Staying warm

[92U 3406]

I find the dry air up here in winter just kills my hands. If I don't lotion them up at least once a day they just crack all to hell. Same with my lips. Chapstick at least twice a day.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I think that is the same everywhere. Around here it usually gets dry and cold before the rains come in. Lotion next to the sinks in the house for every time you wash your hands.

The worst during this time is when I forget to wear mechanics gloves and my hands get covered with black oil and filth. Then come home and scrub them in the laundry sink with all manner of heavy soaps and brushes, the skin is like dry paper/leather after that.

 

[Junkyard]

Maybe my boys are onto something when they don’t want to wash up......?

 

[Nige]

The worst during this time is when I forget to wear mechanics gloves and my hands get covered with black oil and filth. Then come home and scrub them in the laundry sink with all manner of heavy soaps and brushes, the skin is like dry paper/leather after that.

I think there's a lot to be said for the old-fashioned way of using a bucket of diesel to get the heavy filth off before starting with the soap. You don't have to scrub at all.

 

[Junkyard]

Quite a few of our drill rigs use a food grade hydraulic oil. I don’t know what’s different about it but it’ll pull the grease and grime out pretty good where a light wash is all you need for clean hands.

 

[funwithfuel]

Kind of like eating fried chicken with greasy hands your fingertips are always clean for some reason

 

[StanRUS]

Quite a few of our drill rigs use a food grade hydraulic oil. I don’t know what’s different about it but it’ll pull the grease and grime out pretty good where a light wash is all you need for clean hands.

Liquid on your hands is absorbed through the skin.

Kind of like eating fried chicken with greasy hands your fingertips are always clean for some reason

Fatty-acid esters like bio-diesel; frying oils LOL

Keeping my hands warm I use Jersey gloves (a.k.a hand shoes) as liners; leather work gloves /with or without welding gloves. Thicker layers help absorb vibrations from pneumatic impact hammers and needle scalers. Cannot tolerate rubber-ish protective types of gloves.

Under the Easy-Up before finishing up small line boring job the area flooded to about 3 inches depth.

 

[Junkyard]

Fried chicken smells better

 

[John C.]

Hydraulic oil always used to leave my hands soft and easy to cut. The wife complained about diesel fuel smell. Dish soap used to dry skin and make it crack in all the bad places. Waterless hand cleaner leaves a film that you have to take off with water and the pumice stuff feels like you can't get the sand out. I can handle all that until my hands get really cold. At that point they go next to a muffler or rest on the top of a warm radiator.

 

[petepilot]

Fried chicken smells better

depends on who cooked it

 

[Junkyard]

depends on who cooked it

True!

 

[Old Doug]

In the years i have been working i worked 2 winters were i wasnt cold one was in a factory and the other was driveing a dump truck.One winter i ate my lunch out side alot of days. It was so cold i couldnt hold a popcan with out gloves. We were runing equipment with out cabs and would often get to far from are pickups by noon to walk back to them to eat.I worked 4 years in a big shop that had a wood stove were there would be ice on the floor around it. Guys would come in and worm up ice and snow would melt off there coveralls then re freeze on the floor. the shop i work at dosent have hot water its not a big deal in the summer but in the winter its very tuff to get your hands clean. What is bad about winter is pulling something in a shop its a big ice cube. You have to start working on it wright away and its covered in ice and snow. You walk 3 feet from it and its 60 degrees but it wount be dry or thawed out until its repaired. When you have to lay under something theres no way to keep dry theres water driping every were makeing a inch deep lake thats the right depth to get your lose multible winter layers soaked.

 

[funwithfuel]

In the years i have been working i worked 2 winters were i wasnt cold one was in a factory and the other was driveing a dump truck.One winter i ate my lunch out side alot of days. It was so cold i couldnt hold a popcan with out gloves. We were runing equipment with out cabs and would often get to far from are pickups by noon to walk back to them to eat.I worked 4 years in a big shop that had a wood stove were there would be ice on the floor around it. Guys would come in and worm up ice and snow would melt off there coveralls then re freeze on the floor. the shop i work at dosent have hot water its not a big deal in the summer but in the winter its very tuff to get your hands clean. What is bad about winter is pulling something in a shop its a big ice cube. You have to start working on it wright away and its covered in ice and snow. You walk 3 feet from it and its 60 degrees but it wount be dry or thawed out until its repaired. When you have to lay under something theres no way to keep dry theres water driping every were makeing a inch deep lake thats the right depth to get your lose multible winter layers soaked.

Lived that "dream" for 20 years. Slush and road grime melting into your eyes and ears. Soak your sleeves and pant legs. Yeah, dont miss that a bit. With equipment, the only big difference is, its usually not melting, just freezing. Lol.

 

[John C.]

The freezing time used to be good times in the coal mines as the mud just cracked off the machines with a hammer. The shops had no doors let alone heat. If the mud was frozen too hard you got to get out the weed burner for awhile. We used to put kerosene heaters under the steel tables to warm them and the parts up so they wouldn't stick to your bare skin when you put them back together. I hate cold fingers, hands and feet. There should be a country western hit song in there somewhere.

 

[DIYDAVE]

Already is, my friend...

 

[Tugger2]

Last winter up in Fort Nelson.Insulated coveralls and as said earlier dry gloves , pickup running all the time and a couple of frost fighters running into tarps over the machines. -30 in the dark makes it hard to get out of the pickup 1st thing in the morning.I just put a big oil furnace in my shop, not going anywhere this winter.

 

[FSERVICE]

I think all of us have been there got the scars from cold/wet weather!!! here in my area it seems like it don't snow anymore it is just 34 degrees & rains!!! which is just down right miserable!!!

 

[Camshawn]

The cold here on the west coast seems to really cut. I think it is the dampness. Worse I have experienced is sleet. Give me real cold. It is easier to deal with. I found that rotating gloves works the best. For wet, cotton liners over weatherproof (rubber or similar) works well. I remove my glove if I require more dexterity than the glove allows but always put it back on before picking up a cold tool. Keeping the core warm helps. Sweaters, insulated jeans or long Johns are a must if it is damp and around freezing.
Cam

 

[Nige]

Agree on that. My home area climate is basically a maritime one with onshore winds and high humidity pretty much year-round. The temperature doesn't even have to be below freezing for it to be downright miserable to work outside. Like camshawn I'd much prefer it to be dry and cold.

 

[ianjoub]

It will only hit mid 50's here today. I'll be in a sweater, long pants, and a beaver hat.