to wear or not to wear, that is the question

[HowardH]

Gloves, that is.  After having to dig out numerous splinters from my hands after my latest project, I began to wonder about using gloves while festooling.  I know mechanics who use them all the time and they have to have even more finger dexterity than we do at times.  If you use them, what kind do you get?  Do you prefer fingerless or full fingered?  I use the blue latex while painting or staining, don't know why I wouldn't use some other kind while still in the machining stage. 

 

[Michael Kellough]

I wear blue nitrile gloves all the time. They greatly improve my grip.
My dry skin is the functional definition of "butter fingers".

The do help a little in avoiding splinters but you have to learn not
to wipe your hand across a sawn edge to knock the fuzzies off
because that'll wreck the gloves.

When I'm doing slightly rougher work I wear nitrile coated nylon stretch gloves.
They have a good grip too until they get too dusty.
Avoid laundering because it makes the nitrile slick.

 

[EcoFurniture]

Wearing gloves is one of the most dangerous things you can do while working on power tools.
Reason:
Imagine a fast spinning blade/router bit. Now think how this tool performs when you feed a piece of wood through. A nice clean cut, right? The same would happen if you get your hand/fingers to it. A nice and clean cut (at least most of the times). Therefore you have good chances that it could get re-attached! Now imagine feeding something like a fabric through. It would get caught in the blade and be pulled in or shred to pieces! Can you imagine having your body attached to that?

That's the reason you should never ever wear any loose clothing, gloves, rings or watches while machining.
Trust me, I have worked as a paramedic on an ambulance and in the ER. Not pretty!

Pretty nasty pictures here: Ouch

 

[Frank Pellow]

I would like to be able to wear gloves when using power tools, particularly when using them outside in sub-freezing temperatures, but I have never found any that I was comfortable with.  I feal the same way about driving a car with gloves.  Somehow I have less control with gloves than I do with my bare hands (even though they be numb, nicked, paint splattered, and splinter filled  :-[)

 

[Tom L]

I too am a big fan of nitrile gloves.  I use the disposable exam type from Costco.    I feel they give my very dry skin just enough protection from rough wood and sawdust, without being unsafe around spinning objects.  When hit with anything sharp or fast moving they tear away without tugging at my hand.  Due to the occasional large splinter, I rarely have all of the nitrile fingers intact after a few hours in the workshop, but at least a significant portion of my hands were protected from minor abrasions.

Also, I use them either alone or under thicker gloves while working outside during our rainy northwest weather, and they provide at least a small amount of insulation and wind protection.  I'm certainly warmer with them on than off.

Since my hands also tend to sweat a bit, I shy away from any brands that come powdered with talc (or corn starch or whatever...). 

Also, you get a bit more abrasion resistance from the disposable nitrile gloves versus the disposable latex gloves.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I never wear gloves. I hate it when painting because I loose the 'feel' for the brush. When working with power tools it can be dangerous. A glove gets caught a lot easier by spinning parts then a finger. But my biggest reason is I don't think it's comfortable. Only when it's cold do I use gloves.

 

[JeromeM]

Wearing gloves is one of the most dangerous things you can do while working on power tools.
Reason:
Imagine a fast spinning blade/router bit. Now think how this tool performs when you feed a piece of wood through. A nice clean cut, right? The same would happen if you get your hand/fingers to it. A nice and clean cut (at least most of the times). Therefore you have good chances that it could get re-attached! Now imagine feeding something like a fabric through. It would get caught in the blade and be pulled in or shred to pieces! Can you imagine having your body attached to that?

That's the reason you should never ever wear any loose clothing, gloves, rings or watches while machining.
Trust me, I have worked as a paramedic on an ambulance and in the ER. Not pretty!

Pretty nasty pictures here: Ouch

I agree the pictures are nasty and people should read accident reports to be aware of what not to do.

But I have never yet seen any reports that support your contention that gloves increase the risk apart from one, or more, related to wood chippers.

IMHO a, correct for the job, glove will often help safety.

For example when using a chain saw gloves with ballistic or cut resistant material is recommended and they have an EU standard EN381-7.

I would be very interested to read anything that supports your statement.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Wearing gloves is one of the most dangerous things you can do while working on power tools.
Reason:
Imagine a fast spinning blade/router bit. Now think how this tool performs when you feed a piece of wood through. A nice clean cut, right? The same would happen if you get your hand/fingers to it. A nice and clean cut (at least most of the times). Therefore you have good chances that it could get re-attached! Now imagine feeding something like a fabric through. It would get caught in the blade and be pulled in or shred to pieces! Can you imagine having your body attached to that?

