studded snow tires?

i have a 1994 dr Ford explorer 4wd. last year i didnt have very good tires on it and it did TERRIBLE in the snow. i have gotten some new "street" tires that are good like all season tires, mostly street only etc. I still need to get a set for the front for summer but want a dedicated winter tire. a good friend gave me a set of his 225 m/t style tires that have studs in them. the tires have good tread and there is still a fair amount of studs left.
over the last several years we havent had any good snows. the whole time i had my jeep rubicon i can only recall one good snow, as soon as i sold it it was terrible. last year several times we had nothing but inches of ice on the streets. no snow just solid sheet of ice about 1 -3 inches thick. the whole town looked like an ice sculpture, we also had several snows that i didnt know if i would make it home from work in, 4wd or not...
so should i run these studded tires from now until feb/march?
my wife and i work at the same job and ride together and its fairly critical we make it to work else we get fired, snow or not lol.
ive read studded tires on dry pavement doesnt make for a great scenario but they are nice in ice/snow. if i use these studded tires i still have to buy a set for the front and i think i can get the same tread pattern but doubt i can get studded ones. no big deal?
we have already had a good snow here in eastern KY that covered the road and was very slick and caused several wrecks here locally on my street. (5 car pileup right down the road)
so do you guys think i should run the studded tires or take the studs out?
there are no laws here to prevent running studded tires.
chains i dont know if i can do because i drive highway to work and im not sure how they would do.