Was Looking Forward To Shop Time Today But...

[Scruffydog]

17 minutes ago, Bill WIlson said:

I must be a wimp.  My basement shop is cold, to me, in the winter.  It runs about 55 - 58 degrees.  That's too cold for me to work comfortably.  Sure I can layer up, but I won't wear gloves and everything I touch is cold, so my hands are perpetually cold, not to mention my feet, on a cold, concrete floor.  I'm not freezing, but I'm just not comfortable.

Up until last Winter, I heated with wood & coal.  My basement shop would stay at about 65 -68 degrees.  That was tolerable and didn't require any supplemental heat.  I had to replace it last year and didn't go with wood & coal.  The lower temperatures in both the shop and the house have forced me to adapt.  I do have a small electric space heater I run in the shop and sometimes I fire up a kerosene space heater over in the other part of the basement.  It makes it tolerable.  I'm still adapting. 

You are not a wimp. I can relate to those struggles. I can stay upstairs with my wife, cozy by the pellet stove, or go down into the cold, stinky basement. Hmmmm... decisions, decisions....

I have adapted some by putting my scroll saw stand on a rug. That helps with the cold concrete. Plus I have rubber mats for that in the main workshop room. Gloves? Sometimes I just have to. Hot tea helps my hands. But wait...NCIS is on! Drat!

[SCROLLSAW703]

Mr. Wilson,

No offense my friend, but if ya don't mind me askin', what makes ya think you're a "wimp?" Where you Gentlemen are all from, you've got a different type of winter weather than we do here in the midwest. I've been in your part of the country in the winter time, and it weren't much fun, as I recall. Snow packed & icy roads, closed roads, snow storms, wind and cold. And we  were tryin' to load cattle in all that to go south. I've been thru Wisconsin plenty since, but that trip I remember well. Dad, myself, four of our other trucks, and 3 other trucks Dad had hired to load cattle to go South. Part of them were goin' to Mississippi, and part them went to Louisiana. Then we loaded Bayou calves and went back to a feedlot at home. Man that was a long trip!!!  

I ain't gonna blow smoke up your backside, when we get a Canadian Cold front sayin' howdy, trust me, there is NOTHIN' out here on the plains to slow that 50 mph wind down!  Then we get a snow storm comin' in from the west out of the Rockies to leave us a big Howdy-do! When them two meet in the middle, guess where the party is, brother? Ding! Ding! Ding! You guessed it! Right over NW Kansas! And it stays cold and windy, icy, snow blowin' up yer back side. AHHH! The temp might be 10 above, but the wind chill with it will be -30 sometimes or better. We just had our first actual "snow" of the year. 3 1/2" total, 65 mph sustained winds, -42* wind chill. Before the big snow, we had about a 1/10th of an inch of ice hangin' off of everything, on the roads, power lines.

Folks lose their minds if they ain't able to get out of their house just to see if they can tear up there vehicles, get to the coffee shop to gripe because they don't have electricity, or whatever. I just slide across the street to my rented meager little shop, the boys and I walk in the door, and it's 70* constant  there. Providin' we manage to keep electricity, ya understand. Say "howdy" to all my tools, and we decide what we're gonna play on today!:)

When I had my little corner of the world in our basement, things weren't that warm. at best, it'd be 60* in the shop, and it was tough to get motivated when it was that chilly.

I dealt with lots of bad weather in my trucking career. I hated throwin' iron, but there were lots of times I had no choice. Other times, I used Bull Hauler Chains. Douse the drives with bleach, & spin'em til they grab! It just depended on the situation. There were other times I threw iron on the trailer, left steerin' axle, and the drives just to keep the truck on the road because the road was that icy. Ya never know. 

But now that I've retired out & hung up my keys, and since my heart attacks last winter, my Sawbones has me on this damn blood thinner. If it gets below 40*, to go outside, hell I look like the Michelin Man!!! This gettin' old ain't fer sissie's, and the feller what said it was needs to be punched square in the nose!

Mr. Wilson, there's no need for ya to feel like a wimp, Sir. Most days in the winter time, I stay in the house, and my dogs teach me to read better, and we nap a lot. Dream about big shiny Peterbilts, Sir!;) 

Sawdust703(brad)

[Tomanydogs]

@kmmcrafts Hi Kevin. I’m not sure about the tax laws in USA but maybe you could rent a shop to your business?

