tractors are my hobby. I just keep them running for my work. I do like to repair old motorcycles. I have severol pre 50 Indian motorcycles. Currently I am restoring a 1936 indian inline 4 cylinder. I also have a few old Yamaha's. Dad never had a hobby, other than working, I think that was his hobby. Stan
 
The only hobby I have time for is spending it with my three young children. My oldest, 9, has his own set of tools and works on the old stuff with me. My youngest 5, likes to hang out in the shop with us and "learn." My daughter, 8, like to cook with me. Other than going to auctions and dreaming, that's it. Hunting, fishing, and camping with family as well.
 
I work with 2100 degree molton glass when I get a chance to show up at the local glassworks.
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I repair tractors as a living. Doing it for 42 years, two months from now I'm going to retire from it and spend more time with a friend I found a year ago. Like fishing and traveling.
 
I never have found anything I like better than farming and playing with farm equipment. Plus I never could afford anything like a hobby when I was younger. The money may not have been an issue in later years but having any time for it would have been an issue.
 
Years back I did 55 and 56 fords, lots of them, just couldn't get enough, both mechanical and body and paint. Then is was 70 to 72 chevells and el-caminos, then when they got to expensive and my boys were old enough to drive it was chevy 4x4 pickups and full size blazers, and throw in a late model wreck now and then so my wife always had a newer car to drive. I don't care for all that body and paint anymore so now its mainly tractors, still paint but not as fussy. Age creeping up on me, starting to sell off toys, Z-28 gone last year, 72 SS El Camino gone this year, don't miss them, still have a few to go. Old Army buddy said last time we got together in 2010, who's going to fix and restore all this old junk when were gone?? and he laughed, I just shook my head, we are two of a kind. I started doing 55 fords when I was 14 years old, have had a project of some kind going either in my dad's shop years ago and ever since in my shop. Completely rebuilding and changing my pulling tractor this winter.
 
I got More Hobbies than I can Get around too LOL! Amateur radio ( HaM), Antique cars/Trucks Hit n Miss Flywheel Engines and Tractors, Larry
 
When I retired I started carving charactetures out of basswood. Here are just a few of them as I have about 90.Most of the time Wisconsin winters are long. This keeps you from going completely crazy.
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ATF......Gave up tobacco twenty years ago, gave up alcohol two years ago, all I have left is Firearms, and my old tractors. Good enough hobbies for an old coot like me. LOL
 
I too like wood working. A guy in town sells wood from his sawmill. I have all the wood tools to turn ruff wood into a china cabinet, tables, headboards, preacher's bench, and what ever my son and daugher dreams up.

I like making things out of metal too. Have welders, tourches, large metal bandsaw, cutoff saws, brake, lathe, press, Like to make things I can't buy. Biggest metal project was a 4640 pound 5 ft lawn roller made from a 500 gal oil drum, concrete lined. Couldn't buy one, does a great job of rolling lawn.

Like working on tractors too. Always loved turning wrenches and taking things apart. It's the putting things back together that was some times a challenge. When I was younger, I would overhaul my car and truck engines. Too old for that.

When younger, I wanted to learn how to do body work. Learned what the work part of body work really is. So, all my tractors get nice a coat of lipstick. Had to fab metal parts on my last tractor

My favorite hobby is tractor therapy. Favorite tractor is my terramite backhoe. Wish I could play with my tractors everyday.

Been retired 9 years and everything I do is my hobby. When I was younger, I played carpenter and took 5 years to double the size of my house and make a new house out of the old one. Too old to play carpenter.

I would say another hobby is finding a tool that I don't have and then come up with a reason to buy it.
 
I don't know if I'd call it a hobby or obsession. I like to get "junk" operational. Mechanical, electrical, old, new, whatever. Not restored, just working as it should. I don't want it around "if it doesn't work". Sometimes I have something I need that works but a subsystem of it, that I never need, doesn't work. No matter how I try to ignore it I can't and it makes me crazy so I "have" to fix it even if I don't want to.
As for what I would refer to as a hobby? I like to suck down Canadian whisky. I find I'm getting better at it as the years pass. I may even turn professional some day.
 
