Our "other" Hobbies

[lugano]

From the same location

turning 180°, you can see the Melide bridge and a big part of the lake.

 

[twich54]

Lugano, what a BEAUTIFULL Location !! Great shots !!

 

[Dreamer]

My other main hobby is Letterpress printing. I own three presses: a tabletop Kelsey Excelsior 6"x10" (from about 1972), a 1921 Kelly-B Auto-feeding Cylinder press, and a 1911 Chandler & Price 10"x15" hand-fed platen press. I have about 50 cases of type (some vintage, some brand-new), a lot of cuts (magnezium, zink, and copper-faced), a few woodcuts and lino-blocks, and a lot of scrap paper... :haha1:

I also do Medieval/Renaissance reinactment in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism--and NO, it's NOT like a Renn Faire) so my letterpress printing primarily has an "incunabular" flavor--meaning I like to print things that look like the stuff that was being printed during the period starting with Gutenberg, up through about 1500.

I'll be playing with the presses this week sometime,so hopefully I can get some pics to post.

Big Iron, Hot Lead, and Smelly Chemicals--it's what life is all about!

--Richard C.

 

[Sky Saw]

It's nice to see how creative and industrious fellow ML owners are! One of my hobbies is making the best possible espresso coffee. I buy green beans from good sources, roast them myself, grind them in a commercial quality grinder, and brew at the peak of freshness (3-9 days after roasting) in a big-ole manual espresso machine. No compromises. It's an interesting feeling to know that on any given day, very few people in the world are drinking coffee that's as good as what I am drinking. (The photo is a double shot espresso being extracted).

 

[aerius007]

I have 2 fish tanks. A 120g saltwater fish only tank and a 24g aquapod reef tank.

Fish inlude triggers, blue morpho, grouper, puffer, wrasse, clowns, basslet. I have shrimp starfish and a about a dozen different live corals.

 

[lugano]

IIt's an interesting feeling to know that on any given day, very few people in the world are drinking coffee that's as good as what I am drinking. (The photo is a double shot espresso being extracted).

Wow, Sky... I always thought I know a lot about espresso, but after looking at the color of YOUR espresso, I must admit you've shaken my foundations. I can SMELL that picture

We live very near to the italian border, a border that we cross on a regular basis, and having an espresso in an italian bar is (or should I say was...) always a wonderful experience. The best espresso I've ever had was in Napoli, Italy... 100% arabica supertoasted. After trying various blends and having used lots of different, made in Italy espresso machines, we chose the fastest way to get something decent, i.e. the Nespresso system. (http://www.nespresso.com/precom/n_art_us_en.html). BTW, we only buy "ristretto" capsules.

 

[HsvToolFool]

What a fun thread! Just found it.

Beside being an AudioFool and a ToolFool, I'm a MustangFool and a ReefFool.

I bought the 1966 mustang convertible last August (my favorite car EVER which I've wanted since I was 12). It was an Ebay impulse-buy (and a bargain) in central NY State. I drove it 20-hours back home to Alabama. Whew. It told me that it was glad to be out of cold Yankee-Land.

The reef tank is still under construction. It's hard to judge the scale from this photo, but the tank is a custom 250 gallon (4-foot radius x 30-inches tall) made from 1-inch acrylic. I'm in the process of making floor-to-ceiling curved aluminum panels which will be veneered with bubinga (a mahagony substitute). I'm also making all the filters and life support equipment myself. I'll be able to actually add water in a few years... Maybe.

 

[twich54]

Nice Stang Brian ! you and Joe "the Zipster" need to hook up, he's got a pretty serious small block Stang himself ! It's posted further back on this thread.

 

[TheBobGoat]

HSV, that is a killer tank. I grew up with tanks all over the place (about 20 or so in the house!) plan on hooking something like that up at the next house in about a year or two.

where did you get something like that made?

 

[HsvToolFool]

Nice Stang Brian ! you and Joe "the Zipster" need to hook up, he's got a pretty serious small block Stang himself ! It's posted further back on this thread.

The blue 68? I saw that one but it wasn't a small block! Mine's a reeeeal small block. Straight-6 w/ 3-speed manual. 30 mpg and 90 hp, maybe? Top speed 70 mph, definitely. But I get more smiles and waves than any Corvette Z06. Varooom, baby.

where did you get something like that made?

Tenecor is the only affordable builder in the US who can make a curved panel. They did good work and the shipping was excellent. I'd use them again even if the tank was standard.

And if I were a bajillionaire, I'd copy my Reef Hero's tank. Just look at the photos in his gallery. I'll be thrilled to create just a tiny bit of that perfection with this tank.

I prefer glass tanks, but glass is pure insanity for large tanks (150+). Acrylic is much stronger and unlikely to fail, even in an earthquake.