[Scruffydog]

I was looking forward to some shop time yesterday but my new saw never showed up. Took the day off too. It was about -5F here in east central Wisconsin yesterday with a -20 windchill. FedEx blamed it on the weather, imagine that. Especially odd since we passed aFedEx truck on the way home, about 5 miles from our house!

Speaking of lunch, went over to Sheboygan to have lunch with my lovely wife at our favorite Chinese place. It was excellent! Then made the trek across town to Menards to return the saw I bought last weekend.

Before all that, we ran a bunch of errands, one of which included a stop at the local thrift we like a lot where I found a real bargain; 2 pair of Wrangler jeans in very good condition for $4 each. That almost never happens.

The thrift store supports a local school, so I'm happy to donate and shop there.

So I guess two oldsters can manage the bitter cold but FedEx cannot. Oh well, suppose I should cut them some slack, they rescheduled the delivery for today (Sat.) 

Stay warm out there, our polar vortex is supposed to last for a couple of weeks. 

Scruffydog (aka Doug)

Edited January 27, 2019 by Scruffydog

[Phantom Scroller]

Well it's 12c toasty here and it's suppose to go back to -c Sunday stupid weather poor plants don't know what to do. Roly

[kmmcrafts]

Yesterday was only 10F here.. I worked most all day out in the shop and never really got cold never had to come in to get warmed up etc.. was out there about 6 hours... Temperature is a funny thing.. and I'm guessing the humidity plays a huge role in ow it feels... for instance there have been times where I'm freezing out there but the actual temp is 30F.. or the difference between 40F raining and 30F dry.. I'm warmer in the 30F dry than the 40 and rain... 

Funny because I got 4 made to order clock orders yesterday and had some orders to finish up from a few days ago.. I was all worried about being cold.. got the all cut.. just gotta do some finishing touches to them today.. was trying to knock them out before the real cold comes this next week.. high temps on Wed. supposed to be -4 We don't normally get too many days in Michigan like that.. might get a few - degrees but it's usually overnight if we do.. so this next week is going to be a cold one for us.. 

Like I've said earlier... this gives me time to work on the website.. and because I listed things on Amazon the other day when I talked about it being cold.... that is where 2 of my sales came from that I'm working on now.. I hate doing the website work so days like that actually help me do the stuff I don't really like to do and probably wouldn't do otherwise  .. I'm always having to make myself do the website stuff, LOL

[ScollSaw Slasher]

Well Kevin, actually peeked at your websites just the other day when it got down into the 50's down here. You're doing a good job and I'm really glad you're making a viable business out of your passion. Keep up the good work.

Blake

[Rolf]

I have a basement shop that used to be crawl space. I had it dug out, it gets down to the mid 50's, too cold for me. so I put in a ceiling heater connected to my furnace It does the trick. 

I need to be comfortable when I am working. Right now it is a 37F outside. But they are predicting the single digits for next week.  Maybe the by will freeze and we will get the ice boats and Bellport scooters out there again. 

[edward]

My Basement shop stays around 70 degrees all year, which is comfortable for me.  edward

[Scruffydog]

8 hours ago, edward said:

My Basement shop stays around 70 degrees all year, which is comfortable for me.  edward

My basement shop was about 58. I was moving around quite a bit so it wasn't so bad with a sweatshirt. Also got the computer and printer set up and printed a few pattern in prep for the new saw. All in all a productive day! (It was about 4 degrees F outside)

Tomorrow we are supposed to get 12 - 16" of snow with 40 mph winds. Yikes!

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

It was 50 degrees today here in NJ and I actually was outside spraying some lacquer pieces. It saved me from   having to stink up the basement with the smell. Sort of a surprise and I took advantage of it. Glad I had that project ready. I have one more such project but need to stain it first so I hope another gift comes along in two weeks. This is the downside to a basement shop. But I usually can deal with outdoors if i get a nice day. Our winter has not been cruel this year and in fact we are getting a ton of rain and no snow. We get a couple brutal cold days but they go away quickly. This week we will have a few of these days. 

[Woodmaster1]

Kevin with -12 to -17 forcast for Wednesday and Thursday looks like shop time is going to be limited next week. Stay warm.

[Scruffydog]

Currently experiencing winter storm "Beth". Deciding on whether or not to go to work. It's pretty ugly right now with blizzard conditions and over 12" of snow expected. I'm leaning toward spending time in the shop.