Not nearly the fun!

[Roger Chandler]

Well, I just got in from shoveling snow.......not too bad, about 4 inches or so...........but it is not nearly as fun as turning!

Since I have an unheated and uninsulated shop, I am hoping to see temps moderate over the holidays just a bit, so I can maybe get in one project of some sort. Things have had me swamped over the last few weeks, and I haven't turned anything since around the middle of October :(:(:(

If temperatures will moderate a bit, I might be able to fire up the Kerosene heater, and make it bearable. I guess I will have to learn to turn with gloves and boots on! :)

Anyone else got the cold temperature, no turning time blues like me?

[bob svoboda]

Roger, I feel your pain! It almost makes me feel guilty that my shop is heated and insulated :D Hope you can get back to turning soon!!

[Fred Belknap]

Roger I have heat in my shop and it stays around 65°. It is infrared heater and it is directly over the lathe and sometimes my head gets to hot and I have to put on a hat. Seriously I have to feed some cattle every day. Tractor is just open, I put some hay on the seat to keep my butt from freezing.:D
Fred

[Jon Prouty]

sorry - two days ago it was 80. yesterday 76 and today a frigid 61. Don't worry about us though... back to a comfortable 72 by Sunday. This is why I live in AZ. During the summer, I hate it.

Jon

[Steve Schlumpf]

I feel for you Roger! Weather up here was the main reason I put my shop in the basement. Warm in winter - lots cooler in summer!

Hope your weather changes so you can do some Christmas turnings before its Easter!

[dan carter]

It's 13 right now, there's a couple feet of snow on the ground, and I have the speed of the lathes turned up. Seems to work for me. :-)

[Roger Chandler]

sorry - two days ago it was 80. yesterday 76 and today a frigid 61. Don't worry about us though... back to a comfortable 72 by Sunday. This is why I live in AZ. During the summer, I hate it.

Jon

Hey Jon,

:p:p:p:D;) I guess when you are broiling in 115 degree temps in the hot of summer and it is around 85 degrees here that there is a trade off. Winter sure is nice in Az.!

Hope you get in a lot of turning time this winter! Merry Christmas!

[Roger Chandler]

I feel for you Roger! Weather up here was the main reason I put my shop in the basement. Warm in winter - lots cooler in summer!

Hope your weather changes so you can do some Christmas turnings before its Easter!

Steve,

I guess I could get an early start on Christmas 2011? I am hoping that this year won't be too bad here in the mid-atlantic states, cause last year we got pounded with some heavy snow storms several times..........seemed like I was always doing snow removal, but I am sure I don't have anything like you and others do up there in Michigan, Minnesota, etc.

It takes a hearty breed of folks to thrive in your neck of the woods. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

[Rob Mathis]

We got about 2 inches here a little to your east. I hate snow almost as much as rain.
Cold shop too. the real problem is the size of the shop. That and I have more tools then space.

[Greg Ketell]

Sorry, I can't relate. Facebook post from earlier in the day was "What a stellar day. Bright blue skies and a crisp 54 degrees. Who could ask for more?". And in NorCal our highs only occasionally reach 100, usually mid-90s in the summer. Sorry Jon!

[David DeCristoforo]

So you might say s'no fun?

[Ray Bell]

I have a split unit heat pump in my garage. Kind of scared me this month. The meter reader came around one day, and then came around a couple of days later to check it again. He said he thought he may have made a mistake the first time around, because when he got back to the office it seemed really high for one month. I figure I will have the DEA here any day now checking for grow lights :)

[Roger Chandler]

We got about 2 inches here a little to your east. I hate snow almost as much as rain.
Cold shop too. the real problem is the size of the shop. That and I have more tools then space.

Rob,

I have the same space issue as you........not enough space for my tools! I do use them all, just have to pull them out in the yard when I get into some heavy woodworking, like building cabinets for a kitchen or bath..........but at least they are protected and dry!

[Michael James]

Roger, I'm in the garage and hate having to keep the door closed. I do have a little elec space heater that will warm in up but Im in layers. We're about freezing now with 3-5 inches of snow on the way. N of the Sonoran Az folks, so we get 4 mild seasons. 1 mile up, and at the foot of the mountain!
Where there is a will, there's a way!
Good luck,
m

[James Combs]

It was 10* in my shop yesterday morning, this morning a balmy 21*. As you can tell mine is not heated either but I am working on insulating it. I don't mind the cold working with insulation. As mater of fact I waited for cooler weather to do the installation but of course I wasn't really looking for temps in the teens. Got a small infrared heater that I run to if it gets too bad. Warms up my many layers then it's back to the insulation. Another week or two and I should have it completed. Insulating the rafters with rafter ducts and R13. It's really tight up there for this old man.

