Those of you who live where it gets realy cold, How do you manage?

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I typically go make folders in @Alan Davis Knives air conditioned shop, or count it as a workout due to the volume of sweat. hah

 

Unfortunately I work out of an uninsulated garage. The last few days have been in the low teens Fahrenheit. I simply can't do any fine grinding right now. My hands go numb to quickly while dipping. I often have about 3-4 months of the year where this is the case.
On the other hand I have a bunch of steel to profile into blanks and I can wear heavier leather gloves for the rough out work. So I adjust what I can do. Since I'm a hobbyist it isn't the worst thing in the world. Obviously if this were a major part of my income things would be far different.

 

im in PA my shop was stick built 2x8" walls insulated and upper floor/roof is filled with R35 (36 or 38) i forget. i have a hot dawg propane heater on a thermostat. i fuel from 2 60LB tanks on an RV self switching valve. run one tank empty flip the switch and have the empty filled (went with 60s for ease of carry and setup cause 100lb ers suck to carry 100yds to the shop if the ground is soft and i cant drive on it) temp set at 40 over night and 60 during working hours and really if i want to go into the shop over the weekend that heater will take teh edge off in 30 min or less. i ahve thought about AC in the summer now and then but i am not ready to be called an old man or wimp yet for the 2 weeks a year it is "hot" round here

 

I don't get out to the shop every day, so when we get cold, I have to fire up the forge as soon as I decide I'm going out there. Depending on how cold it's been, I'll throw a 1 1/2" square rod and another 3 x 3 x 5" block in right away. In about 20-30 minutes, the forge is hot enough to forge (which isn't much longer than normal because I built it WAY bigger than I need),I take the steel out, put the block on the anvil and the rod is used to melt the slack tub. After about 30-60 min of forging, the grinder and drill press are warm enough to not have problems. But my shop is only 20x20, so it warms up pretty quickly.

 

Reading about all ya'll dealing with cold weather makes me realize all over again why I chose to live South of I-10 here on the Gulf Coast. When it gets below 30°F I consider it too cold to work, but that happens only at night. The summer heat is no real problem as it doesn't get to 100°F hardly ever.... and I just turn the AC on {g}.

 

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I literally just work until my hands are numb and then I go warm up a bit haha. Uninsulated shop here too - last night was brutal at 10 degrees. Maybe 25ish in my shop? Lol. The only thing that seems to care is my propane tank for the forge. I have to set it in a bucket of hot water if I want any PSI at all!