During pandemic lockdown have you found any new hobbies or things that you really enjoy doing?

[Flying Crane]

Very nice. How many hours do you think you have in that project?

my guess is somewhere around 12. It was done over a few afternoons. Knowing what I know now about it having done it once, if everything went smoothly the first time I suspect it could be done in something like 4-7 hours. I don't have any sophisticated steel-cutting and shaping tools that would likely make it all go faster and give cleaner results, but those things cost money that I'm not in a position to spend, given that I am not trying to make my living doing this. I have a hand-held power drill (make sure to use cobalt steel drill bits when drilling the steel, or you just break a bunch of bits; i wasted a lot of time trying and failing to drill the guard before I figured that out), a hack saw, a belt sander, a dremel tool, a lot of hand files, and a lot of sandpaper. Cutting the slot on the guard to run the tang thru took some time and a lot of filing. I initially tried to do a more complex design on the pommel but finally realized it wasn't going to come together like I envisioned so I scaled back to a simpler design. I wasted a lot of time on that, maybe as much as three hours.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I used to despise that and all things yard work. Now I enjoy it. Why? I don’t have to break up squabbles between my daughters, my wife isn’t looking at me like “why are you on the couch again?” and all that nonsense. I’m outside, headphones on, doing mindless work, and getting a decent workout in. My new house has 0.36 acres. The previous owner didn’t clean up in the fall. In addition to leaves, I’ve got a million helicopters all over the lawn. I’ve never seen so many before.

Yup, don't hear the phone, don't hear my wife and daughter fighting, don't get told all I'm doing is sitting around the house playing on the computer all day (that's work actually). 0.75 acres of raking bliss, that was once pure, unadulterated, pain and torture. Go listen to the birds, the wind, the rake.....aaaaaahhhh

 

[_Simon_]

As a woman from Guangzhou (southern China) once said to me, "Southern Chinese eat anything with legs, except tables and chairs"

As my wife, Northern Chinese once said to me "Southern Chinese eat weird food"

Am also going to remember this for some people I know who are being incredibly racist and aggressively stereotyping...

The racism I've seen and heard has been quite bad :s

 

[Gerry Seymour]

my guess is somewhere around 12. It was done over a few afternoons. Knowing what I know now about it having done it once, if everything went smoothly the first time I suspect it could be done in something like 4-7 hours. I don't have any sophisticated steel-cutting and shaping tools that would likely make it all go faster and give cleaner results, but those things cost money that I'm not in a position to spend, given that I am not trying to make my living doing this. I have a hand-held power drill (make sure to use cobalt steel drill bits when drilling the steel, or you just break a bunch of bits; i wasted a lot of time trying and failing to drill the guard before I figured that out), a hack saw, a belt sander, a dremel tool, a lot of hand files, and a lot of sandpaper. Cutting the slot on the guard to run the tang thru took some time and a lot of filing. I initially tried to do a more complex design on the pommel but finally realized it wasn't going to come together like I envisioned so I scaled back to a simpler design. I wasted a lot of time on that, maybe as much as three hours.

Seems like a good way to while away a few afternoons, with something you can look at later and say, “I did that. “

 

[dvcochran]

I used to despise that and all things yard work. Now I enjoy it. Why? I don’t have to break up squabbles between my daughters, my wife isn’t looking at me like “why are you on the couch again?” and all that nonsense. I’m outside, headphones on, doing mindless work, and getting a decent workout in. My new house has 0.36 acres. The previous owner didn’t clean up in the fall. In addition to leaves, I’ve got a million helicopters all over the lawn. I’ve never seen so many before.

JR, what do you mean by 'helicopters'?

 

[Flying Crane]

Seems like a good way to while away a few afternoons, with something you can look at later and say, “I did that. “

Oh absolutely, and I’ve made some for friends in the past. Made a little money that way but it’s a small clientele for that kind of thing. I could never charge enough money to justify the labor so it has been something to do for fun. If this method turns out to reliably faster, the money could actually be worth the labor once in a while.

 

[JR 137]

JR, what do you mean by 'helicopters'?

Maple seeds. They spin around as they’re falling, hence the name. And they’re a real pain to get out of the lawn once they’ve been there a little while.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Am also going to remember this for some people I know who are being incredibly racist and aggressively stereotyping...

The racism I've seen and heard has been quite bad :s

Thought of another one you might want to tell the racists....or maybe you don't

That same Southern Chinese woman told me
"Southern Chinese argue, Northern Chinese hit"

When I was dating my wife, I asked her about this and she said
"its true, Southerns talk to much, hitting is easier"

 

[dvcochran]

Maple seeds. They spin around as they’re falling, hence the name. And they’re a real pain to get out of the lawn once they’ve been there a little while.
View attachment 22800

Maybe a yard rake behind a mower?

 

[Buka]

Am also going to remember this for some people I know who are being incredibly racist and aggressively stereotyping...

The racism I've seen and heard has been quite bad :s

I know I usually come off as a nice guy, but I'm not. I hate everybody equally.

 

[JR 137]

I know I usually come off as a nice guy, but I'm not. I hate everybody equally.

Reminds me of a line from Full Metal Jacket...

“There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down upon (insert practically every racist slur here). In here, you are all equally worthless.”