I have too many hobbies! I am rebuilding the engine in my 435JD pulling tractor, building a D17 Diesel pulling tractor. Helping my kids when ever they call. I also am supposed to be a horse rider, have a cabin in the woods along the Blue trail in Southern Il. Right now I am building Forts/deer stands. Two of them for my grandkids. One is done and the other 90% done, for Christmas. Vic
 
My hobby seems to be what needs done out here at the time. Hobby at the present time using the chainsaw and log splitter and raising a few calves. Might not seem like hobby but it is what needs done and I look forward to it like a hobby. Summer it is mowing and using the 64 ford 4000 or 8 n for bush hogging. Keeping maint on the tractors 4 wheeler and gator etc is hobby enough for me. Of course grand kids and tractor shows and whatever fills in the rest. Never enough time and never a dull moment. Wouldn"t trade it. Oh yeh I still work full time not a bad thing but not a hobby. I guess a hobby is what you do and don"t mind doing it.
 
Horses, thoroughbreds, it's really
A waste of money, they don't earn a penny, but I still like being around them, making hay, mowing there pasture, mucking stalls, ect.
 
If you drink Ski Soda you must be close to the St. Louis area. I'm in Highland where are you loacated mjbrown?
 
Here's something I just did. For a long time I had a pan (salvaged toolbox drawer from scrapyard) in front of the woodstove. Decorated it with a picture of the sleepy cat by the woodstove. After quite a few years of that I decided to cover it with sheet metal, did cut outs of some old codgers playing checkers by a woodstove (I added the woodstove into the picture) then Matt and Chester looking in on them. They're glued and sealed to 1/4" veneer scrap. Now I have an idea I'm going to enlarge a couple pictures of my dad cutting firewood, do like I did with these, then get a couple pieces of branch to make it look like dad's working on those "logs".
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Golf and woodworking. I basically grew up on the golf course, but in the last few years a few body imperfections have kept me away from it. If I can't walk it, why golf? Riding a cart is for the lazy but I'm afraid I'm going to have to lean that way to continue the sport.

Woodworking isn't nearly as frustrating as golf and is an all season sport and I don't have to drive 17 miles to get to the wood shop. Jim
 
My only true hobby is reloading and punching holes in paper, but after living outside the US for 20 years, I had to give that up until I moved to Missouri last year. Now I travel 3000 miles to work for four weeks and then four weeks at home. Three weeks of honey-do's, a week of yard and property work, and try to find a day or two in between for my hobby! A day reloading or at the range is pure heaven. Oh, and I live four miles from a big lake and still haven't gone fishing. One of these days......
 
I like to take nature photographs! A new camera is under the tree this year, or so I hear! Here is one I took last spring, had it enlarged, matted, built and finished the frame. Now it hangs in my house!

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I miss our ho train table! Dad had it in the basement on top of his pool table, 4x8, we had so much fun with that. My brother and I made buildings out of cardboard, put lichen, spelling, on tree twigs, put glue on the green sand paper and spread sand on it to make roads, ect. It was fun.
 
My table is 4 x 16 and I have one track that goes around the outside of the room. It goes over the stairs and has a draw bridge at the storage room. I have over $4000 invested in track and trains.
Walt
 
Wow, that sounds great, you should post a pic! I remember we had a rock island engine, a union pacific engine, which I still have, today says " we can handle it" on the cab, a Santa fe engine, ect. I gotta go to dads one day and look at the engines and cars again! we also used matchbox cars in the scenery. I got a book from
The library in the 80s about train tables, I can't remember the name of the book or the authors name, but it was a good book. Wish I could find it again!
 
In order.

1. My kids sports/activities.
2. Messing around in the dirt. Dozer, backhoe, tractor, etc. Using and fixing them up as needed.
3. Hunting.
4. Drag racing. This doesn't get as much attention now as I have kids AND I have less money in all my other hobbies added up than I did in just one blown nitrous motor.

Rick
 
I work on equipment for a living and enjoy doing it so much I mainly just work on equipment, and still make money, as my hobby too. When I do get time to slow down I enjoy going down to the other end of our property with my wife and daughter and target shooting.
 
