Burnt Fingers !! Is there a cure ??

Dont ever wear gloves! Dip your blade in the water more often and apply less pressure. My index fingers have very thick skin on the sides now, and I still get burned. Another thing you can try is some finger tape. It's kind of like sticky gauze. It will give you some insulation with worrying about it getting caught up in the belt and wheel. Honestly you shouldn't need it after 60 grit. From 120 up you shouldn't need as much pressure and you should be feeling the groove so to speak. The gloves and finger tape will take away from that. I would say just slow down.
-John
 
I am happy to see the number of people who suggest losing the gloves. So often people get so cought up in the saftey zeal that they become safety nazis that develop knee jerk reactions whenever a sinlge article of protective cover is neglected without considering the greater danger that "safety" measure poses. In rural firefighting I personally have dealt with way too many people who have been mangled because they felt they should wear gloves around machinery.

Aside from the entanglement issues, I never wear gloves while grinding because I just cannot feel what I am doing with that barrier between me and the work, and if there is one operation that is almost all "feel" it is running smooth grind line. Going without the gloves will also reinforce a good habit- keeping a dip bucket next to the grinder and regularly using it. If the blade is too hot to touch with your skin, it is too hot and you are not doing it any favors by turning it blue before or after the heat treat. I have a saying when I hear knifemakers talking about having a 50HP motor so they can stand on the grinder when hogging- "I prefer to do my heat treating in an oven, forge or salt bath, not on a grinder!"

I forge weld with gloves on but as soon as I pick up a hammer the glove coems off that hand for the same reason of being able to feel what I am doing. I never realized how much information is transmitted from the hammer handle to your brain until I put a leather barrier between the two.

I grind with a push stick since there will be occasional spikes in temp right over the spot where the belt is attacking but I like to grab the blade and inspect it between every pass so it goes in the dip bucket every second or third swipe. Steel is not an issue, I hate nonferrous! I get burned fingers every damned time I work with nonferrous because there is no warning from the warm up time, the lousy stuff spikes to 400F in single pass on the belt, even with a sharp one. Which brings me to one final point, that heat can also tell you when it is time to throw away the belt. I think many new makers could improve their knives much quicker if they would learn when to throw away a worn out belt. Dead belts don't cut crisp clean lines, they overheat the blades, they make waves, divots and orange peeling and waste time and energy. One of the greatest expenses you will have in your shop will be belts, except that fact and make good knives, throw the dead ones away and get a fresh sharp one.
 
Get rid of the gloves, they are dangerous. The big magnets, from Sheffield Supply, can really save your digits, when you are cleaning up billets and other flat stock. Quench a lot.
Practice, in time, is the cure for burnt fingers.

Until then, keep your medicine cabinet well supplied.:D

Fred
 
I never use a tool rest grinding blades. And you betcha I wear gloves. As mentioned, there is nothing to catch you with no rest. I have used gloves since 1971, I have never even had a hint of a problem. If you use a rest, maybe so. I never heard of using a rest to blade grind, until I came to this forum. I am still not sure what for, but then many methods have changed since I started. I will continue to use my gloves, and keep flesh on my fingers. 36 grit boo-boo's take about 36 days to heal.
 
Normark said:
Hey Guys...

I'm burning the Living $@&% out of my index fingers...

I'm wearing insulated winter work gloves, and the grinder eats the living Crap out of the index fingers and I've got burns Ontop of Frigging burns.. It's the the point where I'm worried it's not going to heal...

What do you guys use to protect your fingers... ??

Eric
O/ST
Click to expand...
Do you hollow grind without a work rest or do you flat grind with a work rest?
 
Just because you don't use a rest, doesn't mean the belt can't catch your gloves.
-John
 
adammichael said:
Do you hollow grind without a work rest or do you flat grind with a work rest?
Click to expand...

Normark: "Well I already learned my lesson with the Frigging tool rest,, after I was grinding a thin tanto and it got jammed up under the toolrest and shot it out at my feet..

That thing came off right after that....

I'm freehand hollow grinding and using the "Organic Toolrest" as Kit Carson calls it.. LOL"
 
Shoot I don't even wear gloves when I'm shoveling snow, if I'm not getting cut, stabbed, sliced, ground or burnt when I'm in the shop, I feel like I didn't get much accomplished that day. :D Quit cry'in and get back to work, what doesn't kill you will only make you tougher. :D

Bill
 
Just how is a belt going to catch fingers, when you are working mid way on the wheel, and the belt is running away from you at the bottom? I totally do not get this logic. Your finger will not fit between the wheel and the belt, and there is no reason to work from the upper part of the wheel.
 
I use a push stick whenever I am grinding blades. It keeps the fingers from getting burned up and when a push stick slips (rarely) it is nice to see a wad of sawdust rather than meat fly off. Ken Onion was in my shop several years ago and taught me this and I figure if it is good enuf for him then it is sure good enuf for me.
 
As long as you are grinding freehand the gloves are OK and do not present a pinch point hazzard. I wouldn't grind without gloves because if I am concentrating on not burning my hands I can't concentrate on the job at hand and usually end up catching an edge or touching the handle to the side of the wheel thus losing the knife.
 
I don't wear gloves in the shop and I use the same thinking with long tailed shirts, left out of your pants. I had a one horse buffer, grab me, by the shirt tail and give me an up close look at its moving parts.
Now, I like those mittens when I work at the forge. My hands aren't that calloused, yet.:eek:

Fred
 
Amen, George. The only injuries I have recieved in 36 years, involved grinding without gloves. It takes a long time to heal belt wounds. I did recieve 15 stitches once, from letting my knee hit a 36 grit belt as I came off my stool. I was in a hurry, now there's your danger zone, being in a hurry, and as soon as I switched the machine off, I swung off my stool. AND, it was a worn belt, or it would have been worse. In 36 years, I have never even attached my tool rest, although I know where it is. What came close to killing me also involved being in a hurry. I let the point of a Bowie hit almost straight into the belt, and it was slammed into my upper gut sideways. Left an impression in more ways than one. After that, I slowed down, and refuse to hurry while grinding.
 
my only grinder injury (not knife related) happened when a stupid co-worker turned the damn thing on while I was actually touching the wheel explaining something to him (he did not understand how such a "smooth" grinding wheel could really injury him). BY BY tip of finger and a portion of the nail......at least it healed up nicely after a while, no bone loss or anything.

don't get me started on machining lathes either (my boss was showing me how to use one to polish a large stack of shafts/dies some of which weighed 10+ pounds. he says put the base in the clamp. tighten it down. turn it on etc). After he shows me, I am standing there polishing, and he is standing there talking to another co worker. about the third one I put in, tighten down, turn it on and it almost takes my head off on the way to putting a hole in the roof above me. The boss got mad, saying I did not tighten it down enough, then when he goes over and picks it up off the ground he turns and says.....OOH, I forgot to tell you, this is the only one that needs to be put in a totally different collet, my bad........ after it had almost killed me, then him on the way back down.
 
You know you are getting used to it when you quench the blade and it sizzles a little :eek: Thats some serious calluses.
One thing that really helps is to use a heat sink for your fingers pinch your earlobe when your fingers get hot or more recently I found a big chunk of aluminum works quite well.
and lose the gloves.....
 
Gloves are for girls if you are really freehanding you are going to get the horns messing with a bull... DB
 
As some have already stated gloves + any sort of grinder = bad mix.
I prefer bare hands and a small container of water to cool the work peice down.
 
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