'alternate' traditional hobies/ handcrafts.

[Shainarue]

Jeff, Do you take formal karate and if so, what type and what level are you at? Just curious. 

Is that a wooden knife? Is it functional? It's beautiful. 

Frosty, I could sense your passion for open fire cooking. 

[Steve Sells]

a few of us here have MA ranks of various sorts

[The Jeff]

Yes Im formaly trained in isshinryu and am a brown belt. I made the knife for a friends little boy as a toy.

[gewoon ik]

George i now want to see pictures of the house. I also figured out why i see a lot of scaled american drawings in a 1:12 scale. Thanks for that.

Shaina, also dutch native speaker if you prefer a nicer, softer version  flemish, i can also learn you west-vlaams, so you need subtitles for all other dutch speakers.

[Frosty]

I had to search Isshinryu to get an idea of the style. Do you practice for tournament or as self defense?

It's been 50 years since I studied the arts. My dojo practiced a combined style intended as self defense, it was a fighting school. Sensei Bill Ryusaki taught a combination of largely Shotokan for it's straight forward power and reach combined with Kenpo for it's close combat and round deflecting blocks and moves. I called Shotokan smash and destroy and Kenpo deflect and ghost. There were many other moves and techniques from other styles as well. It was (is?) a self defense school rather than A karate school. 

I just discovered Sensei Bill passed away in 2016 when I looked for some details on a memory trip. His smile was unmistakable. 

Good memories, just learning the arts taught me to not get in situations where it might be needed. Too bad the teaching humility and when to keep my mouth shut didn't stick so well. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

 

 

[The Jeff]

I have competed some before but mostly just traditional karate. Katas, stances basics. Some weapons and self defense as well.

Occasion breaking, but that is only certain students.

On another note a recently tried soap making.

[Frosty]

The only competitions I entered were between different dojos and shortly only our dojos.

Sensei Bill  only allowed breaking boards to demonstrate the effects of a proper strike to bone. Everybody broke a couple boards but it was otherwise forbidden. We punched the stuffings out of the makawari(?) boards though. Burlap wrapped boards some standing like fence posts, others nailed to the building walls. Those things hurt if you hit them too hard but generally didn't do damage. Some schools punched the boards to build callus we punched them to learn control. We were really good at popping your Gi and not touching you. If it were a serious strike we struck through the target, I'm NOT popping the shirt on an attacker!

We did kata largely to program ourselves into one movement forms. A contest or fight was one flowing movement start to finish. Nothing like TV or movies where the fighter stops after each form. 

We practiced a Lot of single combat forms made up of two or three moves for specific circumstances. 

I mostly hammered the basics and combat forms so I wouldn't get beat up so often or badly. It worked for that, I've never used the arts in a serious situation. Threw a pushy cowboy teen on the ground a couple times before he decided I was okay but that was hardly serious. I was just the new guy and a city kid so . . . 

The arts did save me from a very bad beating by a criminal thug who was transferred school to school rather than being tried and jailed. I didn't have to block or strike, I was terrified so went into combat mode and he turned and left. I don't recall most details I was in the zone awaiting the first opening while trying hard not not focus on one of the very many openings his stance offered. What I do remember is he was so heavily muscled as to be deformed, steroids(?) probably, his general mood fit. I remember deciding I'd have to break him down, no way I could "beat" him in a fight. Then the realization went through me, "He has NO DEFENSE!" and his expression changed, his intimidating stance changed to placating, he turned and walked away. I remember the crowd of kids murmuring OHHHH!

I think I cried in reaction for a couple hours, I remember my best friends Mother picking me up and taking me home, my parents worked.

The thug took out his mad and embarrassment on a teacher, but his rep meant the teacher was Coach Arps, a 2 term WWII Marine combat Vet who was neither. . . injured nor impressed. I heard the thug got jail time for that one, coach Arps believed in pressing charges regardless of the opinion of school admin.

That was as close as I ever came to using the arts for real, though It probably counts. It's so burned into my memory I get misty eyed now. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[The Jeff]

Our sensei goes to breaking competitions quite often and has a few national championships. But we generally do not break in class and he only teaches it to a few people. It is easy to injure yourself if you don't listen an strike right. I hurt my wrist on some blocks once. Being embarrassed and angry ( we were doing a demo at a relay for life event) I struck again. I did break it but hurt for a few months.

I've never had to use it to defend myself but there have been a few instances that I was alert and ready and took a bit to calm back down afterword's.

 

[ThomasPowers]

After a decade or two of having dozens of hobbies I finally decided tp concentrate on smithing and helping others move in the direction they were interested in----gave my stepson a lot of my old primitive woodworking tools lately.

As for fighting; I've tried to avoid it; especially after finding out what adrenaline will do for you in emergency situations.  (Why yes the class nerd can pick up the class bully and slam them....)