Here's some wish-I'd-thought-ahead advice: If you're doing a large tank with a dedicated "fish room", install a drain and cold water faucet. A washing machine connection in the wall will do. It makes water changes a breeze and allows you to easily install RO/DI for ultra-pure makeup water. Also, run two more 20 amp circuits than you think you'll need.

 

[kwr]

Coffee

The coffee fanaticism has been around longer than the Logans. Stimulated by appalling coffee around us the Cimbali Junior machine has been in the family for fourteen years.First job in the morning is to turn Junior on. He was extensively overhauled by my wife after the local service people, to not put too fine a point on it, ruined him at a ten year service. Took the money but none of the responsibility.

Latest arrival is a Versalab grinder - made by the people who used to make Versa Dynamic turntables. The Cimbali grinder in the background has been semi-retired and is used only when a lot of shots are required in quick succesion.

We do not roast our own coffee but have a great relationship with one of the boutique roasters in town and always have fresh coffee.

We seldom bother with coffee outside of our home.

Kevin

 

[Sky Saw]

Lugano - thanks, I hear the Swiss are fond of Cafe Crema (similar to espresso, but extracted as a 120-160ml beverage). I guess if you live near the Italian border, you would be more familiar with the Italian style 30ml beverage. Of course, my coffee hobby kicked into full gear after a 10 day trip to northern Italy in 2001. I have not tried the Nespresso system, but I hear it is a good trade-off considering its convenience.

Kevin - it's a small world. WOW! a Versalab M3 is a rare grinder, but the perfect choice for a coffee loving audiophile. Despite that technician's efforts, I have no doubt that your Cimbali will still be brewing great espresso when your kids are your age; they are incredible machines. Nice setup!

Mark

 

[kwr]

It's nice to see how creative and industrious fellow ML owners are! One of my hobbies is making the best possible espresso coffee........... in a big-ole manual espresso machine.

Are you using a lever setup Skysaw? We have been tempted to play with one mostly because of the sheer coolness of the way the things look. Unfortunately commonsense has ruled the day and we have never got beyond thinking about it.

Great looking extraction you have got going in the photo.

Kevin

 

[tonyc]

You guys are too cool

Coffee and mustangs-two of my favorite things. I also had a 66 Mustang 6-mine was a hardtop. I have owned 5 Mustangs and I am currently snakebitten with an 03 Mustang Cobra convertible which is slightly modded (at least until the warranty expires!). Life is good!

 

[lugano]

Lugano - thanks, I hear the Swiss are fond of Cafe Crema (similar to espresso, but extracted as a 120-160ml beverage). I guess if you live near the Italian border, you would be more familiar with the Italian style 30ml beverage.

Sky, we don't measure (see other threads LOL), we drink. All I know about a REAL espresso is:

1) the cup must be warmed beforehand, be it with warm water or otherwise;
2) If you can get 2 sips at it, you've been served too much coffee;
3) if you put a spoon into it, it must remain straight standing, not fall against the border of the cup, it would mean it's too dilluted

 

[Beat_Dominator]

Mustang fans! Awesome, I'm not alone!

Here's my car with a friends in the background:

And a picture on unknown desert road......

 

[Pcar928fan]

Mustang fans! Awesome, I'm not alone!

Here's my car with a friends in the background:

They sure run through a tank of gas in a hurry at those speeds don't they?! I was driving my silver '92 928 Euro GTS on the A5 between Munich and Garmish (down on the Austrian boarder) and doing between 155 and 165 and you could WATCH the gas needle going down! CRAZY!

They say at 250mph the Bugatti Veyron will run out of gas in 12 minutes!

 

[Beat_Dominator]

They sure run through a tank of gas in a hurry at those speeds don't they?! I was driving my silver '92 928 Euro GTS on the A5 between Munich and Garmish (down on the Austrian boarder) and doing between 155 and 165 and you could WATCH the gas needle going down! CRAZY!

They say at 250mph the Bugatti Veyron will run out of gas in 12 minutes!

I'll say. I manage to hover around 19mpg city but if I get a little throttle happy it goes quick

I heard that Veyron spec. before..... but I wasn't impressed as a top fule dragster burns even quicker

 

[twich54]

but I wasn't impressed as a top fule dragster burns even quicker

Still not impressed.......... how about a Saturn Five Rocket, now that baby gulps some fuel !!

You do make a good point about fuel cars going down the quarter mile, I wonder with all the car talk on this thread how many folks have actually been to an NHRA Nat'l Event ?? In all of motorsports I don't think there is anything like the sonic feeling you get when two fuel cars leave the line !! Not to mention the smell of Nitro in the air ......ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

 

[Pcar928fan]

I heard that Veyron spec. before..... but I wasn't impressed as a top fule dragster burns even quicker

Well come on now a top fueler has 7X the HP of the Veyron and you can't drive it to the store, OR on a road course!