What's your side hustle?

[6mm Remington]

Sharpen Knives: I don't make a ton of money doing it but I love doing it anyway! I can spend hours sharpening some knives and it feels like only minutes have gone by. I also love the reaction people have the first time that I sharpen something for them. They have never had a knife that sharp ever! I enjoy doing it and it puts a little gas in the pickup to go do something outdoors such as hunting, fishing, and anything else. It's healing doing it. I have the same sensation reloading ammo for my hunting rifles. Very calming and relaxing. I don't have the radio or anything on, just silence.

 

[3 Meter Para Bellum]

Sharpening is a hobby of mine, I am a little obsessive, so sometimes I get frustrated when things don't turn out the way I want, but it is something I am passionate about and have lots of fun with. I have an absolute fascination with edged tools and hope to be able to make knives one day, as well as forge so I can make axes too. I am considering starting a little local sharpening business and seeing what happens. Despite the fact that I can produce an edge on a kitchen knife that left my mom shocked at what it could do, I am not particularly fast at sharpening, and sometimes I have self confidence issues in the field, so I have been a little hesitant to try it as a service, that and the fact that making very little money on pretty much anything means having to pay taxes on it...

To a certain extent, everything is a side hustle for me at the moment, I'm living with my parents hoping to get a family business going while trying to fix a neglected foundation on the house. Something I am hoping to pick up here is how to make leather knife sheaths. I don't have the overhead for knife making equipment at the moment, but it doesn't seem to take too much to get into leather work, so I thought it would be a nice way to get into a related craft. I am pretty excited to see how that goes.

 

[xphunter]

SEB Rests and a once a year long-range steel and prairie dog shoot (WY-SHOT)

seb usa

SEB Rests USA

sebrests-usa.com

WY-SHOT

WY-SHOT 2026 is June 22-24

Looking forward to WY-SHOT 2025! WY-SHOT is a Handgun Only shoot that is designed for folks of all ages. There is a two-part component that makes this shoot unique. It is a prairie dog shoot and a …

sebrests-usa.com

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

Handloading, load development, and setting up guys rigs out to 1K with confirmed dope charts from 300 to 1K every 100 yards.

 

[MorllEySwenseL]

I’ve been sharpening knives too. It’s a great way to unwind and make a little cash for outdoor gear. Leatherwork sounds like a solid next step.

 

[Firebird24]

Am I the only one here with dull knives?! I do custom bird taxidermy when I am not at the fire dept.
my wife is fond of saying taxidermy pays for all my other “hobbies”

 

[DrMike]

Am I the only one here with dull knives?! I do custom bird taxidermy when I am not at the fire dept. View attachment 29801View attachment 29800
my wife is fond of saying taxidermy pays for all my other “hobbies”

You are showing some beautifu work in these. Good show.

 

[Cneelk]

Help friends and co workers with loads and shooting, nowhere near an expert, construction install windows doors small handyman stuff for cash, I work 60 hours a week so it’s hard to be motivated to spend my weekends beating nails through boards.

 

[Wolfshead]

I sharpen knives on occasion, but I got into that from making them.
I mostly make small drop point hunting knives, but have made some kitchen knives too.
Knife making also brought me into leather working, and I’ve done a few pieces that have travelled across the country.
When I first retired I was working thirteen hour days, seven days a week, on my side hustle. I have since cut back considerably on the hours, as I AM retired now!

 

[sako2]

I sharpen knives on occasion, but I got into that from making them.
I mostly make small drop point hunting knives, but have made some kitchen knives too.
Knife making also brought me into leather working, and I’ve done a few pieces that have travelled across the country.
When I first retired I was working thirteen hour days, seven days a week, on my side hustle. I have since cut back considerably on the hours, as I AM retired now!

View attachment 29802View attachment 29803View attachment 29804View attachment 29805View attachment 29806View attachment 29807

Nice work.

 

[Slimfinn]

My side hustle is leatherwork, not much of a hustle as I haven't had much time lately. I've done a couple misc projects for guys on here, belts and bags for friends and family. But the word has gotten out here at work and have been asked to do a few things. I need to push it a little more to use up the pile of leather I have seemed to accumulate that is taking up space in my gun room.

 

[diverdown]

My side hustle was quite a bit different that most of the fellas'. I retired from the PD in 1992 and moved to Central East Coast Florida a real short time later. (Connecticut really started going down the toilet). I started out by working in a Hardware store (sold everything under the sun). Stayed there for a year or two and then moved on to driving people to and from the airport (and anyplace else they wanted to go) From that point I started delivering organic produce to the various restaurants in South Florida. Two years in that and I started working part time in a Dive shop where I learned how to service Dive equipment. At the same time I started working part time in a Commercial fishing business behind a desk selling equipment. As I had been a SCUBA diver since 1958 I really got into the Dive shop I worked at \. The owners (Husband and wife) decided to let me run the store and I absolutely enjoyed working on the equipment. Finished up at the tackle shop 4 years ago. (Owner didn't like me retiring.) Original owner died at the Dive shop from a freak accident at the shop but I stayed on with the new owner and finished up a couple of years ago so yes I think you can say I kept myself busy.

 

[DrMike]

I sharpen knives on occasion, but I got into that from making them.
I mostly make small drop point hunting knives, but have made some kitchen knives too.
Knife making also brought me into leather working, and I’ve done a few pieces that have travelled across the country.
When I first retired I was working thirteen hour days, seven days a week, on my side hustle. I have since cut back considerably on the hours, as I AM retired now!

View attachment 29802View attachment 29803View attachment 29804View attachment 29805View attachment 29806View attachment 29807

Beautiful work. Tempting to make a purchase!

 

[JD338]

I retired 3 1/2 years ago. I put a lot of time into getting the brush management/invasive species eradication on our property. Got it finished this spring. Now my side hustle is hanging out with Mrs JD338. It’s not a bad gig.

JD338

 

[highoctane]

I spend time under houses doing vapor barriers, removing, and installing insulation.

 

[3 Meter Para Bellum]

I spend time under houses doing vapor barriers, removing, and installing insulation.

Can you come to my house? Some genius decided to spray foam the entire foundation of the house I'm in before I move in (probably to hide problems) and now the entire thing is rotting. There seems to be miles of this stuff to remove in order to make room for new foundation pieces.

 

[highoctane]

Can you come to my house? Some genius decided to spray foam the entire foundation of the house I'm in before I move in (probably to hide problems) and now the entire thing is rotting. There seems to be miles of this stuff to remove in order to make room for new foundation pieces.

Did you not have any type of CL-100, inspection that checks a home for termites, wood-destroying beetles, dry rot, and moisture issues done or a home inspection performed before buying? Most states require some form of these things to be performed.

 

[RL338]

In the early 2000’s seemed like everyone I knew was building a house , I was putting in lawns on my spare time.

 

[3 Meter Para Bellum]

Did you not have any type of CL-100, inspection that checks a home for termites, wood-destroying beetles, dry rot, and moisture issues done or a home inspection performed before buying? Most states require some form of these things to be performed.

It seems the inspector didn't know to check for the quality of the wood under the foam. When we started noticing issues two years in, even the foundation professionals didn't find the problem. We had to go down there ourselves, start knocking on wood till we heard something suspicious, tore the foam off and found a mess underneath. After some research we discovered that this foam has been known to rot roof beams and cause them to collapse eventually in some instances. It really should not be allowed to be put on.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

I've been retired for eight years. I'm like Bachman Turner Overdrive sang in Taking Care of Business," I love to work at nothing all day". Not a couch potato, stay active just not working for money. Appreciate being able to go to the range, shoot, help work on projects, family and that sort of things.