As the mercury drops what are you not leaving in your shop over winter?

My shop does not often drop below freezing, however, just to be safe, I move my waterstones inside for the winter.

My shop is heated so I dont have to worry about freezing but I would be careful of anything that has a cast iron top, condensation can make them rust very quickly.

-- A hammer dangling from a wall will bang and sound like work when the wind blows the right way.

I’m planning to bring everything in except for the large tools. I use an unheated garage as my shop, so I like the idea of bringing tools into a climate controlled building to reduce the chances of rust.

Just for grins, I wanted to let you know that last year my garage shop didn’t drop below ~60 degrees. One of the benefits of living in Houston TX!

-- Derrek L.

Derrick, What’s the other benefit of living in Houston—-Sweating when you get out of the shower in August? LOL—-My son lived there for a while going to school. He doesn’t miss the humidity, although we could do without the wind in Lubbock.

We don’t get too cold here, but we get below freezing pretty often. My shop is not heated, except for a space heater, but is well insulated. I worry about my glue more than anything. Just having in a cabinet seems to be enough most of the time.

-- Kent Shepherd * The goal is-----More Tools!

I eventually got tired of moving freeze sensitive items into the house, so I put heat in. Around here you need heat from September through April if you want to be comfortable working in there anyway. I agree with cstrang that it helps keep the area dry too so the equipment doesnt rust.

I usually leave the heat at about 50-55 during the winter, and turn it up to about 60 when I am working in there.

-- Wayne - Plymouth MN

It’s heat that is my problem here.

-- Trying to follow the example of the master.

Any and all glues and latex paint. Those of us that live up north don’t mind working in the cold, but I did put a bit of heat in the shop last winter. One benifit of working in the cold is that all those little nicks and cuts you get don’t bleed much. I think that is the only benifit.

-- Dave- New Brunswick

glue, 18v batteries and water based finishing products all come inside when its cold

We don’t get snow but it does get cold now and then….but not usually below 25degrees…..most of the lows here are in the 30’s-40’s…..so it is fairly moderate. We get the heat in summer….but its a dry heat…I come from Lousianna so I am used to humidity…none here though…just 100+ temps often enough. I do have my new shop heated though…I put in a nice mini pot belly wood stove…I burn my scraps and a few “cough” blown projects now and then….keeps the place neat…and warm…

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

One of my books shows how to build a simple box
with a simple door
with a hole in the bottom
with a 60 watt bulb wired and poking through the hole
with a chicken-wire type cage over the bulb
with a thermostat set to turn the bulb on and off to maintain “x” temperature.

It was meant to house stain and finishing products.

I can probably find the plan, and scan it in … if you want. Seemed like a cool idea….

-- -- Neil

This is my first winter caring about tools… should I be concerned about my new mini lathe in an unheated shop? It gets kind of dank in there… maybe I should think about cleaning and rust issues. Yikes!

-- Lisa Chan, custom cafts and yarn accessories, http://www.grippingyarn.com

I guess living in southern California and only having temps get to around 45 or so in the coldest months with nearly no humidity is spoiling me.

-- San Diego, CA US Navy

I got tired of the move it out in the fall, bring it back in come spring. Put in an attic style forced air furnace. Leave it at 45 but turn up to 60 to work.

-- Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else

Stains, glues, paints, and batteries all come out….probably the gold fish too! :D

Scott,

Mrs. Paul’s would beg to differ with you.

;-)

-- -- Neil

Typically speaking, during the coldest part of the year, we see a week or so of below freezing temps as overnight lows, typically in late January. Those sub freezing temps usually last less than an hour or so.

On particularly hard winters, when we have a “hard freeze” (under 32 deg F for more than 4 hours) I will set old towels in the door gaps of the garage doors, and set an oil filled electric radiator on low. Temps in my shop never dip below about 45 deg F.

Like I mentioned, honestly too shortly above, it’s not low temps that is my problem, it is high temps. Glues, stains, and paints tend to set up in their bottles rather quickly. (One of the reasons I like Titebond II and Titebond III is that they do not go bad as quick in the summer as say, Gorilla Glue or anything like that…).

I guess it depends on how that barn of yours is built, how big it is, and how much it would cost, but I would think about insulating and heating that shop area if possible…

-- Trying to follow the example of the master.