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Thread: Useless hobbies?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master





    Idaho45guy's Avatar
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    Useless hobbies?

    My main hobby is shooting, followed by reloading, then casting. I also fish, hunt, hike, and explore the woods. And home improvement I guess is a hobby.

    I was thinking about how I spend my spare time and money, and if it was worth it. I think all of my hobbies have value to some degree in regards to self-defense, exercise, or material gain.

    I just cut out about four paragraphs about me ranting about my young co-workers who have no hobbies other than video games and watching TV. Sad.

    But, the point of the thread is about what hobbies you have that you consider useless. What hobbies do you pursue that have no tangible value other than they bring you pleasure?
    "Luck don't live out here. Wolves don't kill the unlucky deer; they kill the weak ones..." Jeremy Renner in Wind River

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Try to do a little deer hunting, When its all said and done I figure the meat costs me about $125.00 a pound.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master Bad Ass Wallace's Avatar
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    My useless hobbie is gardening. It gives me a lot of satisfaction especially when rare birds visit!

    Hold Still Varmint; while I plugs Yer!

  4. #4
    Boolit Master

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    does ranching count, might as well as its a money pit.
    if you are ever being chased by a taxidermist, don't play dead

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    O my! What a can of worms you've opened there! I've had so many hobbies in my life time is almost ridiculous! RC Airplane building and flying probably coast the most, but II've acquired great skills from many of them. Jewelry making, fly tying, exotic cooking, Bla Bla Bla, etc etc! My wife says I've got a new hobbie every winter. This year it looks like I'm going to be sausage making during cold weather! The ones that have been consists my adult life is gardening. I love to see things grow and help others have food on the table, and of course shooting! No telling what I could do with the hours and hours I spent on a bicycle or motorcycle! Reading back through this, I wonder how I've had time to work!

  6. #6
    Boolit Master





    Idaho45guy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bad Ass Wallace View Post
    My useless hobbie is gardening. It gives me a lot of satisfaction especially when rare birds visit!

    Great photo! I think gardening is one of the least, least useless hobbies there is. A couple of generations ago, gardening was essential to survival for blue collar families.
    "Luck don't live out here. Wolves don't kill the unlucky deer; they kill the weak ones..." Jeremy Renner in Wind River

  7. #7
    Boolit Master Shawlerbrook's Avatar
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    I guess since I find pleasure something of value, none of my hobbies are useless.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master FISH4BUGS's Avatar
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    So let's see.....gardening (35x35 garden - we grow most of our own veggies organically), yard work, casting and reloading, volunteering on our Planning Board and BOD for our sportsman's club.
    I murdered (literally) my TV 25 years ago. Don't have TV and won't ever again.
    Useless hobbies? Last night I made butternut squash and burgers. Gardening feeds us.
    The need to give yourself satisfaction for a job well done is important to me.
    I am sure there is some deep seated psychological stuff in there somewhere but who cares?
    Works for me.
    Collector and shooter of guns and other items that require a tax stamp, Lead and brass scrounger. Never too much brass, lead or components in inventory! Always looking to win beauty contests with my reloads.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    I collected hobbies for.....40 years. My wife used to say she always wondered what I was going to try next. Useless hobbies? Well, as far as monetary gain I suspect most have been fairly useless. For knowledge accumulated, (often useless except in trivia pursuit games), they've been priceless. If pleasure, fun and satisfaction have any value then they've all been much more than useless. They include sailing, (that ain't cheap with a nice boat), downhill and cross country skiing, skijouring, (two high bred dogs was enough so the dog sled never materialized), snowmobiling and snowshoeing, canoeing, white water kayaking, camping, mountain biking, bowhunting, hobby machine work, boating and water skiing and no doubt others. The only one of those I still participate in is XC skiing. I still hunt, shoot, load and pursue old rifles in old cartridges. Fly fishing with vintage bamboo rods and restoring vintage bamboo rods, fly tying and, no doubt the second most expensive and tied for first for the most fun, pleasure and satisfaction, collecting, working on and driving vintage sports cars.

    Gardening isn't so much a hobby as a way of life since I was a little boy as is reading.

    Edit: Reading through the interesting replies I noticed one mentioned playing the fiddle. Well, how on earth I forgot the hobby, if such it can be called, that I've participated in since I was 10, I don't know but, I did. For my 10th birthday with money received, about $8.00 as I remember in 1963, I bought my first guitar from a gentleman Dad worked with for the princely sum of $5.00. It was a Harmony F-hole, arch top his sister bought from Aldens mail order catalog. That was over 58 years ago and I never stopped playing. I can honestly say, beyond a shadow of any doubt, that is one hobby that had a decent monetary return over a 20 year period I either played in dance bands or had my own dance band. These days I play for senior housing facilities for my fun and, according to the residents, their pleasure. I must not be too bad as all the facilities here and in the surrounding area keep asking me back. But, maybe it's the price...free....lol!!
    Last edited by sharps4590; 11-11-2021 at 02:16 PM.
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  10. #10
    Boolit Master

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    High power model rockets.
    Expensive but a real hoot.
    I did it for about 10 years.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master Sasquatch-1's Avatar
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    Is any hobby useless if you enjoy it?

