Too cold to work in the shop today

[James Jaragosky]

Its cold in Indiana!!!!!!!
the current temperature is
-18.7 °F
My shop is in the 30's my little heater can't keep up:(

[Doug Shepard]

Its cold in Indiana!!!!!!!
the current temperature is
-18.7 °F
My shop is in the 30's my little heater can't keep up:(

It's cold in MI too. -9
So my shop is, well.... -9 and my little heater can't keep up either.:(
So I'll be donning my heavy duty apparel and venturing out there for a few hours today and looking like the Michelin Man Woodworker. Cast iron sure aint no fun at these temps though.

[Robert Parrish]

Gee my shop is 58 and I find that too cold!

[Kenneth Hertzog]

don't put your tongue on it to check the temp. :D

[Joe Pelonio]

We're at 28 this morning, yesterday the high was 36, so while people complain about it being cold, it doesn't sound so bad now.

[Mike Cutler]

I was running the 26" sander last nite in the open garage, and man were those belts squealing. Wife pulled in with the car and said the temp, per the car, was about 1 degree. Too cold! but not -18. Wow!! that's cold.

Related to temps though. Has anyone else noticed any difference in working with wood that has been stored at sub freezing temps. I see it in the expansion contraction, and can hear the difference as it's being cut.

[Rod Sheridan]

We're at about -17C this morning, however my shop is +18C. (Which is nice, there's a large power failure which occured at 20:00 last evening, and is affecting a large part of town, still failed during the drive to work. Apparently more than 100,000 people without power.....BRRRRR.)

Yes, there are some advantages to basement shops.

Regards, Rod.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I really admire all you folks in those areas - it was -4degF at my house this morning, but this is usually as cold as it gets.

[Greg Cole]

At about 5 degrees ambient air temp, it was cold in my tree stand last night too.:p

[Steve Southwood]

-2 in southern In this morning. Went out and opened the pond up for the cattle. Will have to put out a couple round bales later. Thinking I will be done outside for the day after that. Might work on the basement remodel.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Steve, how does livestock do in this weather? Just curious....

[John Schreiber]

It was -13° outside my shop this morning (wind chill they said was -30°, but who pays attention to that) and about 30° inside. I had an easy glue up to. I put the glue in a bucket of hot water to warm it up and did the glueup on my bench. After being in the clamps for 30 minutes, I took off all but three clamps and brought the assembly into the house to finish curing.

Cold ain't gonna stop me. No sir.

Of course, I'll know tonight if the glue cured properly.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

who pays attention to that

I agree. they always make a big deal of the "real feel temp" around here, mostly for sensationalism IMO. as long as you're buttoned up, the 'real temp' should do. But it is good to know how "worried" I should be about short exposures to the cold and wind.

[Neal Clayton]

about 15 farenheit here today.

i put one of those 200 dollar 5 burner gas wall heaters in the shop about a month ago, best investment in a good while (both for my shop comfort and the gas company's profits...).

[Jim Becker]

Yea, it's a bit nippy out there today..."up" to 13ºF so far. This will be the coldest day here in the Delaware Valley in about 5 years. While that's not cold compared to folks who are north and north-mid-west, it's unusual for here. We are expecting 0-4ºF overnight.

I'm hoping to get in the shop this weekend, but don't know if I'll be able to get it warm enough to do the finishing work that is planned. Therefore, it may end up being a clean-up and re-organize type exercise for any time I spend out there. I no longer have the kero heater around that I used to use to pump some hot air in to supplement the radiant quartz heaters that work fine for "normal" weather conditions.

[John Schreiber]

. . . don't know if I'll be able to get it warm enough to do the finishing work that is planned. . . .
I tried to shellac some shelves when it was about 40° in the shop and I think I actually got frost bite from it. The alcohol evaporating on my hand brought my skin temperature down so low that I was in real pain and later my skin started to peel. I suppose I should invest in a couple of layers of gloves.

[Bruce Page]

We're at 49* and sunny. I'm going to do some yard cleanup this afternoon. :)

[Phyllis Meyer]

-26 here is Wisconsin:eek:! I am working in the shop today (long johns on and all)!

Phyllis:)

[Steve Southwood]

John, livestock handles it pretty well. They spend most of the day eating. They just stand at the bale feeder and eat until it's gone. Guess it helps by giving them fuel to burn off fighting the cold. Had a calf born night before last. Was around 4 degrees that night and it is doing fine. Looks cold, shivers alot, but all in all, doing ok.

[David G Baker]

On the livestock issue associated with cold, if it is possible to get the livestock in a building that is protected from the wind and weather it is the best thing to do. If the livestock can't be housed in a building the potential loss of life exists.
Our local news station is doing stories on livestock vs the cold and advise what I said above.

[Steve Southwood]

David, the barn is always open, but they just like to stay outside. Has to get pretty bad for them to go in. Guessing they don't think it is bad enough. Myself, I like the heat in the house.:rolleyes:

[Brian Kent]

I know what you mean about the shop temperature problem. Today it was 82 and I don't have a shop air conditioner.:o

[Chris Padilla]

I need to go mow the lawn....

[John Schreiber]

I need to go mow the lawn....
I'm so lucky, I haven't had to mow the lawn in months.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

It was only -15 about 30 miles to the south west James. You guys in Hamilton county keep all of that really cold weather. ;)

[David G Baker]

Steve,
I wondered about the availability of shelter. In thinking back to when I was a kid, our neighbors had 15-20 dairy cows and they did the same thing. They would stay out until milking time or it was time to bed down for the night. One cow gave birth in the middle of Winter in a corn field where she had made a nest out of dried corn stalks. Animals are interesting critters.

[Steve Southwood]

Interesting indeed David. The ydo the strangest things. Seen them stand out in driving rain, freezing cold, and just plain old bad weather. Then on a real nice day, just barely into t-shirt weather, into the barn they go. I ask my father in law about this, his answer. "Thats because thay are smarter than you are. They know their limitations"

Well about dawn, time to go bust the ice, yet again.

[Robert Parrish]

It's 38 this morning in SW Florida I can just image how cold it is up north!

[Bob Easton]

35 miles north of New York City was -6F this morning, the coldest I remember since the early 1980s. The shop was 36F.

Where's Al Gore when we need him? I could use some of his hot air.

[Joe Cunningham]

I agree. they always make a big deal of the "real feel temp" around here, mostly for sensationalism IMO. as long as you're buttoned up, the 'real temp' should do. But it is good to know how "worried" I should be about short exposures to the cold and wind.
You never worked outside in the winter I guess. That info was always helpful when I worked out in the elements.

Worst was when I was working on a sewer project. It was 5F and -15 with the wind chill. And we were right on the water with the wind whipping us all day long. Believe me it really did feel a whole lot colder in the wind than in still air.

[Jim Becker]

I was pleasantly surprised that my heaters too my shop from about 22ºF to just about 60ºF yesterday, although it took from about 8:30a to 3:00p to get there. LOL But since we were at the farm for our equestrian stuff as well as a late lunch, I guess that was acceptable. I did get the work completed that I needed to later in the day, so whatever the cost of electricity was was worth it. :)