NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/misc/rural/2561

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-20 | 2.0 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!news.tek.com!gvgpsa!gold.gvg.tek.com!johns
From: [e-mail] (John C. Schultheiss)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Problems heating with wood
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 20 Nov 92 17:34:28 GMT
References: <[e-mail] <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: Grass Valley Group, Grass Valley, CA
Lines: 32

Ralph Wirthlin writes:
   Wood tends to split a good deal easier at -30 :) (from one who knows)

Grant Robinson replies:
   So do fingers and toes! :( (from one who knows, but not from personal
   experience)

   One thing I've never received a decent answer for:  if cold's general
   effect is to make things numb, how come it hurts so much more when you bang
   a cold thumb with a hammer? :)

And I contribute:

I DO know from personal experience, and although I can't provide a
definitive answer to your question, I suppose that the thumb isn't
numb enough.  I broke a carpal bone (in the hand, connecting the
wrist to the fingers -- the little finger, in my case) by *shoveling*.
I was trying to get my truck out of the snow, and I took my gloves off.
my hands got numb, and I just pushed too hard on the end of the shovel
with my right hand.  I didn't feel it (well hardly), but I heard it
break, so I quit shoveling (the first smart thing I did that night),
and drove the car to the hospital.  I suppose that if I'd been able to
feel, I never would have pushed the shovel so hard.  Mother was right:
wear your gloves.

So, I suppose that with my hands in this state, I probably wouldn't have
felt the hammer either, at least not much.  There is a point before they
go numb where your hands will become sensitive, and if you hit the
thumb then, watch out.  You pass this point as your hands are warming
up, also.  If you've ever done this, you know what I'm talking about.
Not a scientific answer, but one based on experience, anyway.
  -- John Schultheiss