Weather and woodworking

[MattP]

Here in Vegas, the winters aren't a problem at all. I have a small electric space heater in the two gar garage/shop and even in the depths of winter when we reach a frigid 45 or 50 degrees, it has no problem getting the temperature up into the mid-60s, plenty warm enough for puttering around out there.

The past few years I have taken summers off because 115 outside means about 100-105 in the garage, which is no fun. This year, I have come into possession of a portable air conditioner, but I think it is overmatched. Right now it's 90 outside and the unit is struggling to get the garage down to 80. So I may mainly take this summer off as well. Not sure, we'll see.

[Smoothjazz077]

I don't get much woodworking in from December - March due to the weather in the Northeast.  I have a detached 2 car garage, and a pellet stove, but unless it is in the 50's or higher outside, I am just over matched by mother nature.  The garage doors aren't insulated, so cold air just rushes inside the shop.  Looking forward to making some wood shavings soon.  I have a bunch of projects I would like to get in before December, so hopefully my busy schedule will allow me to complete at least half of them.

[Paul K. Murphy]

I use the area outside the shop too. Rain makes that impossible. Marquetry work, well, my marquetry work anyway, is very badly affected by rain and humidity. Right now I'm a hobbyist, so I have the luxury of stopping if things aren't working out.
I also had to stop wall construction due to temperature. It was below the accepted temperature for mud.
In each example I'd simply have to figure out how to do the deed IF this was business.

[Bibliophile 13]

My hand-tool shop is indoors, so in the hottest weather (and it gets HOT down here in the summer) I tend to do the most woodworking.

[rwe2156]

I drag my stuff out into the drive, or back yard, depending on shade and heat. Today--this morning--it's sunny for the first time in over 40 days and 40 nights. I want to cut and bang. But....

I depends on exactly what you're doing, but in general if working with dimensional lumber, never do ww'ing in the direct sunlight because you are going to have problems with wood warpage.

[tablesawtom]

My shop is in an old unheated building and I will not wear gloves. So when it gets cold enough that My fingers get cold I close shop for the winter. I was able to do a little work on my new bench in Feb. but then it got cold again  And it is just warming up enough to work comfortably right now so I hope to start again tomorrow.  Hence I do most of mine in the spring, summer and fall.

Tom

[hbmcc]

I think--bad habit--for me the weather serves as a mood modifier. Alaskans are always griping about cabin fever during winter, but as my allusion to the Lewis and Clark expedition notes, you don't need subzero temps and full night to be weather depressed. My fond memory of hiking for miles in below-minus-20-degree temps on a gorgeous day after 18-inch snowfall gives another perspective to the question. However, the only wood work I might consider at the time was framing a house; hiking is still the preference. 

I have worked in a basement dungeon. Spent one winter building a kayak down there. It went out the cellar door the first opportunity.

[cputnam]

Right now, I'm wishing I could work. Normally, if it does not involve gluing or finishing, I prefer to work in winter because it is cool enough. Jul - Oct is normally hot enough that I just can't do it. Does not often get to 115° as it does in Las Vegas but it readily 100° here. I find that I start melting at about 90°. Over 90, I need to go inside and sulk in the A/C. Have not yet adapted to getting up in the wee hours when it's cool, partly me and partly because I cannot make noise at those hours. A mallet on a chisel reverberates in the garage - so there is no real point in sleep deprivation.

[YSU65]

Wow, there are lots of opportunities for year round wood woodworking here in upstate NY.   Property is very reasonable, never a problem with tool noise out here in the country.   Heck, the saw will drown out the nut job and his shooting range just over the hill.   Shavings and saw dust disposal?  Just dump them out back.  Build your shop with good insulation, install a propane furnace, no need for AC in the summer.  Taxes are high but you make that up with low real estate costs.  Snow removal away from town was excellent, road was always open even with the 36" dump we just had.

Come on down!!

[Paul-in-Plymouth]

For a while this winter I abandoned the warmth and daylight of the heated shop upstairs to work some green wood in the unheated garage below, alongside the bikes and skis and boats that normally live down there.   I don’t know that I’m doctrinaire about wanting to keep green wood out of the shop proper, but I do think about rust and bugs.  But I was also making repairs to the floor, and it wasn’t conducive to other work there for a while.  It would have been inconvenient with this project that generated bushels of chips and then dumped them on the floor I was trying to fix. 

So, I set up on an old WW bench down in the garage.  I ended up scrubbing gluts out of small logs with the scrub plane.  For that the cool 35F of the garage was welcome - scrubbing can be pretty intense.  I would start bundled up for winter, then when the sweat started to pour, I’d strip off my apron, then my jacket and even my shirt.  I stopped there.  If I needed it cooler yet, I could always open the garage door as long as I was still decent. 

Scrubbing gluts bridged the gap between an early thaw that ended winter sports and the start of road bike season (yesterday).  I’m back to civilization upstairs now for the moment, and there the weather doesn’t matter much.  Working on some things for Grandkids #4 and #5.