Six Months Retired, I’m struggling.

[savarin]

So how about a garden? We started to do that... Cilantro, lettuce, basil, tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, blackberries, etc. Very satisfying to grow part of your own food...

Rather than a garden which is hard work have a go at aquaponics. The productivity of the system is astronomical. more veg that you can eat and fresh fish.
This is an old thread
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/went-catchin-the-other-day.34539/#post-292170 post 3
Theres heaps of stuff on line and if anyone is interested drop me a private message for more info or questions.

 

[gard]

I must admit I struggled for the 1st year or so after being let go from an engineering job several years before I really wanted to. I have found it very satisfying to work on some projects where I get paid in cash, logging and selling firewood, welding and machine work for a few different people. My watch band broke a couple of months ago so now I never know what time of day or day of the week it is. I like that. Restoring old tools and farm equipment is the hobby. Seems like I often get distracted, was scrapeing a lathe compound rest slide, needed to make a "kingway" tool for measuring the dovetails then needed to make an angled straitedge but first needed a slow speed diamond grinder to sharpen the carbide scraper and an angled fixture to hold the slide. In other words inventing and making tools that are used to fix other tools.

 

[ericc]

Hey Jeff, keep the mood up. Hiking sounds like a great idea. Restoring basket case old machines is great fun and purposeful too. Gives you a reason for all those fancy tools. I recently did a short stint helping an auto restoration club with their forged components. Not only are the parts not available, there aren't many around who even know what they looked like. It really helped to have a whole multi-functional team and a striker. The contact is still alive, and occasionally I do some odd jobs for them.

 

[bill70j]

Jeff:

Here are a couple of ideas that haven't been mentioned. May not be useful, but here it goes:

1) You have said you want to learn CAD. Jump head first into Fusion360 and get good at it. It will give you some additional ways to approach projects of all sorts
2) Consider a work-out routine, if you don't already have one. Resistance training, stretching, bike riding or stationary bike, tread mill, etc. Set goals, develop a schedule and stick with it
3) Master a second language (or third...) I think there's a community college close to you, plus there are some incredible free online programs that are challenging and fun to do (Duolingo, e.g.). Make a commitment and devote a portion of time to it every day
4) You mentioned that you read a lot. If not already doing so, keep up with current events. Sign up to receive on-line (or even paper versions) of a couple of good periodicals (NYTimes, LATimes, WSJ, Sports Illustrated)
5) Consider the field of Radio Control planes, cars, boats. Many possibilities!

Bill

 

[Larry$]

Very satisfying to grow part of your own food...

I find gardening therapeutic. I keep up with it by doing a little almost every evening.

My latest purchase although not an antique was an 11-year-old Bailiegh cold saw

I came by an old Italian cold saw last year, free! It was a mess but perfectly usable after a lot of work. Total tear down, new pneumatics, Fix a few things clean and paint. It works like a champ. My go to for anything that will fit. Much faster than the bandsaw, beautiful smooth cuts. New steel blades cost about $250 but it came with two good blades.

 

[savarin]

A job today for a mate, my home made spark eroder burning out a broken tap for him. That might be something to get into

 

[francist]

You know, I had a bit of a revelation the other day. Actually more than just a bit of one, it was pretty big. But it involves a story so bear with me and I’ll try to keep it short.

In my city, and I suspect many others as well, there is a groundswell movement for change on a particular front. The focus of that change isn’t important and I’m not even going to name it lest it rankle some folks, but suffice to say it is not something that I would ever think of studying or delving deeply into on my own. It’s just not in my typical line of interest. But, because it is such a widespread movement affecting many aspects of our lives and businesses I, and all the employees at my work, have to participate in some on-line courses and training.

Well, and this is the shocking part, I’m actually excited to do them! And this really puzzled me because I could not for the life of me figure out why. And then the penny dropped — I was excited because I was going to learn something new.

And as I stood there in my kitchen, jaw agape, I realized that each one of my many new hobbies and interests that I routinely throw myself headlong into every five or ten years wasn’t about the end purpose at all, it was about the learning. Maybe the end result was an excuse to start, maybe the focus was sparked by something I saw that looked cool or that otherwise caught my eye, but the total absorption and captivation in the subject to the virtual exclusion of all else was because I was learning. And I crave learning.