    Now if you want to talk hobbies picked up and quickly dropped, I have a few. I have quickly dabbled in leather working, made a couple of powder horns and scrimshawed them(barely acceptable scrimshaw), tried electroplating for cast and probably several others I have forgotten.

    I also get on collecting kicks. I have several cheap vintage postal scales and seven or eight vintage sewing machines, along with a couple of nice clocks.

    Now for hobbies I continue to do, there are the shooting aspects and I do stain glass projects every so often. I can sew if need be and use to do a lot of cooking
    A vote for anyone other then the conservative candidates is a vote for the liberal candidates.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy
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    Hobbies hobbies we don't need no steenkin' hobbies. I would say that all of my hobbies have lead to much satisfaction and frustration...but they have kept me occupied in useful persuits of learning. Fishing, hunting, kayaking, casting, reloading, shooting, gardening. Now if you are going to count the financial cost, it's looking...not so good. BUT I have learned many valueable skill sets over the years, and I and my family could survive if calamity should befall us.
    The priceless aspect of my hobbies has been learning with, and passing on the knowledge of many different subjects with my sons. I cannot put a cost on that.

    What I can say is that the time I used to waste in front of the television could have been put to much better use. That wasted time is gone and I cannot get it back.
    NRA Life 1992
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  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    Hobbies I have never done and never will. GOLF, Tennis, Basket ball, Baseball, Football (American), Hockey, Car racing, Walking through a Mall

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master Harter66's Avatar
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    I'm 55 raising 2 teenage girls , tending to a high anxiety , migraine plagued Ms , and keeping my 78 yr old Mom's homestead together along side mine 22 miles away along with holding down a floating shift job .

    I dream about getting that first hunk of meat smoked just so .......as of yet it has been elusive . I haven't ruined anything yet but there's definitely something in the mechanics that I just don't get .......... $500 4-way grill may or may not help ...... All I want is that slow cooked through wood flavor thing I stumbled over and recreate that accident every time .

    I'm practicing some wood milling and getting decent results I guess . Wood shop was not one of the things I did well . I don't know if it's some weird perfection thing if I just really can't tell where finished is done enough .......
    Currently I am working on a base for the big Christmas village tree stand train set .
    Maybe if I get good at form and shape I'll saw those 10+ yr old 6'×30' black walnut logs down to something useful like that rifle stock that has haunted my dreams for 25 years .
    At least if I screw up the immediately plentiful oak , pine , pecan , cherry , cedar etc I have wood to make charcoal , dog bed stuffing , smoke scrap , and firewood .

    I have this fantasy about getting a childhood truck and my highschool car back on the road for a bucket list trip as things stand that's more D&D fantasy than anything that will ever happen ......

    In spirit all have some value . In practice they are not wholly unpleasant . Aside from the immediate of the above useless is a good description .
    In the time of darkest defeat,our victory may be nearest. Wm. McKinley.

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  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    I’ve been into the ham radio hobby since I was 13yrs old. Can’t put a dollar value on it because the skills and education from it were tremendous as a teenager starting with social skills.
    Looking back 50 years I can now say that hobby is priceless.

    Mike

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy
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    Sold the TV years ago, quit drinking I don't know if that counts but has saved me a ton of money not to mention my health. I could care less for any of thr mainstream so-called sports. Most of what I do these days has some practical applications. Do my own leather work weld woodworking etc. As an old hillbilly it's basically just living. We rarely ever hired someone else to do things that we could do ourselves.

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    Although I've slowed a bit, I spent many years accumulating old tool/tackle boxes from yard sales and flea markets. Some I've tried to restore others I just clean up. Many of them are used for storing reloading accessories and gun parts. I have a hard time walking away from an old metal Union tool box or a multi-drawer Plano tackle box. I also went on a spree of picking up Akro-Mils storage racks. Anything I believed I could use in the reloading or work shop I snatched up.

    Recently I've discovered auto bone yards for useful hobby stuff . I scrounge for anything that may be used to make a shop project. I made my wet tumbler using a serpentine belt, flat steel and an automotive bracket; I've found small amounts of lead in old plumbing trucks along with PVC pipe and brackets. The metal brackets that mount the shelving units inside of the work vans can be used for a variety of projects. I've never spent more than $5 at any one time for brackets and other potentially useful junk. When I take the treasures to the office the employees typically ask if all I have is brackets and braces. Then they say something like, "gimme $5 and we'll call it even". Ever price a piece of 2"x36"x 1/8" flat steel at the local hardware store? I make it a point to take a walk though the bone yard about once every few months. It also give me ideas about new projects. I'm trying to come up with something useful using belt pulleys. I've recently located a couple decent ones.

    Isaac

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    Couple types of art including photography and woodturning. Maybe I could sell some, but it’s the making that I enjoy. The lack of film in the camera, or tossing a finished piece in the fire do not diminish the joy of the making.

  19. #19
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    ShooterAZ's Avatar
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    There's no such thing as a useless hobby IMHO. If someone gets enjoyment out of whatever they choose as a hobby, then it's all good. That is, as long as their hobby isn't mugging old ladies.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    Some hobbies may produce a useable result (i.e. gardening), but by the very definition they are meant to be "useless".

    My hobbies are shooting, reloading, historical research, and anything outside with my family.



    noun: hobby; plural noun: hobbies

    an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.
    "her hobbies are reading and gardening"





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