sanding belts in cold temperatures

M

miden

Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
835
Hi Guys,

I have installed a heater in my garage to take the bite off a bit while grinding there but I cannot heat it all the time. I figured it is better to keep the belts inside than to leave them out there in sub zero temps. In your experience can the belts tolerate the cold okay or not? I know they stiffen up a bit when it gets pretty cold.
Thanks

Mike
 
I live in Canada. My shop is exposed to the outside air. My belts are stored in my shop all year long. My belts cut regardless of the temperature. They don't really seem to stiffen up. The cords on all my tools are another story.
 
Moisture seems to be more of a problem. My shop is unheated, uninsulated with a metal roof. Most of my belts stay hanging up and develop curls. Especially the finer grit and lighter weight. I have found that if I store them rolled up, it mitigates the curling mostly.
 
SS369 said:
Moisture seems to be more of a problem. My shop is unheated, uninsulated with a metal roof. Most of my belts stay hanging up and develop curls. Especially the finer grit and lighter weight. I have found that if I store them rolled up, it mitigates the curling mostly.
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Ditto here. I tolerate the curling belts, and have just had to learned how to uncurl them when I want to install them. It was fiddly and frustrating at first, but I can do it quick now, so it adds only a few seconds to some belt changes, not a big deal to me.
 
Hi David, I am also in Canada, just to the east of you. Thanks for the reply, good to know about the belts being okay in the cold. I was just a bit concerned about the adhesion of the joint.
I hear what you are saying about the cords!
JiiPee, -35! I have to ask the same question as what Natlek did. My belt acts like a fan, generates cold air that blows on my hands too. -35 must be insane, even for a Fin:oops:, but good to know the belts can take that.
SS369 and David, I also have the issue with the finer grit belts getting all curly because it gets pretty humid here in Montreal in the summer too. A real PITA but we learn to uncurl them quickly.

Thanks for the replies guys and for the interesting comments.

Stay safe and warm 🥶
 
I'm in Montana and headed into my first winter of knife making in my uninsulated garage. Are there any general cold weather shop tips to share? I've already put my temperature sensitive items (battery powered, glues) in a toolbox that will be stored inside.
 
Well, sometimes your hands get so cold you can't tell you burned yourself on a hot piece of steel!
And you can use ice as a push stick!
 
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No issues with belts, but the PSA sanding discs on a 12", 1HP disc sander are another issue! I do get pretty good distance when the PSA lets go and the disc goes flying across the shop! That reminds me, I gotta bring my discs inside!
 
Sean Yaw said:
I'm in Montana and headed into my first winter of knife making in my uninsulated garage. Are there any general cold weather shop tips to share? I've already put my temperature sensitive items (battery powered, glues) in a toolbox that will be stored inside.
Click to expand...

I use dark infra red heating in my shop.
(Something different then normal infra red)
It doesn't take a lot of power and the heat stays a long time.
We got it in my day job as well now.
 
Taz said:
No issues with belts, but the PSA sanding discs on a 12", 1HP disc sander are another issue! I do get pretty good distance when the PSA lets go and the disc goes flying across the shop! That reminds me, I gotta bring my discs inside!
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I work outside too. While in Cali, no bikinis and palm trees around here. I've found heating the disc up first with a torch gets the psa discs to stick to em. Before I figured that out I had a pretty good cow dog that liked to fetch too. She'd bring those discs back to me. Blaze discs were much worse about not sticking in the cold then the zirc discs.
 
HAHAHA! These are the discs that are already on the cold metal sander; if I forget to heat them up with the heat gun before I turn the sander on, they fly around the shop. No dog to fetch for me...yet. Hopefully after we close on the house in January!
 
Sean Yaw said:
I'm in Montana and headed into my first winter of knife making in my uninsulated garage. Are there any general cold weather shop tips to share? I've already put my temperature sensitive items (battery powered, glues) in a toolbox that will be stored inside.
Click to expand...
Sean, this is my first winter that I will be doing this so I cannot help. This is why I asked the question about the belts. From the replies so far, at least it seems like they can handle the cold, as can the machine. It seems the big problem is the operators of the machines, we dont seem to handle it that well.

