The Bench in the Wet Season

Nobody thinks about shop humidity until it causes a problem. Around here, ambient moisture climbs for months at a time between fall and spring, and the bench schedule quietly adjusts around it in ways a drier climate never has to consider.

Epoxy Doesn't Read a Calendar

Epoxy cure time is temperature- and humidity-dependent, not just a fixed number on the tube. On a cold, damp January afternoon, a two-part epoxy that would fully cure overnight in a warmer, drier shop can need noticeably longer before it's safe to test-hit the club. We keep a small heated cabinet near the bench specifically for this stretch of the year, so cure times stay predictable instead of guessed at.

Grip Tape and Solvent in Persistent Damp

Grip solvent evaporates more slowly in humid air, which changes the working window for sliding a grip into final position before it sets. Rush it on a wet week and a grip can end up slightly misaligned; work too slowly and the solvent can begin drying unevenly. We adjust wrap tape count and working pace by the week, not by a fixed shop procedure that assumes summer conditions year-round.

The bench doesn't get to ignore the weather outside — it just has to plan around it more carefully for about half the year.

Storing Finished Clubs Before Pickup

Finished builds waiting for pickup are kept in a dedicated dry cabinet rather than open shelving during the wet months, mainly to protect exposed steel shaft tips and fresh epoxy joints from ambient moisture before they've had their full cure window. It's a small habit, but it's one we didn't need when the shop first opened and quickly added once we saw why it mattered.

Why This Doesn't Show Up in Most Fitting Charts

Generic fitting and build guidance is usually written without a specific climate in mind. Around Puget Sound, the wet season is long enough and consistent enough that it's worth building into the shop's actual schedule — not just something to work around when it happens to rain on fitting day.