There’s probably as many things to learn as there are ways to learn them — take a course, read a book, grow a garden, be a crossing guard, learn a language, the list is endless. And they don’t have to be in a common field to be interesting — fine woodworking, glass working, taxidermy, stone carving, silversmithing, graphic arts, welding, clock repair, fly fishing, fly tying, motor scooters, hot rods, sewing machines, fashion design, wind turbines, bicycle racing, machining, metal spinning, and those are just the ones I can remember! I’ve done them all, in lesser or greater degrees of commitment, and they were all fascinating. Some still are.

The important part may not be what we end up with at the end or how long we stay with it, but the fact that we allowed ourselves to be intrigued, to be consumed, to be completely overtaken with a desire to figure it out. If we understand how to do that I don’t see how we can ever be bored.

-frank

 

[addertooth]

Francist,

It would appear we are kindred spirits. My journey has been similar. A few hundred years ago, they referred to people with such desires as "Renaissance Men", who simply learned out of curiosity, or the desire to know how. Today, people like this are simply referred to being "hobby-a-holics".

I am grateful my spouse is *tolerant* of those diverse interests. But it may come at an odd sort of cost. My wife will catch me performing some kind of craft/task and say: "If I knew you could do that, I would have asked you to make me a (blank) years ago". Often spouses assume any claims of skill/knowledge are an attempt to impress them. They disregard those claims until they see those skills demonstrated. Friends and co-workers often suffer from the same disbelief.

Most people who have this bent, possess a rather diverse set of skills. Some are pretty darn inane, but for some reason they elicited curiosity at some point. Probably my oddest ones are juggling and balloon-animal twisting. I had no desire to be a clown, but those things just looked fun to learn. Other more common skills gained have provided benefit at times.

Those diverse skills do improve finances. There is an old joke about how some middle-class people gain wealth. You can get rich by making more money, or by spending less money. I haven't had a mechanic turn a wrench on my cars for a long time. There have been no workmen in my home for a very long time either. The money-out part of the equation is just as important as the money-in factor. The ability to fix things, as versus buying a new replacement item affects finances as well. The newest car in the driveway is 17 years old, the oldest is 31 years old (It is a daily driver). Often, those acquired skills allow people to retire at a lower monthly cost (until they reach the point where they are unable to perform them).

Most people are unfamiliar how interlocked all the crafts are. Skills gained in one area, often touch upon needed skill-sets in another. An example would be the knife-making I did as a teenager. It required developing the dexterity and technique for shaping metal/wood. Silver soldering the guard/bolster was learned. Both handles and steel needed to be finished and polished. The steel required heat-treating. Then you had to engrave/etch your logo on the knife. There was a measure of marketing skills learned, as well as inventory control of materials. Finances were tight as a kid, so production costs had to be managed. Every knife had to be produced at a modest profit. Those lessons were learned at age 12. Many of those skills benefitted me later in life as a "foundation" for related career tasks. (If people REALLY want to help their kids/grandkids, they need to foster their interest in craft hobbies for profit).

Most importantly, I feel it is likely most of the people who gravitate to this forum have had a similar journey. It is the core nature of any craftsman.

 

[Larry$]

I've long been a "fixer." But it has resulted in way too many requests for "help." I always insist that whoever wants "help" stay and suffer through me showing them how I do it. Sometimes they actually learn something! I'm often surprised at how mechanically inept people are or how many times the cell phone is dragged out to do basic math.

 

[Papa Charlie]

@Janderso I am with you, I have been retired since 11/30/2021 and have had enough of it as of March. I have done most of my projects on the boat that I can with the wet, cold Spring we have been having. I have watched every interesting YouTube video and some that were not worth my time. I was talking with work (Boeing) about coming back and had to wait six months, but their new CFO, another GE Executive, has decided to reorganize Fiance and bring in Boeing Defense estimators. If you know anything about the difference between Defense and Commercial estimating they are night and day. Defense goes to a book and sees what everyone else will charge, Commercial has to figure out what the actual cost will be.

So I am on hold and have been told that my Director and VP who wanted me back may be reassigned to new jobs, where they don't know.

Sorry for the rant, but I am bored out of my head and frustrated.