[Tim Thiebaut]

Although I am in colorado where we usualy get pounded with snow in the winter, this has been the mildest fall I can ever remember here, we broke a heat record 2 days ago, hit 70 degrees. Had a very light dusting of snow last night, but it only stuck to the grass and was gone as soon as the sun was up this morning...we have been very lucky so far. My shop is in the basement though so either way I can work on things.

[David E Keller]

I feel your pain, Roger. If you haven't noticed, I haven't posted a turned item in several months due to a shop 'remodel'. Although I've missed turning for the past few months, this winter it's gonna be 65 in my shop, and the temperature won't change when it's 110 next summer. I'll post some photos when I get the place back up and running... I can almost see the finish line.

[Roger Chandler]

JD,

I have been thinking about insulating mine. Of course that would mean emptying it out first [a major undertaking] and then I would also have to put some kind of ceiling board on the bottoms of the trusses. My shop is a small 14' X 20' outdoor shed, and then I have another 10' X 12' building behind it with some more storage, where I keep wood [flat boards, plywood, and some turning blanks]

My problem is that I have the 4" pvc piping for my dust collection run overhead between the roof and the bottom of the trusses, in the space between top and bottom members of the trusses. That would mean I would have to find a way to run the pipe along the wall, which in my shop is not a good option, with the way I have everything configured.
I hope to build a much larger shop in the future, but have some higher priority issues for the available $$$$ at this time, so I will live with it for now, not ideal I know, but I have dealt with it this long.

Your shop sounds like it is going to be a real nice hangout for a wood working guy!

[Rob Mathis]

Rob,

I have the same space issue as you........not enough space for my tools! I do use them all, just have to pull them out in the yard when I get into some heavy woodworking, like building cabinets for a kitchen or bath..........but at least they are protected and dry!

Sounds just like my shop and my solution. I have a wide and long concrete drive I work in when its nice out. Other then that I back out my riding mower and move the table saw to the center and at least I can get to my lathe.

[Roger Chandler]

I feel your pain, Roger. If you haven't noticed, I haven't posted a turned item in several months due to a shop 'remodel'. Although I've missed turning for the past few months, this winter it's gonna be 65 in my shop, and the temperature won't change when it's 110 next summer. I'll post some photos when I get the place back up and running... I can almost see the finish line.

David,

That is fantastic! I really like to hear when woodworkers finally get their shops the way they want. Congratulations! If I were not so happy for you, I could be just a little envious [no, not really] I look forward to the production you start sending out of that fine establishment! By the way, Merry Christmas to you, your lovely wife and your beautiful children!

[Roger Chandler]

Sounds just like my shop and my solution. I have a wide and long concrete drive I work in when its nice out. Other then that I back out my riding mower and move the table saw to the center and at least I can get to my lathe.

Rob,

Just think of what we could accomplish if we had a full sized shop [say 36'X 42'] and had heat and A/C in it ?!!! I have built a set of kitchen cabinets in that little building, and a set of bath cabinets as well. Of course other things like gun cabinet, book cases, tables, blanket chest, etc.

I will be happy just to be able to use any machine without having to move 15 things before hand........it is like a rubick's cube, and very inefficient.

[Dirk Hoogendoorn]

Well today is the second day that the roads are open and school busses are running. for the 3 days prior to that we were blocked in and for about 6 hours no electricity. So far this winter we have had 4' of snow on the shores of Georgian Bay. When the wind comes in from the north or north west in early winter when the water is still fairly warm we get what they call "lake effect" snow and this year so far we have had a chunk of it, but no worry it is warm in the shop and turning is comfortable. 174095

[Roger Chandler]

Dirk,
I got cold just reading your post!:D I guess I have it pretty good down here in the mid-atlantic!

[Harry Robinette]

I'm in Oh.just north of Akron.We got hit preety good this week with snow snow snow and cold..my shop is in the basement with a walk out door .68* winter and summer just comfy for working.You guys with open stud ceilings cover the rafters with 2 layers of 6 or 8 mil plastic one going in each direction.You can put bat or blown in insulation on top and around you dust ducts no problem did it to a buddy's shop when I was in NM. worked great.
Hope this helps
Woodspinner

[Alan Trout]

It was a pretty chilly 60 for the high hear today. If we get to much more of this winter I am going to have to go further south.:D Burrr winter in South Texas.

