Guess as I get older I'm becoming more and more of a luddite.

1) Navigation by sextant
2) Leatherwork
3) How to raise a barn
4) Blacksmithing

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

+ Morse code
+ French (in progress)
+ CPR

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1987 Mercedes 300SDL; SOLD
1985 Mercedes 300D; SOLD
2006 Honda Pilot - wife's ride; 122K;
1995 Toyota Land Cruiser - 3X locked; 182K

I am a certified celestial navigator. Took the class at our Museum of Natural History about 15 years ago. 45 people started the class. 3 took the final exam. I think only 2 were certified, me and my math professor friend who took it with me.

I'd like to smelt some ore in my backyard sometime and make a primitive tool from the metal.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

CPR is cake bro, PM me if you need help finding a class. I've been certified for about 13 years now, taken the class 7 or so times on multiple levels.


Mine are:

Wrenching on car skills
More Bjj
Various (lab) science skills

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1985 300D (CA, 173K)

Dynamite Biodiesel Co-op, Phoenix,AZ

Smelting ore as it happened centuries ago would be a trip. Makes you wonder how they knew what ore to smelt.

I wish I was a better welder - I took a CC class on it but I could have used another quarter or two of it. It's an art form in a way. Feels like borderline alchemy at times.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Celestial navigation would be one, I'm also learning how to shoot a good AQT which is a rare skill nowadays surprisingly.(unless your a Marine)

I'd like to become proficient with a muzzle loader too.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Hence the PC term for the skilled...Metalurgical Fusion Specialist. LOL

I've been in the tool and die field for 25+ years now, and have taken great interest in the way things used to be done. those that trained me in my field were Germans that escaped Nazi Germany during WWII.

I used to volunteer at a primitive museum in Ohio as a Blacksmith, when I lived there. Oddly enough, through research of my heritage, I've learned that I come from a long line of metal workers dating back many generations. I inherited my great-great grandfather's anvil, hammers, and other tools used. It's a real interesting hobby.

I'd love to learn more about cabinet making. I've built a few pieces in the past, but in my eyes, they weren't perfect. I want to learn to perfect those skills.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Finding and keeping the love of a good woman is about the most important thing at this age.

It seems so impossibly elusive and chimerical. Probably easy to foolishly take for granted when you have it....

I pretty much have everthing else I want or need at this late stage of life, which all told, has been good..

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

If you use the thermite reaction & have the iron in a casting its easy. Railway workers do it all the time to repair track.

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

I suppose anything that's worth learning isn't going to be easy.

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

My chemisty colleague does that and brings some to me now and again. I was thinking of more primitive means of smelting.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I once knew Morse code since it was our last form of communication with pipeline operators if the phone lines and our radios failed. I could never understand how we were supposed to use it if the phone lines were down, but we learned the code and how to operate the key. Our most popular signal was .-. .-. .-. (RRR) for repeat, repeat, repeat.

We gave them up in about 1982 or so.

I know SOS

Blacksmithing - I'd highly recommend the John C. Campbell folk school.

https://www.folkschool.org/index.php?section=subjects&subject_id=4

I took a beginners class - loved every second of it.

It'll require a week of vacation if you are a working stiff like me, but well worth it.

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

I would like to have some time to become competent in large format film photography. I'm tempted to buy a 4x5 field camera to play with, but I would really need to find the time to take a class from someone who really knows what they are doing.

At the other end of the spectrum, my photoshop skills are pretty pathetic. I souls like to learn to use more than 5% of that software package.