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

[Flying Crane]

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

Pictures of Dao attached. I screwed it up a little but it might not be visible in the pictures. Where the guard meets with the scabbard does not line up straight, there is a 3 millimeter gap at the edge-side of the blade. This is the first scabbard I have made for this kind of sword and the shape and design of the blade makes the scabbard a little tricky. In the end I just failed to get it quite right and I realized I didn't check it all before I put everything together in a permanent way so I cannot take it apart and make any adjustments. Oh well, it's a learning process and I'll approach it with more caution next time.

The wood of the grip and scabbard are curly maple finished in linseed oil. The guard and pommel are steel. The metal fittings on the scabbard are cast bronze.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

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.

I'm not sure I'd have been able to deal with it. I had to keep working to pay bills, so I've been driving DoorDash the whole time (except the 2 weeks I spent in quarantine early on after being in contact with a real active case). When I was quarantined, I was about stir crazy after just a few days, so I don't think I'd have done well being stuck around the house all this time.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Pictures of Dao attached. I screwed it up a little but it might not be visible in the pictures. Where the guard meets with the scabbard does not line up straight, there is a 3 millimeter gap at the edge-side of the blade. This is the first scabbard I have made for this kind of sword and the shape and design of the blade makes the scabbard a little tricky. In the end I just failed to get it quite right and I realized I didn't check it all before I put everything together in a permanent way so I cannot take it apart and make any adjustments. Oh well, it's a learning process and I'll approach it with more caution next time.

The wood of the grip and scabbard are curly maple finished in linseed oil. The guard and pommel are steel. The metal fittings on the scabbard are cast bronze.

More nice work. Those little alignments between un-joined parts are always tricky, regrardless of the project in question. It looks like it would have been correctable right up until that permanent joining thing, but it's not very noticeable - I probably wouldn't have seen it if you hadn't pointed it out. Of course, to you, it probably feels like a 30-degree gap lit up with a "look here" sign. All my woodworking mistakes are like that to me.

 

[Flying Crane]

More nice work. Those little alignments between un-joined parts are always tricky, regrardless of the project in question. It looks like it would have been correctable right up until that permanent joining thing, but it's not very noticeable - I probably wouldn't have seen it if you hadn't pointed it out. Of course, to you, it probably feels like a 30-degree gap lit up with a "look here" sign. All my woodworking mistakes are like that to me.

Yeah, that’s about right. Although it honestly might have been earlier, when I did the woodworking for the scabbard years ago, which I just finished now. The blade fit well enough, but what I didn’t recognize until the hilt was done, was that it wouldn’t have aligned quite right anyways. Even if I caught it before final assembly and made the adjustment, it would have created some other unusual and odd lines. So I think one way or the other there would have been something odd about it and the next time I do one like this I’ll keep a closer watch on it to catch it from the beginning.

But yes, I feel like it shoots up a flair and wants to draw attention to itself from miles around. That’s the psychology of being the maker, I am painfully aware of every error, including those that others might wave off as inconsequential.

I’ve got a picture of the error.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Yeah, that’s about right. Although it honestly might have been earlier, when I did the woodworking for the scabbard years ago, which I just finished now. The blade fit well enough, but what I didn’t recognize until the hilt was done, was that it wouldn’t have aligned quite right anyways. Even if I caught it before final assembly and made the adjustment, it would have created some other unusual and odd lines. So I think one way or the other there would have been something odd about it and the next time I do one like this I’ll keep a closer watch on it to catch it from the beginning.

But yes, I feel like it shoots up a flair and wants to draw attention to itself from miles around. That’s the psychology of being the maker, I am painfully aware of every error, including those that others might wave off as inconsequential.

I’ve got a picture of the error.

OH DEAR GOD!!! RUN!!!!!!

Er, I mean...not that bad, really.

 

[Ivan]

During pandemic lock down have you found any new hobbies or things that you really enjoy doing? Or old hobbies or passions that you now have time to start again?

During this virus lock down and social distancing that pretty much puts most martial arts in a category of things not to do. At least no sparring or classes with other people. So what do you do in your free time that gives you joy? Looking for some tips for myself

Back when I was young I really wanted to do parkour. I stopped eventually since I never understood how to train for it. Considering all the free time I have during the pandemic, and since I live in the UK I can go out, I have started giving it another go.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Back when I was young I really wanted to do parkour. I stopped eventually since I never understood how to train for it. Considering all the free time I have during the pandemic, and since I live in the UK I can go out, I have started giving it another go.

I’ve always wanted to find some parkour guys and learn their approach to teaching a roll. I’ve seen videos, but I’d like to see them teaching it.

 

[donald1]

I have all sorts of hobbies now. For starters commenting on threads like this one.

Most of my hobbies weren't effected by the lockdown thank goodness for that...


Lastly, thinking of things I enjoy doing with my free time so I can post them here.

My only real hobbies effected are martial arts and movie theater. I think my favorite movie theater will be fine ,but I noticed another movie theater shut down for good. The sad part is the one that shut down had tons of customers everyday before the lockdown.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I have all sorts of hobbies now. For starters commenting on threads like this one.

Most of my hobbies weren't effected by the lockdown thank goodness for that...


Lastly, thinking of things I enjoy doing with my free time so I can post them here.

My only real hobbies effected are martial arts and movie theater. I think my favorite movie theater will be fine ,but I noticed another movie theater shut down for good. The sad part is the one that shut down had tons of customers everyday before the lockdown.

On the plus side, drive-in theaters seem to be making a comeback out of this.

 

[_Simon_]

Back when I was young I really wanted to do parkour. I stopped eventually since I never understood how to train for it. Considering all the free time I have during the pandemic, and since I live in the UK I can go out, I have started giving it another go.

