Rob Holcomb
12-18-2009, 4:22 PM
Hello all,
I'm a fairly new member here and first and foremost I want to thank all of you that post on this site because you have not only saved me a lot of time and money when deciding which tools to buy, I've gained a ton of knowledge in the past few months just reading everyone's input. You truly are a fantastic group of people to share your knowledge with others that share your passion of woodworking. Now I find myself with a question I can't seem to find an answer to and hope you can help me.
This past spring I set up my workshop in a 16' X 24' space of my 24' X 40' garage. Now that winter is here in Western NY we have had some days with highs in the 20's and nights as cold as 7 degrees. As the winter moves along, it will get colder at times. I don't heat the garage normally because it's not insulated but do heat it when working in the shop. I move our two vehicles out into the driveway and then fire up a 75,000 btu kerosene salamander heater to bring things up to working temp. (55-60 degrees) and then shut it off. Then I use a pellet stove to maintain the temp. When I'm done working for the day, I shut off the pellet stove and the shop and garage cool down. I know enough to keep all glues, solvents, etc. indoors when not being used so they don't freeze and also any projects I'm working on once I begin glue up. In the winter I don't plan on making anything that would be cumbersome or too heavy to bring indoors. Eventually I plan on blowing insulation into the walls and insulating the ceiling but I had to make a choice this year. Buy tools to outfit my shop or insulate. My question is this. Other than taking care of the tools to prevent rust and being careful with moisture issues with the garage itself, does it hurt the tools to be warmed up and cooled down on a regular basis? What I mean is, are there any inner workings of the machines that would be negatively affected by the cold when I'm not working and if there are, is there anything that can be done to help prevent those issues?
Thank you in advance for any input you all may have. Rob
I'm a fairly new member here and first and foremost I want to thank all of you that post on this site because you have not only saved me a lot of time and money when deciding which tools to buy, I've gained a ton of knowledge in the past few months just reading everyone's input. You truly are a fantastic group of people to share your knowledge with others that share your passion of woodworking. Now I find myself with a question I can't seem to find an answer to and hope you can help me.
This past spring I set up my workshop in a 16' X 24' space of my 24' X 40' garage. Now that winter is here in Western NY we have had some days with highs in the 20's and nights as cold as 7 degrees. As the winter moves along, it will get colder at times. I don't heat the garage normally because it's not insulated but do heat it when working in the shop. I move our two vehicles out into the driveway and then fire up a 75,000 btu kerosene salamander heater to bring things up to working temp. (55-60 degrees) and then shut it off. Then I use a pellet stove to maintain the temp. When I'm done working for the day, I shut off the pellet stove and the shop and garage cool down. I know enough to keep all glues, solvents, etc. indoors when not being used so they don't freeze and also any projects I'm working on once I begin glue up. In the winter I don't plan on making anything that would be cumbersome or too heavy to bring indoors. Eventually I plan on blowing insulation into the walls and insulating the ceiling but I had to make a choice this year. Buy tools to outfit my shop or insulate. My question is this. Other than taking care of the tools to prevent rust and being careful with moisture issues with the garage itself, does it hurt the tools to be warmed up and cooled down on a regular basis? What I mean is, are there any inner workings of the machines that would be negatively affected by the cold when I'm not working and if there are, is there anything that can be done to help prevent those issues?
Thank you in advance for any input you all may have. Rob