Karma Is Alive and Well and Fully Functional in Iowa Tonight :D

ddavelarsen

ddavelarsen

Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Messages
5,179
Well guys I have to confess - when you all talk about your shop injuries I always have in the back of my mind, "Man, you just gotta be careful! Like Me!"

:D

Oh Yeah?

So I'm merrily grinding the edges of some fiber liner down to the scale blanks and for whatever reason (beer maybe? :rolleyes: ) I got my knuckle on the nice fresh 36 grit belt. Ouch!

Well the irony of the situation wasn't lost on me and I had a nice laugh at myself on your behalf. :D

So I'm gluing up the handle, using red colored epoxy to fill the filework. Cleaning the stray epoxy off my hands afterward with lots of nice cool acetone and I see a big red smear on my knuckle...and scrub that baby off! :eek: :D :rolleyes:

I'm still laughing, hope you guys can imagine and appreciate my dumb ass dance, all the while knowing I was gonna tell this story...

:D
 
I'd say no on the acetone, but the 36 grit knuckle will happen again...
I can'r recall the amount of times I've taken the fingernails back past the quick doing lapidary work.
The cool water on the diamond grinding wheels kind of numbs the fingertips just enough to not realize the nails are gone...
Dave, I'd not use acetone to rinse with, as it goes through the skin, cuts or no cuts...
I like lacquer thinner better to remove it, but nitrile gloves keep it off the fingers to start with...
 
howiesatwork said:
Dave, I'd not use acetone to rinse with, as it goes through the skin, cuts or no cuts...
I like lacquer thinner better to remove it, but nitrile gloves keep it off the fingers to start with...
Click to expand...
Is that a carcinogenic issue? Seems like I've heard about that before, frankly, but somehow did not internalize the warning.

I have tried gloves but they start sticking to each other and just get in the way and make a mess; I end up pulling em off before the job is done. (Did I mention, there's little finesse in the Larsen shop?)

I'll make the switch to lacquer thinner, at least for cleanup. Thanks.
 
My main problem latley is my 2 first fingers have burn marks where the duct tape I wear melts on my fingers...YEOWCH!!
I have blisters that turn into scabs for like a month!
 
This may be a stupid question, but has anyone ever thought about using those super heat-proof gloves for grinding?
 
Those 'railroad style' work gloves (you know ...with the stripes on the cuffs) they sell just about everywhere work just fine.
 
ddavelarsen said:
Is that a carcinogenic issue? Seems like I've heard about that before, frankly, but somehow did not internalize the warning.

I have tried gloves but they start sticking to each other and just get in the way and make a mess; I end up pulling em off before the job is done. (Did I mention, there's little finesse in the Larsen shop?)

I'll make the switch to lacquer thinner, at least for cleanup. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I don't think acetone is carcenogenic like benzene and toluene are. You can look up the MSDS sheet on it on google. Aint the internet great?
 
I look at knuckles as being the same as cat wisker's ment to be used as sensers. I never paid to much attention to it but there's 14 on each hand. Very rare to see an old X carpenter with 28 of them but looking back my age group seemed to have less of those type of accidents than the group 10 years older. Right now I've only got 2 dinged up knucks. One thats been healing up for at least a week and a brand new one from last night. Gloves do help if you can stand to wear the darn things. The last couple years I worked as a carpenter you were made to wear gloves. Normally the only time I'll wear gloves is from the second heat on while I'm drifting an eye of a hawk. I even bought a pear of the Mechanic's gloves and I can't stand wearing them either. Anybody found any good cheap gloves that are really comfortable?
 
I cant find a pair of gloves that are belt resistant so I keep rewrapping my gloves with duct tape ;)
 
I very seldom get bit from the belt grinder but now that I've said that it will happen. Burns are my number one problem and then 4" angle grinders. I think what we all need is a recording of the wife saying "Why don't you put your gloves on?" going off every 5 minutes in the shop as a reminder.
 
Kevlar gloves are what I use up through about 120 grit, then go bare handed. They'll still be there with a 24 grit rub, and I'll tell you what, 24 grit will eat through your flesh quick!

I've never worn gloves while forging, I can't stand the loss of feedback

Tony
 
Chiro75 said:
This may be a stupid question, but has anyone ever thought about using those super heat-proof gloves for grinding?
Click to expand...

jiminy said:
Those 'railroad style' work gloves (you know ...with the stripes on the cuffs) they sell just about everywhere work just fine.
Click to expand...

We use those "railroad" gloves in the polish shop at work when buffing bronze. They do work surprisingly well. However, if you're using a work rest, be very careful grinding with gloves. A nicked knuckle is a walk in the park compared with what could happen to you if that glove gets sucked in between the belt and rest.

-Allin
 
I wear the railroad gloves when I'm rough grinding, but after HT it's no more gloves for me. Those gloves are so cheap I'd feel foolish not to use them (something like $1.30 at HF), and the heat resistance saves me a lot of time so long as I keep them dry. ;) I tape the fingers up like Brian, but since I've found them so cheap I buy half a dozen pair at a time and switch em out until they all have split fingers, then tape them all up and go to town... :D One thing I've learned is to buy them tighter than I would other gloves, gives me more control grinding.

Thanks Steve, I'll google for MSDS info, hadn't thought of that.

I keep bumping the stupid knuckle every time I reach in my pocket, laughing every time. :D
 
I found along the way, that I don't like wearing gloves while grinding. The real thin goatskin driving gloves aren't too bad, but it is a fact that I do better when I can feel the most. I keep the blades cooler that way too. It is a operant conditioning thing, if you grind bare handed you learn to not screw up as often.

I don't shoot or use an axe or dress game with gloves on either.
 
My thoughts:

Dave, I hear the humor of your situation. Funny how karma works, huh? I'm superstitious I guess. One thing I truly believe in is the power of Fate. The First Law of the Power of Fate is: One must NEVER say he will never experience the misfortunes of others, lest he increase the likelihood of suffering a similar mishap. True? :)

On grinding:

I don't wear gloves anymore. I'm just careful. I skinned a knuckle on an 80-grit a couple weeks ago. It's finally gotten to the stage where I chewed the last chunk of dead skin off it. I don't feel that I need gloves to grind with because of the heat because when it gets too hot to hold, it gets a dunk in the bucket. A quick wipe on a rag and I'm back to the grind.

Also, I'd like to add that if you have a tool rest on a belt grinder or even a grinding wheel, that the safest practice is to keep it as close to the grinding surface as possible. This greatly reduces the chance of getting anything stuck behind it. This was actually recommended to me by an OSHA inspector during a plant tour once. I picked his brain later on, and he said it was like the pinch points on a printing press, and to notice how close they were to the cylinders so we couldn't get our fingers caught. Made a lot of sense. So now when I use a rest, I keep it snugged up to the belt and I consider it an expendible item. I snug it until it contacts teh belt and gives off sparks. Eventually, it wears down and makes just the right amount of space between the belt and the platen.
 
Way to go Dave! How sweet was that? I 've got a feeling it was more than one damn when that acetone took hold of you. You glove wearers out there. Your fingers won't learn that reflex reaction thing anywhere near as quick as they will with those bare pinkies out there. Get real.
 
I guess I'm not man enough to think that loosing the flesh over my knuckles is fun, but hey, to each his own :)
 
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