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+-- Thread: Shop temp and working with wood (/showthread.php?tid=7336595)
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Shop temp and working with wood - glzahn - 01-20-2018
I haven't had a lot of shop time this winter and as such I've turned off the heat. Yesterday I fired up the Hot Dawg and spent the afternoon sharpening jointer knives, chisels, and such. My question is, how log do you let your shop heat up prior to glue ups etc.? Also, when you leave at night, but plan on returning in the morning to work some more, how low do you set the temperature while you sleep?
RE: Shop temp and working with wood - fredhargis - 01-20-2018
I turn the stat down to it's lowest setting when I'm not working, on the current stat that's 40˚, on some of my others that's been as high as 50˚. I'd turn it off altogether if I didn't want things to freeze....if I wasn't coming back the next day. Then I'd leave it at the low setting. It doesn't take long to warm the shop, but the materials (wood and glue) also need to be at temps for glue ups. My approach is to usually do them last in the day and let them sit...in which case O leave the heat turned up to maybe 55˚ or so. Some glues may need a warmer temp. Finishing is kind of the same problem if you use waterborne finishes; although it needs to be a little warmer.
RE: Shop temp and working with wood - packerguy® - 01-20-2018
To do glue ups.... 60 f is the rock bottom. And that's not just air.....it's the wood temp. Decade ago I had an unheated shop and would use a kero heater to crank it up to 70 in there in a few hours. Glue joints got chalky even there (cause the wood was still cold). What I did then was to wrap the glue up in a toasty electric heated throw blanket and kept glue in the house and that worked fine.
Now I keep my heated shop at 62-63f and never have an issue.
RE: Shop temp and working with wood - jteneyck - 01-20-2018
My shop is heated to 65F so I don't worry about glue ups, but I have used TB III down in the low 40's successfully when I installed some porch columns late in the Fall. Titebond claims TB III can be used down to 45F, TB II to 55F, and TB Original to 50F. Use TB III and keep your shop above 45F and you should be OK.
John
RE: Shop temp and working with wood - ianab - 01-20-2018
Many glues and finishes have a minimum curing temp of ~10C (50F) , and tell you to keep that for at least 24 hours. So I think that's as low as you would want to go if you have glue or varnish curing overnight. It also means that the glue and wood is at least over the minimum temp the next day when you turn the heat up again and carry on working.
RE: Shop temp and working with wood - packerguy® - 01-20-2018
(01-20-2018, 05:42 PM)ianab Wrote: (50F)............glue or varnish curing overnight.
Glue, maybe you can get away with it.
Finish, if its an oil based finish, NOPE. In my experience that isn't even close.
I just finished a side project for an alter for a funeral home last week, and due to the size I had to hand brush the poly vs spraying. It was still tacky after 8 hrs, so I had to bump the temp from 63F to 68F and it cured quickly then. I spray polycrylic at 63F all the time with no issues. Really depends on the finish. But 50F? I wouldn't even try it with a film finish or something that needed curing.
RE: Shop temp and working with wood - ianab - 01-21-2018
Probably different temps for different products? That's what's written on the can of varnish I use anyway, and although it cures slower in the cool, it does cure. Possibly different regional formulations? Heated workshops are not common here, and even house temps will go low in unheated rooms on winter nights, so the local product is probably formulated to account for that.
If in doubt, read the can.
RE: Shop temp and working with wood - Tapper - 01-22-2018
Have a dedicated heater for the shop. Keep the thermostat set at 60* F in the winter, which seems to work out fine. I do dress accordingly for a little "cooler" temperature.
Doug
RE: Shop temp and working with wood - glzahn - 01-22-2018
(01-20-2018, 09:18 AM)glzahn Wrote: I haven't had a lot of shop time this winter and as such I've turned off the heat. Yesterday I fired up the Hot Dawg and spent the afternoon sharpening jointer knives, chisels, and such. My question is, how log do you let your shop heat up prior to glue ups etc.? Also, when you leave at night, but plan on returning in the morning to work some more, how low do you set the temperature while you sleep?
Thanks for all the feedback.
I get the fact that you have to have your shop and materials at a certain temp for glue ups and finishing. My question is....after you've had the heat off in your shop, how LONG do you think it takes for the materials in the shop to reach a workable core temp? I have materials stacked on shelves that were frozen for weeks on end. I don't imagine that I can turn on the heater, let the shop reach 60 degrees in an hour or so, then start cutting and gluing pieces together. Do I need to let the shop heat up to 60+degrees for two days, three days or more before I start milling? I've got to believe that wood movement would occur while the wood is getting warmer......yes?
RE: Shop temp and working with wood - ianab - 01-22-2018
I don't think you are going to get significant movement simply though temperature change. It will only be an issue if the wood has picked up water from the unheated humidity.
I'd suggest turn on the heat the evening before you want to work. 12 hours should have things nice and equalised in the shop?