I'm just curious. For some here blacksmithing is a profession. For others, it's a hobby. I was just kind of wondering what else other blacksmiths might pursue as a hobby/pastime.
Myself, I also do a bit of hobby carpentry and I also make homemade wines and meads. Add that to work (and of course blacksmithing) and my other favourite pastime (fishing), and it's a marvel that the wife sees me at all sometimes.

What do you do?

I love to do wood, and copper, and drink mead, so let's see, how can I arrange to try yours?? I dive, travel, read, write and speak at functions, weld silly yard art, and spen a lot of time here!!

I do some leather working and I enjoy making small boxes. I'm also growing three different types of gourds and want to try my hand at carving and decorating those.

I also do a little leather work. But most of my free time is spent in the fields as I am a "hobby" farmer, growing mostly garlic and hay right now. I also spend time riding/repairing my four wheeler.

i like getting in the garden too just got all my seeds ready for planting up mainly veggies and herbs going to grow my camomile this year i drink a lot in tea so i thought that would be good.. like the sound of the mead etc...! also do a bit of silver work, want to do some stuff with copper might ask diver mike up there bout that... love too kung fu and try hard not to get obsessed with it! its brilliant. tai chi too to provide balance but thats much harder! got any garlic tips then tech413? mine always grow but come up quite small...

Besides Blacksmithing, I love to do woodworking, hunting and fishing, some metal detecting, snorkeling fits in there somewhere. I do agree it's amazing my wife sees me at all.
PS: There is always the never ending home repairs and yard upkeep.

To sum it up i do,

Gardening, Sylviculture to groom up my forest, woodcarving, hobby carpentry, hiking, Using my axe or kukri to make hiking trails that run for milles along the river or in the middle of noware. Do some 4x4 in my chev shorty with a little brew. I pick alot of rocks in various pits and along the road for walkways and other rock projects like my last one i covered the front floor portion of my cabin with flat sandstone and cement in between in an attemp to harvest the suns energy. And of course i cant wait for the snow to melt so i can go scrounging for iron.

Husband and Father has to top the list, family is everything.
Then there is veggie gardening, deer hunting, beer can collecting, guitar (classic rock), and am fanatical about muskie fishing. Oh yea, it's also something of a hobby to be a royal pain in the xxx to my boss (grin).

1974 Challenger (Not a Charger ) My dad bought it when it was 6 months old. We were going to restore it together, but he lost his battle with cancer last year and left it up to me to finish.

Photography, Photoshop and any photo manipulation programs; I love seeing what I can do to change, improve, etc the photos I take. Some times it's not necessarily an improvement.

Computers Some self taught, some "a little help from my friends", some schooling. My degree is in Networking.

Marine Corps League An organization for former and current Marines devoted to carrying on the spirit and traditions of the Corps. Funerals for fallen Marines, fund raisers for Marines in need ect. Mosly it's an excuse to sit around and drink a little beer and hear old Marines tell some GREAT war stories!! And you know the difference between a war story and a fairy tale, right?? The fairy tale starts out, "Once upon a time" and the war story starts out, "You ain't gonna believe this sh**!!" :)

Well, let's see.........
In winter I seem to cut a lot of firewood. In summer, I do a lot of gardening.
A bit of carpentry, mechanic work, farming.
I play electric guitar.....country and rock..........(when there's time)
Oh yeah........AND GO TO DOCTORS!

shooting, junk collection/scraper, raccoon traping, watching other blacksmiths work and spending too much time on the I-net

banjo....leather work (a little)....guitar....radios.....dog training....
im really bad at wood work....i have this machine thing, i put the timber in at the top and what i best make out of wood comes out the bottom. ....oh..sorry...after i light it that is.

Edited March 12, 200917 yr by double_edge2
speelling mistooks

Make my living as a Union Electrician, and Teach Jujitsu.

I volenteer with Emergency responce team as EMT with American Red Cross, also write and play Bass guitar for blues/rock band with a little keyboards, Hunting Fishing, also keep tropical fish, son's hamster and A dog, play with the SCA, need to build a new motorcycle.

Edited March 13, 200917 yr by steve sells
typos

I'm in commercial construction as a carpenter.

