Thread: Woodworking Gloves

Geebung, This might seem obvious but I wouldn't blame the gloves for his accident, I'd be asking why his hand was that close to a spining auger

Originally Posted by China

Geebung, This might seem obvious but I wouldn't blame the gloves for his accident, I'd be asking why his hand was that close to a spining auger

Any time there is machinery operating there is the possibility of loose clothing, hair, etc. to getting caught and hauling its wearer into the workings. I wouldn't be wearing gloves near any of it.

Ian

Yeh there was an extensive discussion a while ago about gloves and machinery.
As a general rule, not smart to wear gloves around machinery.

However.( and there was some discussion about this)
There is certain machinery that wearing gloves inconsidered beat practice and specified safety equipment.
Chainsaws was one of the prime examples.
others included were brush cutters, chippers and large hand grinders and many metalworking situations.
The overriding issue was that the hands should not be anywhere near the rotating cutting parts.... AND..... there was a significant risk of hand injury from, material being handled or waste being thrown from the machine.

Would I wear gloves using most stationary woodworking machines..... most certainly not.
Would I wear gloves using a chainsaw, much of the time yes.
Would I try telling a boilermaker he shouldn't be wearing gloves while working with hot, sharp metal......No I value mey good looks.

Would I use gloves at the drill press...... HMMM...... the vast majority of the time no....... If I was working with hot, sharp, metal parts.......in many cases yes I would..... but......I would be thinking long and hard first and making sure I was using proper work holding methods.

cheers

I agree 100% with soundman - there are machines and machines - and circumstances and circumstance.

Just like you don't put your hands near a TS blade of CS chain anytime its moving, when you wear gloves you don't put your hand anywhere near the rotating bits anytime.

The big one for me is chainsaws - I'd heard about whitefinger and when I experienced it I found the gloves very useful.

Originally Posted by soundman

However....

cheers

Point taken Soundman...there are circumstances which dictate that one should wear some protection. I was just thinking of the types of tools that are commonly used by people in this forum such as table saws, lathes, drill presses and the like. I too wear gloves when using my whipper snipper etc.

And Yes China - the guy was a bit of a lug nut - despite being told numerous times not to put his hand anywhere near the auger while it was rotating he seemed to think that he knew better.

Bunnys and some of the other toolies stores now sell more hi tech work gloves for all sorts of jobs, leather/swade palms with stretch backs etc so they are a nice tight fit, no loose flapping bits of leather. They also have good sensitivity. You can get general purpose gloves, heat resistant, car repair etc. They are around the $30 - $40 a pair is the down side but if you only usethem when you realy need them and look after them they should last a while.

Never wear gloves around workshop machinery. Never ever ever..EVER wear gloves when operating a drill or drill press. The very nature of these machines mean that your hand must at some point come into contact with the chuck and the workpiece. The risk of serious injury whilst wearing gloves is much greater than most people ever expect.

As for large machinery, I do not think that I fancy being dragged bodily into a large noisy angry machine by my tough riggers gloves.

prozac

Originally Posted by prozac

Never wear gloves around workshop machinery. Never ever ever..EVER wear gloves when operating a drill or drill press. The very nature of these machines mean that your hand must at some point come into contact with the chuck and the workpiece. The risk of serious injury whilst wearing gloves is much greater than most people ever expect.

As for large machinery, I do not think that I fancy being dragged bodily into a large noisy angry machine by my tough riggers gloves.

prozac

I agree with all the comment above and those similar. Surely the callused hands of someone in medicine has no bearing on being able to competently go about their work, nor should their patients feel negatively towards someone who does?

(please don't interpret my comments as being in anyway meant to be offensive)

Originally Posted by prozac

Never wear gloves around workshop machinery. Never ever ever..EVER wear gloves when operating a drill or drill press.
prozac

Yeh you just try to tell that to anyone in heavy engineering.
If you are sticking big heavy, sharp hot pieces of metal into a drill press all day, you will be guaranteed a hand injury if you dont wear gloves.

No it isn't a given that you will contact or handdle the chuck or the drill.
A worker in a production situation may not need to change a bit or so much as touch the chuck for hours.
Then a glove will almost certainly be needed to handle the very hot drill.
As I said before in these sitiation there are very specific safety measures, in particular workholding methods that will be used.

No body in their right mind would try to drill a 3/4" hole thru a piece of 50 x 10mm flat mild steel without it firmly clamped........likewise it would be foolish to try to handle a workpiece like that after it had several holes that size drilled in it.
the hands gloved or not should not be anywhere near the rotating parts.

This is the same issue that was raised last time.

There are many "safety" dogmas from the past that arise from the use of dangerous practice.... you only have to hear some of the US derived insistances concerning "table saw safety" to realise many of them derive from having no guard or riving knife on the blade.

These "never ever" insistances are just not helpfull.

So handling very splintery rough sawn timber on the saw bench.......would you rather have guaranteed serious cuts and splinters or use good pracitce wear gloves, have the proper guards fitted and keep your hands well away from the blade.

cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

Yeh you just try to tell that to anyone in heavy engineering.
If you are sticking big heavy, sharp hot pieces of metal into a drill press all day, you will be guaranteed a hand injury if you dont wear gloves.

No it isn't a given that you will contact or handdle the chuck or the drill.
A worker in a production situation may not need to change a bit or so much as touch the chuck for hours.

I think that you are jumping ahead of yourself there Soundman. I doubt very much that anyone on this forum has a fully automated machinery setup in their shed for hobby woodworking.

prozac

Originally Posted by prozac

I think that you are jumping ahead of yourself there Soundman. I doubt very much that anyone on this forum has a fully automated machinery setup in their shed for hobby woodworking.

prozac

err . . . hang on, your original statement was "Never wear gloves around workshop machinery." and now you want to change the baseline to "hobby woodworking"?

So what do you classify as (hobby) workshop machinery? I generally wear full length leather gloves when using my $99 welder and my $39 angle grinder, and short leather gloves when using my rescued out-of-the dumpster 12" chainsaw.

However, I don't wear gloves when using a TS/BS/DP, lathe, mill or planer/thicknesser.

I am certain there will be quite a number of people with common or garden drill presses who may have the ocasion to drill several large holes on a heavy piece of metal.
There will also be a great many who have grinders and use them on metal.

There most certainly will be those who handle very splintery rough sawn hardwood and would be inclined to push said same thru a table saw.

If you hadn't already experienced this several of the australian hardwoods produce very sharp and agressive splinters with great ease and in good quantity.

Gloves are an important piece of personal protective equipment, like all protective equipment, carefull thaught is required when using PPE, not inappropriate generalisations.

cheers

I have had a career on shipping and in the offshore oil and gas industry working on projects such as the underwater pipeline for Woodside, to dredging and oil rigs. I have seen many injuries in these industries, some of the worst by personnel wearing gloves whilst using machinery as innoccuous as a drill press.

To establish the boundaries in this discussion it is only necessary to look through the posts in this thread which by and large suggest home workshop situations. My comments were based on this premise and upon injuries that I have observed.

prozac

In a past life of 25years as a refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic (large commercial systems) I ended up with a condition on my hands from years of using hygroscopic refrigeration oils. My hands would calous up and then peel, crack and bleed, leaving pink soft skin where the layers had peeled away. Very painful and unpleasant when you have to use your hands to make a living. So yes I learned to use gloves around all manner of spining hungry machinery. It boils down to awarness.
You have to allow a greater safety zone around your hands and be very concious where you put them. Now with purpose made gloves for mechanics and machinest the risks are less but non the less still there. Use them with caution if you have no other choice.