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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team


myArmoury Team

PostPosted: Thu 11 Feb, 2021 5:39 am    Post subject: The pandemic & this hobby?         Reply with quote

Hello friends,
I'm curious how the pandemic has affected your interest in/time for this hobby of ours. Personally, I've found myself with more time than money. I'm a professional musician and college music educator. My performing life has been cut back to very little, and my income has seen a large drop as a result. I still realize I'm more fortunate than many, many people, so I'm not complaining.

As a result of more free evenings and weekends, I've been spending more time here and more time reading about medieval things. I've had more time to watch some of the good YouTube channels related to this hobby. That's been fun. Happy

How has it been for you?

Happy

ChadA

http://chadarnow.com/
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Daniel Staberg




Location: Gothenburg/Sweden
Joined: 30 Apr 2005
Likes: 2 pages
Reading list: 2 books

Posts: 570

PostPosted: Thu 11 Feb, 2021 9:33 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

On one level I'm lucky in that my work situation is not only stable despite the ongoing crisis, buissness is actually booming. On the other hand I'm quite exposed to the risk of infection at work and we have strict quarantine rules in place, even mild symptoms gets you ordered into quarantine at home and while we get sick pay during that period it is still a loss of 20-25% of your income. And it is my "hobby budget" that bears the brunt of that income loss.

Covid has also pretty effectivly killed all reenactment events, workshops and meetings last year as well as effectivly wrecking a series of research trips I had planned to Germany and the Czech republic to go through archives and document 17th C battlefields. Still waiting for refunds from some of the airlines. At the moment 2021 does not look a lot better so I wonder how much will survive until things get back to normal.

Long hours and the general level of stress at work took a toll of my energy to read or do crafts until things eased up in the autumn. Some good Youtube channels have help keep the interest alive and my mind of the current unpleasantness and I've even found my self branching out to periods outside my main area of interest. (Which is late 15th to late 17th C). Have still piled up backlog of books to read once things get a bit less hectic.

"There is nothing more hazardous than to venture a battle. One can lose it
by a thousand unforseen circumstances, even when one has thorougly taken all
precautions that the most perfect military skill allows for."
-Fieldmarshal Lennart Torstensson.
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Joe Fults




Location: Midwest
Joined: 02 Sep 2003

Posts: 3,646

PostPosted: Thu 11 Feb, 2021 2:48 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I was classified as essential as was my wife. With less ability to do anything I might be able to spend more, but the uncertainty of near everything makes big commitments for this hobby hard to justify. So, occasional smaller things here and there as we hit milestones, but mostly work and sleep at this point.
"The goal shouldn’t be to avoid being evil; it should be to actively do good." - Danah Boyd
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Victor R.




Location: Klein, Texas
Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Reading list: 4 books

Posts: 357

PostPosted: Thu 11 Feb, 2021 3:03 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

The farcical response has been a detriment to my own livelihood and my industry. Ready for it to be over, but I have a feeling it will get worse for a while yet. As for the concept of an "essential job": every job is essential to the person that has it.
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Cory T




Location: Ohio
Joined: 14 Jan 2020

Posts: 4

PostPosted: Thu 11 Feb, 2021 7:45 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I am new to this hobby, but if not for the pandemic I would have joined a hema club. I would have found which categories and schools I like best, and probably would have bought a decent sword.

Instead I have bought a lot of books, read every sword related article online I can find, and watched way way too many youtube videos about swords.
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Paul Hansen




Location: The Netherlands
Joined: 17 Mar 2005
Likes: 5 pages

Posts: 845

PostPosted: Fri 12 Feb, 2021 3:39 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

My biggest problem is that the fencing club suspended all trainings.
I partially remedy that by plastic bottle cutting in my backyard. Happy
But it's not the same and social interactions have reduced quite a bit.

