If your woodworking is anything more than an occasional hobby, climate control is important to you.

Before we built the new workshop I now enjoy my workspace was a concrete block building with no insulation. My blog occasionally had winter time entries like this one, "Yesterday I took the day off to work in the house because it was just too cold out there and I wasn't able to get the place warmed up above about 38°." Does that make me a wimp? Maybe.

During the winter I would wear 4 layers of clothing including a layer of thermal undies and socks to protect from the cold. I'd wear my Radar O'Reilly hat to keep my head and ears warm. Once I got the air temperature up around 45° this was sufficient to keep me comfortable all day. If it was sunny, the roof of the shop heated up in the afternoon and my ceiling fans would pull that heat down and warm the whole shop to where I'd shed a layer to avoid sweating.

In the summer sweating is good. In the winter it's bad.

But, regardless of the air temperature, if the equipment and tools are still at 20° - 25° working with them is a bad idea.

First off the bearings in the machine tools wear out much faster and drive belts are stiff and thump as they run inducing unwanted vibration. You can install special bearings and link belts to help with these problems, and they will help, but there are other concerns.

Secondly, having to work above and touch a 300 pound slab of cast iron that is 20° is very uncomfortable on the hands. I have actually had my fingers stick to my saw a couple of times. Not good. Doing this work in gloves is difficult, especially if the gloves don't fit well, I work as much by touch as I do by sight.

Third, the table saw blade slings that ice cold air into the operators face. Personally, I have enough trouble with my sinuses from the sawdust, being smacked in the face by an arctic blast too is just not something I need. Even if you are not troubled by sinus problems, that icy wind will not be comfortable.

And finally, glues and finishes require certain temperature ranges to work properly. In regard to the glue, both the glue itself and the material being glued must be at a minimum temperature or the glue powders up and you get a poor bond - if you get any bond at all.

So call me a wimp if you like, but there is a method to my madness.

We tried a number of different things in that shop to keep it workable in the winter.

We tried a propane powered wall hung furnace. This worked OK, but it induced a lot of water vapor into the air because it was unvented. As the price of propane started to rise the utilities costs went up accordingly. And I was having to take my 3, 40 pound cylinders to the gas company for re-filling about once a week in the coldest part of the winter.

In the end we decided to install a wood stove to heat the shop by burning shop scraps during the day and use the propane to maintain a minimal temperature at night. This worked out well, we just had to be careful to prevent explosions.

A trick I've read about but never tried is to mount infrared heat lamps above the large cast iron tools. The infra-red lamps don't use a lot of energy, but do a good job of keeping some heat in the cast iron, which in turn is radiated out into the room, turning your tools into low-level space heaters.

The best improvement though, is to ADD INSULATION. There is a saying; "You pay for insulation whether you install it or not." Don't skimp here; it will be a short term gain, long term loss.

Our new shop is well insulated and has central air conditioning, and an electric furnace. This may not be the most efficient heat source, but it uses no flames (which can cause airborne dust to explode, something insurance companies frown upon thus raise their prices because of), is clean, easily regulated, and can be left running 24/7 without worry about running out of fuel in the night.

Unless you're made of money you won't want to keep your shop at 80 degrees in the winter and 60 degrees in the summer (something I've never understood anyway) but having proper environmental control in your workspace will make your work much more pleasant, healthier and productive.