Shopsmith Forums

Yes, here in IL this time of year normally we are way into winter....

Yet today I was able to work in my garage shop!

And no it wasn't a have to do project, it was for enjoyment!

I know it has been 12 - 15 years since I've been able to do this and that was with a heater back then.

I normally like it 55 degrees but 52 was close enough especially since this was a lean year woodworking wise for me, and NO heater needed.

So I'm going to mark this down in the record books.

Ed

I got to work in my shop too, but it was 40 this morning when I started, so I turned the heater on for a while, then turned it off after about 2 hours.

50 degrees here today, 40 degrees right now (almost 1 AM Sat.). Supposed to be 50 again mid-day Sat.
Like you I am sure it is not all that uncommon for lows between Xmas and New Years day to stay around -20 here.
We worked in the basement sorting and boxing stuff a little today and I moved some heavy boot shop machinery around and cleaned up some "misc. crap" (technical term) in the soon to be former woodshop.
I need to install a horse water hydrant Sat. then move 5 sets of shelves to the new basement shop. It is finally all coming together but slower than I would like.
Slower than in the past has become my new default speed setting.
I am loving these warmer temps. I would normally be running several thousand watts of tank heaters and heat tapes long before now. I enjoy knowing that they are "resting" so far.
I also have my 4 horses out on 22 acres of grass that is still slowly growing and is nice and green. I have not had to feed any hay yet this winter. That is a good thing since $2 hay is selling for about $8 this year. Hay prices here usually start dropping a little in mid to late January.


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WE hit the low 60s today! I definitely had the shop open and loving it. This morning (Friday) I took my mom to a local thrift shop. She found this little two-handled glass sugar cup that she loved, but it had no lid. No problem!! Was a good excuse to play with my mini-lathe with the new arrangement I made for it last week. (Are you ever done organizing your shop?)

Had an old bowl blank of walnut that I've lugged around for at least 10-15 years. Trimmed it on the bandsaw on the 510, sanded one side flat on the belt sander on the 500 and hot glued it to a 2" faceplate to fit my little Carba-Tec. Got to give the new tool rest I made last week a good tryout.

Sun was shining. The cat laid nearby and watched. Mom is pleased as punch. And I got to make SHAVINGS!!!

Tomorrow's forecast ... more of the same!

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Well thanks alot. The good weather must stop south of the the Wisconsin state line. My weather is @ 46 deg and falling. I'd love to be in my unheated garage making minor projects and sawdust... Tomorrow the temp drops more and wind speeds up to 40 knots. Welcome to the midwest!.

smredleg wrote:Well thanks alot. The good weather must stop south of the the Wisconsin state line. My weather is @ 46 deg and falling. I'd love to be in my unheated garage making minor projects and sawdust... Tomorrow the temp drops more and wind speeds up to 40 knots. Welcome to the midwest!.

If you do not mind, could you keep all that up thar!?:D

Temp nosediving next week here!:(

One other winter that started like this, it snowed a foot the end of January, and I 'rediscovered' the street pavement in march. Ended up with a foot of ice where the pitched roof valley emptied onto the lean too porch roof.

I haven't watched the thermometer but it has been t-shirt weather here this past week. Although that really isn't too unusual.

Weather here on the west slope of colorado is also fairly warm, and very dry. I have a late season cow elk tag. The area I hunt at 7500 ft, normally has 2.5 to 3 three feet of snow. yesterday, there was 2-3 inches! We have never hunted above 8000 ft there, but we walked to 8900 and never had more than 8-10 inches. The day before we were at the upper boundary of the unit and we were walking in mud!!! Needless to say, the elk are still very high. we saw some cows and calves at 9500 feet. Bad news, no elk yet this winter, good news, there will be a lot of them that make it to the spring. My shop needs about 30 minutes of the heater on to be usable during the day. We have had sunny days so it warms up quickly. It cools off very fast when the sun goes down!

My garage is heated, but it doesn't make sense to waste that heat to do woodwork during the winter. Instead, I have my Shopsmith set up in my basement workshop. I'm paying to heat that space anyway, so my workshop is down there so I can use it all winter.

I don't do woodworking in the summer, so the basement shop sits idle in the summer.

We've had wonderful weather this week, up to close to 70 once, a bit cooler today, and the forecast has a bunch of 50 & 60 degree days through Saturday.

I get one more day of playing hooky, then back to work Tuesday, but may try to get out in the evenings.

Roy