"NoOne N Particular" wrote in message
. net...
I was in my garop (garage shop) yesterday fiddling around. Late last year
I bought a clock for the garop that has time, temperature, and humidity
dials on it. It was going to be a hot day outside so I thought it would be
interesting to see just what happened in the heat.

I was doing ok as the temperature rose from a starting point of about 80
when I started. When it said 85 I was still ok. Sweating a little, but
it was tolerable. When it said 90 I wasn't ok anymore, but I kept
fiddling anyway. Sweating a lot too. When I would go back into the house,
the 82 degrees in there (a/c is great isn't it?) felt GREAT. When the
temperature got to 95, my clothes would almost instantly stick to me when
I would go out there because of the sweat. Not fun anymore. I started
thinking to myself that I must really be a pussy. (Any women out there,
please substitute the word wussy from now on) Can't even take 95 degrees
anymore. Then I thought to myself, "So what if I'm a pussy!" and went
into the house. The last time I looked it got up to 98 in the garop. I
think it probbly hit a hunnerd in there before it was all over.

So I started wondering how many other pussies are out there. I like to
think I have earned my "pussyship". I remember in my younger years
working with my dad wrenching on his trucks in 110 deg heat with no shade.
Had to be VERY careful where you put your tools down because if laid them
down in the direct sunlight you weren't picking them back up again without
getting some serious burns (well, that's what it felt like anyway). I can
remember driving across the SoCal desert in 125 heat with no a/c. I can
also remember much more recently being out in my son's back yard digging
trenches (by hand shovel) for his sprinkler system and it was well over
100 that day. I have quite a few other heat related memories too. So I
have earned it.

The outside temp finally got up to 105 yesterday and for the first time in
several weeks THERE WAS NO BREEZE. The humidity hovered in the 45% range
which is a little bit higher than usual for this heat. At that temp it is
usually more like 15% to maybe 30% (I have other gauges around, just a new
on in the garop). Also my uninsulated aluminum garop doors face west so I
get the full sun in the late afternoon. If I open the garop doors all I
get is hot air coming across the concrete in front, PLUS the sun heating
up everything else inside. If I leave the doors closed I can't get too
near them because they feel like tools left laying in the sun.

But back to the question, how hot is too hot?, etc. Obviously, this
question will only apply to people that do not have air conditioned work
shops. Many if not most of you probably don't even have a thermometer.
But about what temperature do you finally give it up and go back into a
less hostile environment? I know you can't say "I go in at 90 degrees."
Too many weather variable for that. But for me, I think I'll probably
stick to around 90 or so for heat, and maybe 50ish for cold. Any colder
than that and my hands start hurting from the cold and I just hate wearing
gloves. Any hotter than 90 or so and I could ruin a perfectly good piece
of wood with sweat droppings. :-) I have pushed both ends of the scale
for shorter periods of time (couple of hours or so) and I'll do it again,
but as a general rule of thumb I think these limits are close. Won't
really take a thermometer to tell either. If my hands start aching from
the chill, I'll go in. If I lay my arm on the bench and I have to peel a
piece of wood off of my arm, I'll go in.


Wayne

it's the humidity that'll get you. it reached about 115 yesterday here and i
was outside working in it most of the day. however, our humidity probably
was in the 15% range. any sweat almost instantly evaporated, and as long as
i kept drinking enough, it wasn't too bad.

granted i was standing in a puddle of water and being splashed most of that
time too (i'm diamond honing some concrete countertops with a wet grinder).

regards,
charlie
cave creek, az