The job situation is fine, fortunately enough. Quite close to normal actually, but with some additional social distancing and/or rapid tests and/or facemask wearing. Annoying but not a big problem.
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Dan D'Silva





Joined: 28 Apr 2007

Posts: 335

PostPosted: Fri 12 Feb, 2021 5:35 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I was going to be taking online classes and looking after my father anyway. Mostly I've just begun to feel more anxious about tooling up and working on stuff that I've had on the back burner for years, so I've bought some supplies and miniature shop equipment, but the rate of completing projects remains as slow as ever.
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team


myArmoury Team

PostPosted: Fri 12 Feb, 2021 6:41 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Thanks for all the replies so far. I'm glad people seem to be weathering this pretty well. One thing I forgot to mention is that I did some very basic leather working last summer to replace some sheaths for a couple of my father in law's hunting knives that passed into my care. My own efforts were extremely basic (so much that I hesitate to show them here) and of course not historic, but it started to give me a lot more appreciation for folks that really do it well. Happy It's made me think of making new/different sheaths for a couple daggers I have, but I haven't taken the plunge on that yet. I had to buy a decent amount of basic tools for what I did last summer. All I really lack is more leather and more courage. Happy
Happy

ChadA

http://chadarnow.com/
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Joe Fults




Location: Midwest
Joined: 02 Sep 2003

Posts: 3,646

PostPosted: Fri 12 Feb, 2021 2:38 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

So what does it take to get you leather? For the most part I seem to just be buying Scotch.
"The goal shouldn’t be to avoid being evil; it should be to actively do good." - Danah Boyd
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J.D. Crawford




Location: Toronto
Joined: 25 Dec 2006

Spotlight topics: 1
Posts: 1,903

PostPosted: Tue 16 Feb, 2021 1:01 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I'm fortunate to have a steady job that I can (mostly) do at home, at least for a while, while my physical office is shut down. That said, I figure the best thing I can do for the Artists in our community is to keep purchasing their products. I no longer participate in any clubs, so that's not a factor. Regarding time, with my youngest kids home 7 of the last 11 months, there has been little time left over for hobbies. One just collapses at the end of the day.
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Edward Lee




Location: New York
Joined: 05 Jul 2013

Posts: 393

PostPosted: Wed 17 Feb, 2021 5:23 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

It made me realize that I never really play around with my collection even when I'm stuck home for months, also what motivated me to shrink the old collection down to around two short items just in case of moving. The swords and polearm are just not gonna fit into a box and are difficult to move.
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Harry Marinakis




PostPosted: Thu 18 Feb, 2021 9:01 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I retired 15 months ago, moved to a 55-acre estate out in the mountains, and started building a new 2,000-square foot workshop to expand and improve my skills.

Then the pandemic hit. And since then, it has been very difficult to find contractors to complete the construction. My shop has been under construction for 11 months. I have 4 walls, a roof, and a concrete floor. Still no electricity, no doors, no insulation, no lights, no heat, and no air-conditioning.

I had hoped to spend this pandemic in my shop playing with toys, but instead I have sat at my front window looking into the woods.

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John Dunn




Location: Frankfort, KY
Joined: 15 Apr 2013

Posts: 250

PostPosted: Thu 18 Feb, 2021 10:53 am    Post subject: hobbies         Reply with quote

Harry Marinakis wrote:
I retired 15 months ago, moved to a 55-acre estate out in the mountains, and started building a new 2,000-square foot workshop to expand and improve my skills.

Then the pandemic hit. And since then, it has been very difficult to find contractors to complete the construction. My shop has been under construction for 11 months. I have 4 walls, a roof, and a concrete floor. Still no electricity, no doors, no insulation, no lights, no heat, and no air-conditioning.

I had hoped to spend this pandemic in my shop playing with toys, but instead I have sat at my front window looking into the woods.



You would think contractors would be looking for work during the pandemic.
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Paul Hansen




Location: The Netherlands
Joined: 17 Mar 2005
Likes: 5 pages

Posts: 845

PostPosted: Thu 18 Feb, 2021 3:01 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Harry Marinakis wrote:
I had hoped to spend this pandemic in my shop playing with toys, but instead I have sat at my front window looking into the woods.