Having too many hobbies may be as bad as not having any hobby. But, thankfully I've got a couple hobbies. They seem to interfere with each other at times. I love to carve in wood. I carve a lot of walking sticks mostly out of aspen. Each one is personalized for the receiver. I number those that I sell/give away. The last one was #221. I also carve a bunch of Welsh love spoons. In fact I started and finished carving a simple one this evening after I got home from church. In addition I carve a bunch of name chains and other objects. Was and is a very good stress reliever for this old coot. But my other hobby is old tractors. I'm nearing completion of a "one of a kind" tractor I'm building to take on tractorcades. Has a motorcycle engine hooked up to an Allis model C rear end and covered with a cedar strip body. When I'm completed with it I'll try to get some pix of it on here.... along with some pix of the special hauling rig I built for my tractors. Plus, I do some building/brick laying you name it jobs at my leisure.I never want for something to do!
 
I mentioned that working outboards and farm gear is a hobby, but you be the judge. I don't make much money at this, and would just work on HVAC and refrigeration if it weren't for my daughter. She was dating a guy who wanted to be a mechanic. He would come over as much to hang out with me as he did to hang out with her. I would take him under the truck or along side the tractor, as I would work on my own stuff. One day Mary, my daughter came up to me and asked why I was teaching her boyfriend how to be a mechanic. At first I figured she didn't want him spending time with me that she could use to make him do stuff for her, but she went on to explain how she wanted to be a mechanic, and I was her dad, so I owed it her to teach her. I started teaching her about engines, the basics, about the strokes, and major components etc, which fired her mother up. As a negotiation progressed, she agreed that she would join the USCG, and if she qualified, she would be an MK, which is the mechanic. My wife was appeased for almost a week. As it turns out, she doesn't look like she will qualify for service due to an early teenage illness. The work I line up is for teaching her how to be a mechanic. We work on boats (outboards mostly) and small tractors (8N, Allis Chalmers B, CA no C as yet, and she loves this Massey Harris Pony etc. We haven't started my Case 990, yet). It does pay for itself, but we don't make large killings. She is doing great. She can change raw water impellers on her own, now as well as basic outboard PM's. She can run an impact like anyone, and her troubleshooting is coming around. She isn't as great troubleshooting electrical as she is with mechanical, but that will come. I show her threads on this board that detail how others have fabricated or rebuilt parts, and soon she will start practicing with welding. She can currently run a good 6011 bead as long as it is horizontal, though, I've never let her do any on anyone else's machines, yet. BTW, if anyone in West Tennesse or northern Mississippi needs an apprentice mechanic in 6 months or so, when she finishes high school, she should have a good set of basic tools by then, in time to keep your stuff running during the season. Does this make it a hobby for me? I only work this nights & Sundays etc.
 
karaoke. i live about 18 miles from a city that has many opportunities 4 or 5 days a week. i usually go 2-4x/week. i sing 50s-80s rock, doo-wop, some country.
i like fixing machinery too. good thing, because that has helped keep us farming for the last 32 years.
 
I"m another woodworker. Like to build furniture projects. Mostly older style, more rustic than decorated. Haven"t done a lot in several years. Son now 14 and getting me back into the shop. But, he is pretty good at trap shooting. Has gotten me back into small cal. target. Outdoors on the machines still has my heart.
 
Playing 0n and repairing any thing that moves dirt would have to be my number one then I hunt a little and try to be a family guy. At 70 years + it just seems than not enough time in the days for all of it.
 
Playing 0n and repairing any thing that moves dirt would have to be my number one then I hunt a little and try to be a family guy. At 70 years + it just seems than not enough time in the days for all of it.
 
Hobby right now is setting up our new place. Been spending allot of time on the 641 dragging sandy clay to the shop/barn sight to pour a slab.

Entertain the kids, hunt hogs, play guitar, photography, draw/sketch, photoshop guru, gardening and tree planter. Of course these are all the things I do now because I don't have a shop. When I get that finished I'll be back to full time tinkerer/cobbler/carver and whittlerer.
 
