Going to be scorching in Portland!

Bill Satko

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Methow Valley
If you don't know, the pacific northwest is really seeing some heat over and above what we are use to. Portland is going to be seeing the brunt of the high temps. I know a lot of you around the country are not surprised at temperatures above 100 degrees where you live, but what you have to understand is that very few homes have air conditioning here in western Washington and Oregon.

Up here in Bellingham the temps are only going to get up to around 87, but Portland is going to see 103. I just spent the weekend down in Portland (a great city, by the way) taking a one day dovetail class with Gary Rogowski (Northwest Woodworking Studio). A few of the people taking the class were going to take the week long Dovetail Hope Chest class. So a lot of discussion yesterday was how they were going to handle the heat in the workshop in the coming week. During our class the temps started out around 65, but worked their way up to 93 before we left. That was the outside temp, not sure what it was inside, but I was sweating and I was parked next to one of the make-sift squirrel cage blowers Gary has around the shop. Must have been all that sawing that made me sweat.

I know Don Baer talks about working in his shop when it is in the 90's before he turns on the A/C, but I have been down in Arizona and I can handle that dry heat (to a point). I have also worked in the Southeast, and I don't know how you guys work in your shops without A/C there.

What is the worst condition you have ever worked in your shop? And then I have to ask why????
 
I had my wife buy me a fan today, at bed bath and beyond.
I wont use it when Im cutting and making sawdust, but when Im goofing off and assembling, it will keep me a bit cooler.
I dont know how people do it.
I cant do it. I never thought it gets that hot up in Washington State.
 
Interesting question Bill. When Larry visited in spring we had a warm day out good for the BBQ but when we went into my shop i remember Larry remarking about how cool it still was in there. This falsely led me to start thinking eh maybe that aircon i bought wont be needed after all given how tight all my walls and windows are and with my double layer drywall.

But all that changed a couple of weeks ago. Seems when the sun comes in at an angle it heats up pretty well into a tightly sealed sauna. I did not even fight it. What the heck i had the aircon sitting there and put it in.
Now when i go in and its stuffy and humid I simply hit the remote. I like working in the cool. :rofl:
 
I dont know how people do it.
I cant do it. I never thought it gets that hot up in Washington State.

I don't know either Allen. It gets that hot in eastern Washington and Oregon quite a bit, but that is a different climate on that side of the Cascade Mountains.

Bill, It got up to 116 here today, "but it's a dry heat" so my sweat is also dry..:rolleyes::rofl:
it 86 degres in the shop right now..;)

Why Don, I did not think you sweated, I heard you just "glowed". I stand corrected.:D

But all that changed a couple of weeks ago. Seems when the sun comes in at an angle it heats up pretty well into a tightly sealed sauna. I did not even fight it. What the heck i had the aircon sitting there and put it in.
Now when i go in and its stuffy and humid I simply hit the remote. I like working in the cool. :rofl:

Hey Rob, I don't blame you, if I had it, I would use it. If I liked hot weather I would be living in Arizona, maybe next to Don.
 
Well, we get it all summer long here in Tokyo, hot and humid, sticky. Last summer we has something like 45 days in a row when it did not go below 25C (77F) which is darn hot, and the humidity is so bad, you can just about swim in it :rolleyes:

At the Aparto, I have an AC, it works, but right now there is no insulation anywhere but the floor, so it is hot. I change t-shirts about 3-4 times a day, and that is a short 6 hour day.

I'm originally from Kelowna BC Canada, eh, and it is not uncommon for there to be no significant rain from the end of May until the beginning of October, so I know all about hot and dry (it gets to 105F in Kelowna in the summer, but cools down to where you need a blanket at night).

We get used to it in Tokyo, everyone has AC and such, but we all grumble about it. The winters here are very mild, I always laugh at the people here complaining about how "COLD" it is, heck is seldom goes near freezing, that is NOT cold :D :wave:
 
The past two weekends it's been in the 90s in my shop during the daytime. Normally I'd stay out of the shop until nighttime when I can cool it down somewhat, but the past two Sundays I've worked all day out there with my brother-in-law making Viking furniture. I've already given him the requisite (mock) grief about his timing for the furniture request. We could have been building this stuff last February when it was cool and comfortable, but no, he had to wait until the middle of July to build his make-believe furniture. (Or more correctly, have ME build his make-believe furniture.) :rolleyes:
 
Vaughn :stick: now you probably realize this after you posted but the picture police are out and about and I think you have been holding out in us.

Viking Furniture:eek::huh: I aint seen no posts on this forum about you building Viking furniture.

You got to give us a :peek: there Vaughn ....how about a new thread rather than hijacking this one. Eh!:D:rofl:
 
It isn't anywhere near those temps, but given that I drive a Black van, heat control becomes a high priority in summertime... Here's today's solution...
ahhhshade.jpg


note, only shade tree on the entire property.. a mere 20' in the wrong direction gets me this...

oppositeview.jpg


Nobody is going to bother me ... here's the view of the center...

amesoam.jpg
 
Rob,

You didn't see the make-believe thread, with make-believe pics, about the make-believe build of make-believe Viking furniture?

Neither did I?? :dunno::huh::rolleyes:

Very nice her in IA's heartland...high 70s and no humidity...this summer's weather has been great!

Now I'm looking for some wood in my steel/formica/fabric cube to knock on...found a ruler...knock, knock. That was close!
 
Ok, I believe in global warming!

Seattle set an all time recorded high temperature today.

Seattle: 103 degrees (all-time record)
Olympia: 104 degrees (tied all-time record)
Bellingham: 96 degrees
Tacoma: 104 degrees
Vancouver Wa: 107 degrees


Of course you should see the temperatures that Oregon had yesterday:

Roseburg: 111 degrees (all-time record)
Corvallis: 108 degrees (tied all-time record)
Medford: 108 degrees
Salem: 107 degrees (missed all-time record by 1 degree)
Portland: 106 degrees (missed all-time record by 1 degree)
Eugene: 106 degrees (missed all-time record by 2 degrees)

These are all cities on the western side of the Cascades. You have to understand that our highs during the summer are usually in the 70's, 80's at the most. Unbelievable. I have to think this is the equivalent of snow in Miami.
 
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