My sauna last night was 84 C, 183 F. I personally don't like much hotter. The higher the temperature, the more you have to modulate the steam that you produce b

My sauna last night was 84 C, 183 F. I personally don't like much hotter. The higher the temperature, the more you have to modulate the steam that you produce by throwing water on the stove. At a lower temperature I like lots of steam, but at higher temperatures a lot of steam at once can be too much. Steam is controlled by the users on a moment-by-moment basis while temperature is controlled more slowly by the stove settings (which of course you can change). The wood in the sauna does get hot: that's why you either sit on a piece of cloth (more popular these days) or put cool water on your seat to cool it down so your butt doesn't burn. However, wood in saunas is generally carefully selected as some varieties feel cooler than others (and you never want to use a wood that will produce sap drips for your benches! ouch!!). There are almost no metal components to touch in a sauna because those hurt -- some people use copper buckets for water but then you're filling it with cool water intermittently. Take off metal necklaces and earrings before saunaing, in general. Don't know about piercings (someone else can say). You can cook/burn yourself in a sauna but that is usually related to drug and alcohol use (as in the famous World Sauna Championship death: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/08/sauna-championship-russian-dead https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/08/sauna-champion...)