Here's one of mine. I know Sweetfeet likes the rusty/used/abused/neglected effect, but this is my treatment of "old stuff"----
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I restore a lot of farm equipment - rakes, spreaders - balers - etc etc. not just tractors.

Non farm stuff - I've got the highest level amateur radio license I could get, but I never use it. Just don't like talking to strangers on the radio! But love working with old electronics.

Have a nice telescope, though haven't used it in some time now. Used to do a lot of astrophotography with it, but with film - harder to get materials these days. Been wanting to get a real digital camera for it, but too many other projects need funding.

Do a lot of wood working.

And in between all that is always fishing - fly fishing for salmon, local ponds for bass, ice fishing for pike, surfcasting for stripers.

Make my own fishing poles and lures.

Lots of random interests pop up from time to time - but those are ones that keep coming back to me.
 
I am into trains too. HO scale, and I model the Minneapolis & St. Louis RR. Right now I am painting, detailing, & decaling an RS1 #211.
Brian(MN)
 
Jay I think if you look up the definition of "hobby" you'll find:

Hobby: Noun: Any activity that requires the complete expenditure of large sums of money in a way that results in a complete lack of financial return. The activity itself is often shared with others, but expenses are typically understated to close friends, and completely hidden from spouses.
 
I snow ski in the winter, White Water Raft rivers all over the west in the summer. Have a decent woodworking shop and putter around with these old farm tractors. Would like to start hunting again. Have a new dog coming in a month or so. But he will likely be more pet than bird dog...

Ben
 
Hunting, fishing, old 1950"s pickups and now brewing beer. Boys are now grown and off in the service (USN and USMC).
 
I'm with you on gardening and collecting garden tractors, tho I only have 4. Good thing I don't have room for more. When I see a "good deal" I have to use all kinds of restraint! I've had my eye on one and it's bothering me. It's just so darned NEAT!
 
1. hang out with my husband (and our kids when they want to hang with us)
2. take photos of junkyards and old abandoned buildings or other things of interest
3. threshing/plowing shows/auctions
4. edit photos/create calendars & cd covers on computer
5. read/listen to music
6. garden/yard work
7. cooking (I only like the creative part - not the dishes)
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Hobbies--Problem is what's a hobby? My old tractors are #1, but I also have Military Jeep I restored, do some woodwork in the winter making stuff for my grandkids, raise a garden every year, shoot a little bit. Big hobby seems to be fixing stuff around here, there's always something broken. And like some of you guys, do some volunteer work in our community, I'm on our County Department of Public Works board(sewers for 1600 customers), County Department of Human Services board(100 bed nursing facility), and a trustee at our Elks. Someday I'm gonna go back to work 'cause being retired is BORING!
 
(quoted from post at 18:11:43 12/16/12) The only hobby I have time for is spending it with my three young children. My oldest, 9, has his own set of tools and works on the old stuff with me. My youngest 5, likes to hang out in the shop with us and "learn." My daughter, 8, like to cook with me. Other than going to auctions and dreaming, that's it. Hunting, fishing, and camping with family as well.
Click to expand...

You better get yourself some hobbies, because in a few weeks those kids will be grown and gone with their own problems. I can't complain myself though because both of my kids have strong family ties and want to do things with all three families together. When you look back from my age the child rearing part was a pretty short stretch, even though I did spend a lot of time with them.
 
I collect petroliana......gas station signs, gas pump globes, oil cans, etc. I mainly collect globes. Have upwards of 150 of them. Probably 100+ signs. Don't really know how many. I also add Sinclair items to my late son's collection. When I add a Sinclair oil can to his collection I can "hear" him say "hey Pops, that can is way cool".

In my younger days I did a little stock car racing. Soooo much fun, but racing is a huge money pit. I have a thing for vintage cars. Never seem to have time and money at the same time, so my car projects just sit...for now.
I enjoyed welding and fabricating stuff when I was younger. Planning to get a shop up in the next year or so. Hope to take up metal shaping.

In recent years I've gotten into tractors and equipment. I've got a Ford backhoe and a Cat grader. One of my earliest memories was tagging along with my Dad and him letting me work the levers on a Michigan loader.
 
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