Why the glove war?

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
5,703
I mean why are there people who swear by using gloves and have been doing so for half a century and others who say that it's safer to play Russian roulette than wear gloves around anything that spins faster than the big hand on the clock? :confused:

Why is there no consensus on this?

Pad
 
It is really a matter of personal preference. I don't usually wear gloves, but once in a while, an encounter with a 36 grit belt makes me cover up until I get sick of it.
 
I sometimes wear gloves, depending on the task at hand. When I'm forging, I wear welding gloves. If I'm grinding off scale or doing rough profiling work on the grinder, I wear tight-fitting leather work gloves, mainly to keep my hands away from the really coarse belts and so I don't have to cool the piece quite as often. (The gloves get chewed through on the index fingers, and I just tape them up with masking tape. Good to go again. :)) I also use gloves with my angle grinder.

Most other stuff is sans gloves, including the drill press, buffer, bandsaw, scroll saw, more detailed blade grinding, etc.

I've weighed the risks, and to me the probability of grinding off my knuckle on a coarse belt seems much higher than the chance of my gloves causing an accident.

Working with machinery is always risky, so I try to take different factors into consideration.

Josh
 
I convinced myself to never wear gloves by purposely feeding a glove between a spinning belt and a 10" serrated contact wheel. I have no doubt it would have basically torn my hand off its wrist. The 2hp motor didnt even take a dip in speed, it just ripped the glove to shreds and spit it against the concrete wall behind the grinder.
 
The last few years I worked as a carpenter around the turn of the century a lot of the company's were forcing you to wear gloves. Up until then it was wear gloves when you wanted. Some insurance company must have done some study on work related injury's and seemed to think gloves saved them money and company policy changed. I've never liked wearing gloves unless I've got some hot steel in my hands. Other than that I find gloves to be uncomfortable. Also make it hard to pick ones nose.
 
I think it is more personal choice.
I grind after heat treat so I want to be sure the steel doesn't get too hot....so no gloves for me. Also most of my knives have under 3-1/2" blades, so easier to hold and feel the grinding ...for me.
Conversley, I know that some of the most respected makers in the craft wear gloves.....and some don't....
No wrong answer....I like that kind of thread!:)
 
I wear gloves rough grinding because I tend to get the metal fairly hot. After HT no gloves I want to feel the steel. I do have a glove finger (cut the finger off an old welding glove) that I wear on my index finger,I have found that even 220 grit belts can remove skin rapidly.
 
Gloves make me ham fisted, and to me actually seem more dangerous at times.. Loose stuff hangin off hands to get caught in moving things etc.. I do use the thumb protectors though.. They are similar to cutting fingers off of gloves, but they sell ya just the fingers;-) They save you from burning your thumbs while grinding, and belt cuts etc.
 
Trace Rinaldi said:
Gloves make me ham fisted, and to me actually seem more dangerous at times.. Loose stuff hangin off hands to get caught in moving things etc.. I do use the thumb protectors though.. They are similar to cutting fingers off of gloves, but they sell ya just the fingers;-) They save you from burning your thumbs while grinding, and belt cuts etc.
Click to expand...

where you buying these thumb protectors?
vern
 
Trugrit carries them (where I got mine). So do most carving supply places -- that's what they're really made for. You can get them made for either thumb or finger.
 
I was thumbing through the Enco catalog and they sell 'finger tape" designed for use just taping the tips of your fingers up. I'm seriously looking into those. I can just tape the areas like my thumbs and index fingers that seem to take the most beating.
 
I don't wear gloves at all while grinding because I find I have a better feel for what I'm doing that way. Also, it helps prevent me from getting the steel too hot, especially post HT.

I've worn gloves in the past, and once I was able to make myself switch to no gloves, I haven't had any problems, and I feel that I'm more in touch (pun) with the steel. I remember that when I wore gloves, they were always getting touched into the belt and wearing. A platen spaced closely to the belt while grinding could really ruin your day if you're wearing gloves. After I stopped wearing gloves, I've never had a problem getting my fingers into the belt beyond a very slight graze.

It's a risky business wearing gloves when working with something like a drill press, lathe, or saw, becuase anything slack or fabric can get easily caught up into the machinery and either twist your arm like a pretzel or pull you further into a rapidly moving blade or machine. Ever seen a demonstration of a crash test dummy wearing blue jeans getting pushed into a power take-off shaft from a well motor or tractor? Trust me, no one would live through that if they got well and truly caught up in it. A drill press or lathe has the same risks except you may just loose your hand instead of your life.

--nathan
 
Thanks for posting the link to the OCC clip. Never hurts to be reminded of the need for good shop safety practices.

Ken
 
I wear gloves when grinding. I do not use a platten, so do not have my fingers anywhere that they could get caught. I take them off for post HT grinding so as to feel the heat. I never wear gloves for any other shop work. I have worn gloves to grind for 37 years. I figure if they were a problem, I would have found out by now. My worst grinding injury happened about fifteen years ago, when I came off my stool too fast, and stuck my knee into a still turning 36 grit belt. That took 15 stitches, 7 of them internal. Maybe I need knee pads too!!
When your gloves get holes in the fingers, just wrap masking tape around them. I can make a pair last 2, or 3 years that way.
How many of you wear a heavy leather apron? I could have been killed a few years back when I let the point of a blade go into the wheel by accident. It slung it sideways into my upper gut. Left a red mark for week. I still don't wear an apron, but after that, I sometimes think about getting one.
 
I wear gloves for grinding and general metal work. I wear a forging glove ( like a baseball glove) and a welding glover (one on each hand) when forging.

I NEVER WEAR GLOVES WHEN OPERATING SPINNING OR ROTATING EQUIPMENT, Such as drill press, router, lathe.
Stacy
 
If you don't use a platten and don't have a frame gloves on a grinder are OK. It is easy for a grinder or sander to grab and wedge gloves or any cloth between the abrasive and the platten. If you are lucky the machine just stalls and blows a fuse. Of course you can also get wrapped up in a drill press or milling machine if you snag a glove or a rag.
 
I've worked in factory environment for over 25 years and have seen some horrific accidents involving rotating machinery. I will never, ever wear gloves when grinding, drilling, milling, etc. It's easy enough to stop and dip the part in water and then back to the grinder, but once a grinder grabs your glove and pulls you in, it's too late to do anything about it. Skin will grow back. Fingers and hands won't grow back.
 
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