Hobby Thread - January 31, 2026 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) a spin it landed on sea shells.

Best wishes to Morons in the midst of the current weather event. Feel free to check in with weather reports.

[Top photo: Tasmania]

What are you hobbying?

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. Discussion of current events, religion and politics can elsewhere. Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.

Play nice. Don't be a troll and do not feed the trolls.

Let's thing warm thoughts and talk sea shells. Like snowflakes, no two are exactly the same. They fuel the ultimate beach scavenger hunt. No matter how many you have or have seen, there always might be one more gem hidden in plain sight, just waiting to be discovered.

Where are your favorite shelling beaches?

What have been your favorite finds?

How do you display collected shells?

Share your stories of shelling!

Where do seashells come from?

Shells are simply skeletons of animals, the remains of dead organisms. But unlike humans and most other animals, these mollusks, such as snails, clams, oysters and mussels, have an exoskeleton, meaning it's on the outside of their bodies.

The process of making a shell is known as biomineralization. How marine animals build their shells can vary greatly depending on the species, but all of these animals have special tissues to make their shells, just as humans have special tissues to grow and strengthen our bones.

Most marine animals form their shells from calcium carbonate, which is a tough mineral also found in limestone. Some sponges and microorganisms use another compound silica. There is also a group of brachiopods that build shells using calcium phosphate, which we use to build our bones, too.

More than 50,000 mollusk species live today on our planet, and most of them make shells. But each species makes a different shell. This accounts for the huge variety of shapes and sizes in the seashells you find on the beach.

Shells of Sanibel and Captiva, Florida (click to embiggen):

Sand dollar facts:

Living sand dollars are not white. They're usually brown, gray, or even have a purplish tint, with tiny, fuzzy spines covering their bodies.

They're related to starfish and are burrowing sea urchins.

Sand dollars eat using tiny hair-like structures called cilia, which move food particles to their mouth on the bottom side.

They can burrow into the sand to protect themselves from rough waters or predators.

Like tree rings, sand dollars' ages can be determined by counting the growth rings on their exoskeleton.

Sand dollars typically live for 6-10 years.

Horde hobbying from PA Dutchman:

This is a Type 1 Chi-He medium tank from Fine Molds. Only 170 were built and all were kept on the home islands, mainly Kyushu, in anticipation of Operation Olympic. They were the first Japanese tank to include a radio as standard equipment and a mechanism to raise and lower the gun barrel.

Outstanding!

Impressive. Pretty amazing that the guy still has all his fingers. I couldn't tell how the threads were added but maybe that's a trade secret.

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did an wood carving and tools theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Bonus content carryover:

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute your own. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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