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An Early Reminder of Winter...
Friday, September 28th, 2009
Only in
Colorado can I be out getting a "farmer's tan" while
riding my Harley-Davidson Road King one day and the
next day wake in the morning to cold temperatures
and horizontal snow squalls. Thus is life living on
the front range of the Rocky Mountains. A local
proverb states "If you want to see a change in the
weather, then wait 5 minutes". Having lived in
Colorado since 2000 I have seen examples of pretty
drastic swings in the weather but more often than
not the weather in Colorado is beautiful.
Nevertheless, the first signs
of snow brings to mind the call for winterizing the
shop. My shop has what I call "situational heating",
more commonly referred to as a kerosene bullet
heater. Whenever the situation arises I go out
in the shop, plug in my heater and in a matter of
minutes my shop is nice and warm.
If you live in a cold-climate
region of the country and your shop may see freezing
temperatures, here are a few basic things to
consider for winterizing:
-
Bring all items that may
freeze indoors. This includes glues, paints and
other water-based finishes.
-
I like to leave my waterstones submerged in a
Tupperware container when not in use. Be sure to
drain the water and let the stones dry, or bring
them indoors.
-
Apply a fresh coat of paste wax or butcher's wax
to all the polished cast iron tool surfaces.
-
I keep several flashlights in my garage and some
are infrequently used. I check each to make sure
they work properly and replace the batteries as
necessary.
-
Check all doors and windows, especially the
overhead door if your shop is located in your
garage, for drafts and poor weather seals.
Install new seals or weather-stripping if
necessary.
-
Test your alternative heating system while the
weather is still nice. I bring my kerosene
heater outside and first blow off any dust
accumulation. Next I take the cover off and
check the fuel and air filter and clean or
replace as necessary. I then take it outside on
the driveway, plug it in and let it run for 5
minutes to ensure that it burns clean and
without any smoke.
If you have any
questions or comments about this blog entry please
do not hesitate to
send me an e-mail. Thanks and be
safe when working with tools!!!
Burgie
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Robert Burgoyne, also known as "Burgie",
has been doing woodworking for nearly 30
years. He started learning at an early
age in his grandfather's garage and
continued while working with his father
in construction. The hobby has now
become a business with Creative
Landscape Accents. Burgie builds
high quality woodworking projects for
the outdoors and also enjoys making
decorative accent pieces for inside the
house. While not working in his shop
doing woodworking Burgie enjoys
computers, restoring his old
1964
Chevy C60 2-ton dump truck and
riding his Harley-Davidson Road King
throughout beautiful Colorado.
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