What do most of you cut wood in during the winter months? Rain coats, who makes good , serviceable, types jacket and pants, gloves, what do you like the best for wet weather? One thing i've done for the gloves during wet , cold weather is put a pair of thin rubber gloves on, then put a pair of cotton gloves over them. One thing for sure, if you have cold hands, this will keep your hands really warm. I used to work in the wet cold weather with snow. I started doing this, and it would keep my hands so warm you wouldn't believe it. And, with this set up, you don't have a bulky set of gloves on.
I generally won't cut when it's wet. MId-teens, is about as low as I want it to be when working outside. I'm not felling trees, in the snow. Lined jeans, polypropylene long johns, if needed Fleece shirt, hooded jacket. Wool socks, boots I'd be splitting or moving wood. A set of log tongs and/or a pickaroon, keeps my hands out of any snow. Thus, dry. I've done the hand layering thing. It works. Thin surgical gloves under thin cotton gloves, under whatever is my currently favorite work gloves.
These gloves are the very best I've ever used when handling wet wood or any thing wet outdoors. The are fleece lined yet are not cumbersome at all. Hands stay both dry and warm. Also using log tongs like these keeps you from having to grab the wet wood with gloved hands. Yet, as for cutting or working with the wood in the rain, I just don't. I don't have to so I just don't see any good reason to do it. For a coat I wear a good Carhartt coat. It keeps me warm and also protects me from all the prickly ash we have in our woods.
The gloves, look they are good one's, and living where you live, they probably are, the ''log tongs'' are a good idea too, but, i've got to ''hug'' each piece of wood before i throw it in the pickup, lol. Actually at times i get some pretty good sized rounds and if i can lift them, i toss them in the pickup to start my load, then start splitting and stacking on top of them. And, i'll grab between 3-5 chunks of wood in my arms and throw that in the pickup eventually stacking it later on. If i'm doing that i normally wear rain gear, to try to keep myself dry and a little cleaner as well. For some reason, i have a time set in my head about how long it'll take me to load the pickup. Haven't figured out why i do that but, i'm normally by myself and i can get a pickup load of cut, split and stacked wood, working pretty steady, keeping right after it. In a fairly decent amount of time. I'll have to see if i can locate a pair of gloves like those, they might be the real ticket for me.
I do most of my wood cutting in the fall and winter. I like to work up to about 40° and down to 8°. Above 40-45 I get too warm, and below 8° I can't stay warm typically. I wear layers, but always have my waterproof bibs on, and a pair of waterproof hunting boots. I'll totally wear my Carhartt Jacket, but depending on the weather I may wear other lighter shirts/ jackets. Gloves, I find I like thin ones. I always bring a couple of pairs of gloves. I also use the handwarmers I installed on my ATV, as those dry and warm my hands up if the snow soaks them. I won't cut in the rain.
I had a Grundens jacket and bib pant for wet weather but I left my truck unlocked one day on a job and they disappeared from the back seat. I never replaced them and I don't work in the rain any more. I'll work in the snow for a while but without the nice fowl weather gear it isn't for long. I have a couple of raincoats that are only good for so much.
One of the nice things about the log tongs is when you want to carry wood in your arms, it is easy to pick up a log and transfer it to your arm then pick up another, etc. It surely saves a lot of bending and we know that bending is the start of back pain.
Boy that would tick me off, some one stealing your gear for bad weather. On one job i was on, i needed a good safety belt with a big iron hook on one end, and hip boots, well we come to work one monday, of course my safety belt and hip boots were both stolen along with some other gear. Twenty years later i still miss that safety belt and iron hook. It was a great set up.
I don’t cut in the rain, but when temperatures are cold, I wear insulated Carhart bibs. Serve as chainsaw protection, and I wallow around, and lift heavy rounds. They get pretty grimy. Wife is out of town, so I am using her new high-tech washer to clean them
Oh, there's bad weather. No amount of gear will account for swaying trees and probable falling branches that will kill you.