I acquired a garage heater in my garage this summer and used it for the first time yesterday. It seems that either i got taken or the thing is faulty. It has 3 power settings - 3000W, 4000W and 5000W and i dont notice any difference between them! There is also a knob that supposedly reduces and increases the heat on the 3 settings but i dont notice any difference between the high and low setting either.
Okay, at least it blows hot air;) but i don't know if it is on the highest or lowest Watt rating so i dont know if i am eating hydro! Bit of a piss off! At lease it will take the edge off a bit when this winter really kicks in.
 
Natlek said:
Did you wear gloves ? I can t feel my fingers in winter when i grind :)
Click to expand...

Sean Yaw said:
I'm in Montana and headed into my first winter of knife making in my uninsulated garage. Are there any general cold weather shop tips to share?
Click to expand...

eric brinkerhoff said:
Well, sometimes your hands get so cold you can't tell you burned yourself on a hot piece of steel!
Click to expand...

Rotate two or three pairs of gloves. Once the current pair gets cold, put it inside where it's warm, and grab the other pair that has been inside warming the longest. This is convenient for me, as my kitchen is on the other side of my shop door. Never have to go numb, but on the coldest days, I have to pause work to cycle gloves every three to five minutes. For some stuff, like grinding bevels, I often just gave up and let my hands go numb. No big deal if I dip my thin blades every pass or two. Same with hand sanding. And my bucket of water only froze over for five or six weeks last winter. The rest of the time, all I had to do was crack the top layer of ice, and by this time of year it cools warm blades faster than ever.
 
Natlek said:
Did you wear gloves ? I can t feel my fingers in winter when i grind :)
Click to expand...

Sean Yaw said:
I'm in Montana and headed into my first winter of knife making in my uninsulated garage. Are there any general cold weather shop tips to share?
Click to expand...

eric brinkerhoff said:
Well, sometimes your hands get so cold you can't tell you burned yourself on a hot piece of steel!
Click to expand...

Rotate two or three pairs of gloves. Once the current pair gets cold, put it inside where it's warm, and grab the other pair that has been inside warming the longest. This is convenient for me, as my kitchen is on the other side of my shop door. Never have to go numb, but on the coldest days, I have to pause work to cycle gloves every three to five minutes. For some stuff, like grinding bevels, I often just gave up and let my hands go numb. No big deal if I dip my thin blades every pass or two. Same with hand sanding. And my bucket of water only froze over for five or six weeks last winter. The rest of the time, all I had to do was crack the top layer of ice, and by this time of year it cools warm blades faster than ever.
 
You guys are hard core cold grinders. I have a learning curve coming up, lets see how the arthritis in the paws hold up. I hope that heater can help:rolleyes:.
Thanks for the chat guys, take care and stay warm.
Those flying disc stories had me smiling, just got a mental picture.:)

Mike
 
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Canela the Flying Cowdog:

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Also loved to play fetch, which is a little unusual in cowdogs:

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But as you can tell by her eyes:

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She had a can of crazy crazy she carried around with her the size of the horse in the first pic. She'd head off those escaping PSA discs and bring em right back. One time I was loading three steers. Or they were trying to load me. Three times they'd put me up on the fence. I call Canela and tell her to get ahold. She grabs the lead steer by the nose and he bellers and starts swinging snot everywhere. She lets go and those three steers chase her right up the pen, around the sweep and down the alley and through the chute. Just at the trailer, Canela ducks out and the three steers run into the trailer clanging and banging around, looking for this cowdog to stomp. Steve slams the gate and the steers are loaded. Canela comes over to me still sitting on the fence and smiles. I climb down and she drops a rock on my foot. Fetch; any time, anywhere, with anything.
 
That is quite a dog you have there Dave, sounds like good help around the place.

Take care
 
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