I love wood working (which is what got me started in blacksmithing so i could make my own carving gouges and misc. tools) part time farmer, mechanic, pretty much anything working with my hands and building stuff.:D

I keep bees, chickens and sheep. All done with cows for now; the last one lives in the freezer. I raise a pig or three in the summer as well as a half acre garden. I enjoy a good cuban cigar when time permits. I ref high school Volleyball to pay for stuff I can't grow. Right now I'm making a little maple syrup, just tapped a couple trees yesterday. I enjoy reading, mostly blacksmithing books now, but I picked up Harry Potter again to clear my mind. I try to work as much as possible around my family. If I can't be with them I'd just as soon not do it. That said; I don't put myself in any long term situations that will keep me away from them for more than a couple hours. It's all about priorities for me.

My family and I have a little farm with horses, chickens and one free range goat that thinks she's a dog. Working around here keeps me plenty busy when I'm not at my day job (cable TV tech.).
I enjoy making and drinking beer and wine, playing guitar and mandolin with my kids, shooting, reading and drawing.
I'd have to say that my wife and kids are my life, though it doesn't hurt to get out in the shed with Pink Floyd or Creedence for an afternoon of mindless filing or sanding. Bladesmithing is theraputic for me and helps me cope with the rest of life.

Hey guys ! you learned me how to forge now u have to learn me how to play the guitar i see everybody does that. I was to buissy with the shop to do anything else but i used to love to play pool (billiards) before blacksmithing . Oh and there is something else i enjoy and that is looking after beautifull girls and write on this forum.

Are you asking about "real jobs?" or other hobbies....cause this is my hobby, my real job takes most of the rest of my time....I am a stage hand... I work too much for my own good....

I take care of my Wife, house, truck and dog,.... and if there is time I hammer iron and steel!

My full time job is toolmaker and fixture design for a Glass Forging + Finishing shop. They do forged blanks to finished polished and thin film coated. Been with them 26 years and still enjoy it. I have a pretty decent shop at home and have done lot's of home machining. Been flying RC planes since 1997. Silhouette shooting has been squeezed in there as well. My wife has always enjoyed shooting to so it made it easier. Blacksmithing is something I tried to get back into for years and now the family is grown and youngest is in sophomore year at U Mass it is what I'd like to focus on to see if I can achieve the level of skill I would be happy with. Time will tell :)

Heard of turtles? Well I herd them. I also have taken up jewelery since I can't stand to forge at the anvil anymore. This way I still get to forge something. I used to do a fair amount of shooting, but not much anymore. I used to cast a fair amount of bronze, but not to much anymore. I used to garden a fair amount, but not much any more. I still have way to may dogs, well more then any reasonable man would have. No more birds or fish either or snakes. You know when you back is hurting you just kind of quit doing lots of things.:(

I have been a line cook, pastry chef (my passion is cooking and trying new flavors) I have a desk job now due to the loss of my right leg I run a office where out of town doctors come to see patients in our small community. I enjoy shooting, fishing, dutch oven catering, real BBQ (build my own smoker out of an old warming oven) some wood work, exploring back roads around Northern AZ, and black smithing trying to make some sellable knives.

Umm... my primary income comes from Custom Fencing. So on the off months its time for repairs first to the stuff we broke and pushed to the side in the mad rush to keep the customers happy and the critters in! Then its time to pound on some steel and I do some carpentry & household wiring & plumbing. I do a little leatherworking(too cheap to buy it so I make my own), gardening, netmaking, now and again I get a chance to hunt and fish and read pretty much any chance I get in between.

I was a software engineer for over 19 years before I "became too old" for that industry. Employers prefer hiring pimple faced kids, as they are cheaper, don't have health insurance costs, and work extremely long hours.

I went back for a second Masters degree an now work in a community mental health clinic as a "counselor".

I also do a bit of woodworking as a hobby, and have projects where I combine wood and iron. A friend is scheduled to come over today to help put iron tires on the wheels for my Civil War era Traveling Forge.

P.S. I am also writing a book.

Employers prefer hiring pimple faced kids, as they are cheaper, don't have health insurance costs, and work extremely long hours.

Shoot, we just had a speaker come in and tell our college that kids these days don't work long enough hours and want too much.

PS: I'm a vet student by day, superhero by night!..........or studying.....yah, mostly studying at night.......

i am a student and i have to work to keep my grades up and i could not work long hours, but no health care costs. interesting.