Do Fridgid Temperatures Hurt Tools

[Rob Holcomb]

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

[Dick Bringhurst]

I don't think cold itself will hurt your tools, but that kerosene heater will pump out a lot of moisture. You say you are controlling it and that is very imporatnt. Dick B.

[Frank Drew]

Rob,

Before I got heat into my shop my jointer kept tripping the breaker apparently because the cold, stiff grease put too much load on the circuit; it was an older machine that I bought used and might have been out of service for some time before I got it. Eventually that problem corrected itself.

I don't like working with cold wood or cold hand tools, so I maintained an overnight temp of 50 or so in my shop.

[Jim Mattheiss]

The only issue I've noticed was cold belts are stiff . . .

Jim

[David Prince]

If you have a cold tool that is warming up and you use it, there could be some internal moisure that may cause some issues. Or just the internal moisture causing rust inside.

[Anthony Whitesell]

It will take a toll on batteries as well, especially NiCads and alkalines.

[Wade Lippman]

I kept my lathe in the garage because there was no room in my workshop. I never heated it, but waited for warmer days to use it.

It rusted like crazy in one winter. I suppose the cars tracked salt in.

Wax everything like their lives depended on it.

[Scott T Smith]

Re very cold weather use of tools, you may experience accelerated wear on bearings and other lubricated / greased items, due to the poorer performance of the cold lubricants.

[Brian W Evans]

Rob,

I live in a north-central Vermont and have a similar situation. I'll second what the others have said about stiff belts, very viscous grease/lube, batteries, etc. For six years, my machines have been in an insulated shop that is only heated (with wood) when in use. No problems so far.

The biggest issue I have is moisture. My breath puts out a lot of moisture, as does the snow I track in, plus more from a variety of sources. To combat this I keep everything waxed/lubed and I have a low-temp dehumidifier that I run for several hours after each visit to the shop. These two measures have so far prevented any problems.

In an uninsulated shop, one issue I'd worry about is rapid heating/cooling affecting the cast iron. My shop cools (and heats) slowly because I put a ton of concrete blocks around my wood stove, and because of the insulation. I assume the salamander heats pretty quick and that the shop cools pretty quick. Maybe someone else can address whether or not this is a problem.

A final note: don't touch cold iron with wet hands. DAMHIKT. :eek:

[Chip Lindley]

Hello Rob. Major problem you will face is if your tools are very cold and the temp outside warms suddenly. If humidity is high, moisture will condense on exposed surfaces. I doubt humidity is that high in NY!

Twice, I have experienced this in my garage shop in MO. After a very cold period, weather warmed suddenly with ground fog. Disaster! Plastic sheeting and a good paste waxing is the ownly defense!

[Frank Drew]

It's not the end of the world, but there's something particularly depressing about rusted tools and machines.

[Jason Roehl]

Probably the biggest effect I've seen of cold weather on tools is that plastic parts get incredibly brittle, and are much more prone to breaking from use or abuse (or accidents).

[Rob Holcomb]

Thank you everyone for yo0ur input. I do keep things waxed up and I guess the rule of thumb will be to make sure my tools are good and warmed up before using them. Hopefully next year I can get insulation in and keep the shop semi warm all winter!