God I love that movie. According to my grandfather who was a Marine during the Korean War, that movie really wasn’t much of an exaggeration.

 

[JR 137]

Maybe a yard rake behind a mower?

I’ve got a push mower, so no go on that one. I have to see how long it’ll take to mow the lawn before I decide if I should buy a ride on mower. I think I’m going to get a small rear engine mower. My over/under time for mowing is about 45 minutes with the push mower. I’m on 0.36 acres.

You’d think my mulching mower at its lowest setting would get a good amount of them, but my test area showed me it didn’t do anything for them. I think a big part of that is because it wasn’t cleaned up in the fall and basically embedded. My previous house had some but were never an issue.

 

[_Simon_]

Thought of another one you might want to tell the racists....or maybe you don't

That same Southern Chinese woman told me
"Southern Chinese argue, Northern Chinese hit"

When I was dating my wife, I asked her about this and she said
"its true, Southerns talk to much, hitting is easier"

Haha classic

 

[_Simon_]

I know I usually come off as a nice guy, but I'm not. I hate everybody equally.

Hahaha love it! It's still equality! XD

 

[Flying Crane]

i just finished rebuilding this one, a Willow Leaf Dao, so named as the blade is thinner than the wide Oxtail Dao. I'm getting to prefer the willow leaf, even tho the oxtail seems to be more common. I find the wide blade of the oxtail to create a more cumbersome weapon.

In the past, I rebuilt hilts by bronze casting, which is a lengthy multi-step process. I've liked the results, but the amount of time and work that goes into it can encourage me to avoid it. This time I took a different approach and cut the pieces out of steel bar that I got from Lowes. I actually cut the tang off the original blade and reshaped the bottom 6-7 inches of blade into a new tang. I then cut the guard from 1/4 inch steel plate, and the two pieces of the pommel from 3/8 inch steel plate. The grip is strips of hickory. I shaped it all and fit it to the tang with heavy grade two-part epoxy and 1/4 inch steel pins.

This is far from perfect, but is completely serviceable and I'm happy with the results. I had a few dead-ends and had to redo some parts a couple times, and I learned a lot in the process. It still took about 1/4 to 1/3 the time to build as the bronze casting would have taken.

I did do some training with this sword before I rebuilt it, and the blade was longer than I liked and poorly balanced. I'm much happier with it now, having shortened it and shifted the balance on it a bit.

Finished another sword. Chinese import, taiji style blade, i stripped off and discarded the hilt and scabbard and built new ones. Wood is curly maple finished with linseed oil. Guard and Pommel are steel, metal fittings on scabbard are cast bronze.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Finished another sword. Chinese import, taiji style blade, i stripped off and discarded the hilt and scabbard and built new ones. Wood is curly maple finished with linseed oil. Guard and Pommel are steel, metal fittings on scabbard are cast bronze.

Beautiful work.

 

[Flying Crane]

Beautiful work.

Thank you sir. I’ve got one more almost finished, I ought to be able to post pictures in another day or two. It’s a Chinese oxtail dao, the wide-bladed saber-type sword. Dao actually translates as “knife” but I usually describe it as a saber for those who may not be familiar with them.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Thank you sir. I’ve got one more almost finished, I ought to be able to post pictures in another day or two. It’s a Chinese oxtail dao, the wide-bladed saber-type sword. Dao actually translates as “knife” but I usually describe it as a saber for those who may not be familiar with them.

I look forward to seeing it. How big is a dao, typically?

 

[Flying Crane]

I look forward to seeing it. How big is a dao, typically?

The one I am working on now has a blade length of about 31 1/2 inches, and is fairly large. I prefer a shorter one, more like 24-26 inches. I’ve used big ones but they are heavy and even when I rebuild them and put some weight in the pommel, the balance is still in the blade so I feel like big ones are just plain hard to use. Bagua actually uses a giant dao, I rebuilt one years ago and gave it to my previous Sifu who trains in that. I don’t remember how long the blade is, maybe 38-40 inches and really wide, and thick spine, but the grip was probably 10 inches and I put a hefty guard and pommel, the total weight I think is about 7-8 pounds or so, it really is a monster.

I actually prefer the willow-leaf dao, it has a more slender blade and isn’t so blade-heavy. I rebuild one recently, blade is about 24 3/4 inches, posted those pictures previously.

 

[JR 137]

I don’t know how people can deal with the whole lockdown thing. I was told to stay home for a week due to my allergies acting up (I understand no one wants to take chances), went back for a day, then had to report exposure to a person who may have been Covid positive; so another week. I was losing my mind.

The Covid positive was just plain stupid. My brother in law owns a barbershop, so he had to get tested to reopen. On a Sunday, they told him he tested positive for antibodies and negative for the active virus. I see him for an hour on Monday. Thursday night he gets a call from the department of health saying he’s positive for the active virus. It was the same test, not a new test. Huh??? What happened to his test from Sunday to Thursday? And he hasn’t been sick for over a year. I reported it that night, got tested the next morning, and got results (negative) the following Monday. Good enough to get quarantined for my entire work week (Thursday-Sunday).

On the plus side, I got a bunch of home improvement projects done. Ripped up annoying bushes and replaced with patio pavers, cleaned up the garage only to have it be a disaster all over again; stuff like that.

My heart goes out to people who’ve been locked down since March. No idea how you’re dealing with that.