Well, there ARE worse things to look at! Wink

Looks like a beautiful place you got there!

Over here the construction firms have done pretty well. The thing here is, most people have jobs and therefore money (partially paid for by the government) but less ways to spend it, by not being able to go on vacations, bars, dinners etc. At the same time, people rediscovered the value of having a nice house because they have been forced to sit inside for a longer period than usual. So a lot of people here are spending their vacation money on renovations etc.
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Duncan Hill




Location: Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Joined: 31 Oct 2019

Posts: 31

PostPosted: Fri 19 Feb, 2021 1:13 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I'm extremely fortunate in that I get to work my day job from home since last March, thereby saving about 2 hours per day in commute time. Result = 7 crossbows built, with two more on the way, plus sundry wooden stuff. I can't complain.
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Holger Mahling




Location: Germany
Joined: 23 Oct 2012

Posts: 85

PostPosted: Fri 19 Feb, 2021 2:41 pm    Post subject: Pandemic         Reply with quote

What i don understand - and please, i dont want to be too nitpicky - is why everybody, sometimes even some media, refer to the pandemic virus as "Covid" or "Covid-19". Thats is not correct; "Covid/Covid-19" is the lung disease you can develop after being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus; that's the correct naming. Not everybody, or better thank the gods only quite few people develop the cruel Covid-19 complication... bad enough. Well, i am in a safe position - for now. I am unemployed and suffer 24/7 from a chronically rheumatic disease; but i was smart enough to get an "unable to work" insurance in my younger years. So i have a small but stable income, and we get along with the money my lady earns. We drive no big car and have no other expensive hobbies or addictions besides the infamous "rusting crack" - and from time to time there is room for some fix! So we consider ourselves quite lucky.
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Harry Marinakis




PostPosted: Sat 20 Feb, 2021 3:57 pm    Post subject: Re: hobbies         Reply with quote

John Dunn wrote:
You would think contractors would be looking for work during the pandemic.


At first, the contractors were shut down like everyone else. None of the contractors were even answering phones or returning calls until summer 2020.

Then the contractors starting taking work, but they were behind schedule after being shut down for 5 months. And couldn't find workers.

Now that the contractors are back in business, there are no supplies. Trade has been shut down for months, and everyone has run out of lumber, concrete, etc.
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Adam Simmonds




Location: Henley On Thames
Joined: 10 Jun 2006

Posts: 169

PostPosted: Tue 23 Feb, 2021 9:04 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I've noticed that prices being achieved on online antique auctions have gone up - presumably due to the increased concentration of demand in the virtual space in the absence of physical sales venues such as arms fairs, estate sales and antiques stores etc.
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Paul Hansen




Location: The Netherlands
Joined: 17 Mar 2005
Likes: 5 pages

Posts: 845

PostPosted: Wed 24 Feb, 2021 12:13 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Adam Simmonds wrote:
I've noticed that prices being achieved on online antique auctions have gone up - presumably due to the increased concentration of demand in the virtual space in the absence of physical sales venues such as arms fairs, estate sales and antiques stores etc.


It seems that some people also consider art and antiques as an inflation hedge.

Personally I don't really believe in that (because market values are not all fixed, nor do they have a solid basis in my opinion) but on the other hand, if you think that inflation is coming, then you may as well just buy what you want now instead of waiting for prices to rise.
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Joe Fults




Location: Midwest
Joined: 02 Sep 2003

Posts: 3,646

PostPosted: Wed 24 Feb, 2021 10:24 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

To deal with the pandemic I've started collecting whiskey (whisky)! Scotch is my emerging favorite. Its the peat! And the sea! And the Band-Aids! Anyway, I have some nice enough Bourbons but not really my ideal I think. I'm working on giving the Irish a fair shake now! Anyway, I find that about four tall shots in I feel much better about everything! Unfortunately this is diverting some funds...
"The goal shouldn’t be to avoid being evil; it should be to actively do good." - Danah Boyd
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