Awesome man... I did parkour for a bit a few years ago, it's alot of fun. Loved getting creative with it and flowing from one thing to another... and I just tried to figure stuff out on my own. Wall runs and vaults were my favourites... and of course jumping over every single thing I could haha. Have fun!

 

[Ivan]

Awesome man... I did parkour for a bit a few years ago, it's alot of fun. Loved getting creative with it and flowing from one thing to another... and I just tried to figure stuff out on my own. Wall runs and vaults were my favourites... and of course jumping over every single thing I could haha. Have fun!

Thanks, I am practising basics right now, just tons of repetition of safety vault, precision jumping and landing daily.

 

[donald1]

On the plus side, drive-in theaters seem to be making a comeback out of this.

None of that stuff near my area sadly. Kudos to them for staying open I guess.

 

[Flying Crane]

I did some work on a dao that I had rebuilt years ago using a bronze casting for the guard and pommel. My recent steel work is cleaner, but this was done a long time ago and is still vastly improved from the original. Anyways, the blade is thick and heavy, almost like a meat cleaver. It’s a Lung Chuan heavyweight import.

I was thinking about redoing the hilt in steel, but I used a heavy grade epoxy/hardener as well as the tang nut to assemble it, so there is no taking it apart without severely damaging it, including damaging the tang and blade. But I’ve always felt like it was still just heavy and unwieldy. So I cut the blade down a bit, shortened it by about 3 1/8 inches or so, narrowed the blade near the end, and just reshaped and modified it. This cut maybe 4-5 ounces from the weight, and shortening the blade makes it feel more lively. It’s not a perfect result, but is an improvement on my previous rebuild.

I have a similar pair of double dao that I had also rebuilt with bronze casting, and I did a similar job of cutting the blades down and reshaping them a bit.

Each dao now weighs about 2 pounds 14-15 ounces, down from approximately 3 pounds 2-3 ounces.

Pictures are attached. The single dao has a before picture, I forgot to take a before picture of the pair.

I did this work this morning.

 

[JR 137]

On the plus side, drive-in theaters seem to be making a comeback out of this.

Our work had an employee family night at a local drive-in. Rented the place just for us and gave us $20 a car in snack bar credit.

I hadn’t been to the drive-in in a good 30 years. It was like time stood still. Snack bar was still in the 70s, still had the poles up from the speakers in between cars (but no speakers). And movies that were a few years old - Zootopia and The Incredibles double feature. It was great. And great of our company to do that for us.

But I quickly realized why they’re all but extinct. They haven’t upgraded anything beyond using FM radio broadcast for the sound. And they’re all playing old movies. I’ve looked at the listings to take my daughters again or even a date night with my wife. Movies aren’t old enough to be classics, and are several years old. I think they’d be significantly more successful if the renovated things and played current movies. Maybe not though, as I’m sure they probably thought of it and tried it. I mean, I’m no expert and I came up with that, so I’m quite sure someone else did too.

 

[dvcochran]

Our work had an employee family night at a local drive-in. Rented the place just for us and gave us $20 a car in snack bar credit.

I hadn’t been to the drive-in in a good 30 years. It was like time stood still. Snack bar was still in the 70s, still had the poles up from the speakers in between cars (but no speakers). And movies that were a few years old - Zootopia and The Incredibles double feature. It was great. And great of our company to do that for us.

But I quickly realized why they’re all but extinct. They haven’t upgraded anything beyond using FM radio broadcast for the sound. And they’re all playing old movies. I’ve looked at the listings to take my daughters again or even a date night with my wife. Movies aren’t old enough to be classics, and are several years old. I think they’d be significantly more successful if the renovated things and played current movies. Maybe not though, as I’m sure they probably thought of it and tried it. I mean, I’m no expert and I came up with that, so I’m quite sure someone else did too.

We still have a drive-in in our town. Only two left in middle TN. It opens regularly in the spring and early fall when it is comfortable to leave the windows down. The FM sound is good but it never shows movies when they first come out. I would say within a one year period usually. It is the drive-in or the 7 screen cinema for us. It seems to do good when open. Some of the best junk food around.

 

[JR 137]

We still have a drive-in in our town. Only two left in middle TN. It opens regularly in the spring and early fall when it is comfortable to leave the windows down. The FM sound is good but it never shows movies when they first come out. I would say within a one year period usually. It is the drive-in or the 7 screen cinema for us. It seems to do good when open. Some of the best junk food around.

Through a Google search, we have 3 within a 30 minute-ish drive in our area. None of them have anything playing worth seeing. Maybe the current bubonic plague putting a halt on Hollywood is the reason? Hopefully that’s the case.

I’d honestly rather go to the drive-in than a traditional theater, regardless of the current state of affairs. We can bring lawn chairs, the kids can lay down in the back of the SUV in their pajamas, we can bring something to eat like a sub or pizza; stuff like that. I’d even pay more per person. But if there’s not something worth seeing, how many times am I going to go back?

 

[Flying Crane]

New castings. Arrowheads cast in 80% silver. Gonna put a loop on them so they can be worn as a pendant.

And they can be hafted on an arrow shaft as well. Fully functional.

 

[Buka]

New castings. Arrowheads cast in 80% silver. Gonna put a loop on them so they can be worn as a pendant.

And they can be hafted on an arrow shaft as well. Fully functional.

Nice!

 

[Steve]

New castings. Arrowheads cast in 80% silver. Gonna put a loop on them so they can be worn as a pendant.

And they can be hafted on an arrow shaft as well. Fully functional.

That is really cool.

 

[JR 137]

New castings. Arrowheads cast in 80% silver. Gonna put a loop on them so they can be worn as a pendant.

And they can be hafted on an arrow shaft as well. Fully functional.

Very cool. I’d love to learn to make metal stuff.