Looking forward to spring

Alan

[neil mackay]

Sorry guys I am in summer mode and looking forward to some beach time.

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/aboutsydney/VisitorGuidesInformation/Weather.asp174121

[Tony De Masi]

Hmmmm... barely and hour NORTH of you and got about 25% of the snow you did. If it gets too much for you, you are more than welcome to come to my place.

[Dan Hintz]

Hmmm, I complain about the small size of my basement "shop", but the temp extremes make me glad it's part of the controlled-temp living space. Installed a pellet stove in the basement a month or two back and it keeps the entire basement an even temp... I have it set to 75, which tends to keep the upstairs in the low 70's. Very comfy for a guy like me who gets cold easily (hands cramp up in the high 60s).

I think we got an inch or two here yesterday, not enough to worry about shoveling out of the way, and the roads are mostly clear at this point.

[Kirk Miller]

Itnis getting down to the single digits here in Alaska. My shop is attached to.the house (Via the garage) and it is heated. The only down fall is that it full of household goods while the rest of the florring for the house arrives. I have a Jet 1642 2hp on order to help fill the shop up. I closed on my old house this week. It is like torture wairing for all the final pieces to fall into place. But to answer the question....My shop will be heated and attaced.l

[Jamie Schmitz]

What about one of these heated floor mats. Heck put it on a timer so it's hot when you show up after a cup o' joe.
174169

[Roger Chandler]

What about one of these heated floor mats. Heck put it on a timer so it's hot when you show up after a cup o' joe.
174169

Jamie,

I have never seen one of these.........I wonder how much heat it puts off? Probably enough to keep your feet from freezing if you stand on it, but that is not a bad idea, because at least for me, if my feet get really cold, I am done! Any more info on it?

[Jamie Schmitz]

The reason that I know about this is because I had the crazy idea of inventing something like it a couple of years ago and was doing some research. The idea had been around for quite some time. You know what piqued the interest was the latest trend for people putting in radiant heated floors during remodels/new construction. Now they even have mats that you can just roll out under new tile instead of having to run heated water tubing. Googled heated mats
http://www.cozywinters.com/cozy/?source=go&gclid=CLrD7MD786UCFUHt7QodIklpnA
174190

[Dirk Hoogendoorn]

Sorry guys I am in summer mode and looking forward to some beach time.

Neil just wait till next July!!! I think it will be warm here by then and if the sun has shone enough the water will be not bad to get to. Sometimes it does feel a little like the old farmer said about here, "10 months winter and 2 months poor sledding" never mind the shop is warm.174197

[Roger Chandler]

Neil just wait till next July!!! I think it will be warm here by then and if the sun has shone enough the water will be not bad to get to. Sometimes it does feel a little like the old farmer said about here, "10 months winter and 2 months poor sledding" never mind the shop is warm.174197

Dirk,

I'm liking that CT-128! I have the Grizzly G0698, and it has been great!

[Nathan Hawkes]

Roger, I feel your pain too! I work out of a 12x16 shed, which means lots of shuffling about when you have lots of full size machines. I don't have insulation either, but I do have a little woodstove. In the winter, I put slate underneath the legs of the stove, and put sheet metal surrounding the stove as a spark shield. It goes back outside in the summer so I can utilize the space. I have to keep that little stove going strong to make it livable inside. I save my cutoffs all year and put them in a chicken wire "bin" that holds about a cord or so of "chunks". Not pretty, but it works.

[Roger Chandler]

Roger, I feel your pain too! I work out of a 12x16 shed, which means lots of shuffling about when you have lots of full size machines. I don't have insulation either, but I do have a little woodstove. In the winter, I put slate underneath the legs of the stove, and put sheet metal surrounding the stove as a spark shield. It goes back outside in the summer so I can utilize the space. I have to keep that little stove going strong to make it livable inside. I save my cutoffs all year and put them in a chicken wire "bin" that holds about a cord or so of "chunks". Not pretty, but it works.

Wow Nate,

That is pretty innovative! I have a kerosene heater [22,500 btu] but it will only get it bearable inside when it is really cold. I don't really have any room for a wood stove, even a small one, but I can sit my kerosene heater on the extension table on the table saw. I will be so glad when I will be able in the future to build a full size shop, insulated and where I can work year round!