That's the reason you should never ever wear any loose clothing, gloves, rings or watches while machining.
Trust me, I have worked as a paramedic on an ambulance and in the ER. Not pretty!

Pretty nasty pictures here: Ouch

I agree the pictures are nasty and people should read accident reports to be aware of what not to do.

But I have never yet seen any reports that support your contention that gloves increase the risk apart from one, or more, related to wood chippers.

IMHO a, correct for the job, glove will often help safety.

For example when using a chain saw gloves with ballistic or cut resistant material is recommended and they have an EU standard EN381-7.

I would be very interested to read anything that supports your statement.

Even though I am not comforable with gloves, I do wear gloves when using a chain saw -very thick ones with but nubs to assist gripping.  I do this because, in my opinion, the risk to my hands (and to me)  is much  greater with a chain saw than with any of my other tools.

 

[Jonhilgen]

I'm a pretty tall, skinny guy and I have the hardest time staying warm in the winter (even here in Charleston, SC) which is why I do wear gloves.  I just bought a pair of Mechanix "framer gloves" a couple of months ago to replace a pair that I've had for a couple of years.  These give you the dexterity you need, as well as splinter protection.  For some reason, none of the big box stores stock this type of glove, but I think it is actually cheaper to buy them directly from the website since they don't charge for shipping even on small orders!  Mechanix says that you shouldn't wash them, but lets face it, they really start to smell after a while.  So I just throw them in the washing machine and they seem to hold up.

http://www.mechanix.com/cg-framer-glove

Oh yeah, I got in a fight with a table saw years ago and lost.  I was wearing the fingerless gloves, but that wasn't what caused it...I was just plain careless.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

A buddy of mine got into a bad accident from gloves.  He was using a horizontal mortiser.  Our process was to clean the table after each mortise with a blast of compressed air.  He was tired and noticed a bit of dust left on the table.  Without thinking, he flicked the dust off with his gloved hand.  The spinning bit caught the blade and pulled in hand in.  Luckily the guy at the next machine killed the mortiser in time to save his hand, but there was a big pool of blood when I went into the shop to see what all the commotion was about.

I will wear gloves when no power tools are in use, stacking rough lumber or finishing, but never-ever around spinning blades, not even Festool blades.  I think Festool has done a good job on safety, way safer than the tools they replaced in my shop.

I have tried fingerless gloves, but just get annoyed by the parts that are left out in the cold.

 

[Wim]

I only use gloves when handling rough and heavy timber or sheets. After some time you will learn (or not of course) NOT to slide your fingers or hand along the edge of wood. And when I screw in or out screws, I'm very careful not to touch the screws in the process. They can have quite nasty steel splinters. My Swiss officers pocket knife has a pair of fine tweezers and it came in very handy on numerous times.
I need to feel tools to be able to apply the correct amount of force and to steer the tool. With gloves you lose much of the "touch".

 

[rollincrafts]

Gloves and revolving machinery do not mix.... PERIOD. 

One of my co-workers, a very experienced tool-and-die maker, found that out the hard way yesterday.  He was wearing gloves while operating a lathe, and one got caught, with predictable results.  (Lost a hand.... 'nuff said.)

 

[Jonhilgen]

After hearing your co-worker lost a hand, I think I changed my mind about wearing gloves.  Cold hands are better than mangled ones.

 

[busybeaver]

When it comes to gloves, some relatively broad, simple rules that seem to work well for me: (1) Wear gloves when handling materials, especially treated lumber; (2) If using power tools in cold weather, set them up out of the wind(yes, this is sometimes easier said than done), and near a heat source (when available); (3) Do not wear gloves when using power tools and/or machinery.

I've arrived at these rules from last few generations of my family that have woodworking as a hobby in addition to working in various professions including: farming, construction, paving, meat packing, manufacturing, medical and prosthetics (aritificial limb creation/fitting).

Bad things happen when gloves mix with power tools and/or power machinery. It is only a matter of when bad things will happen, not a matter of if they will happen.

 

[tbellemare]

Joe:

That's a scary story... 'Glad you didn't get sucked in with it!

I have an uncle who's a grain farmer in ND that did get sucked in with it. The difference is that what got sucked in was his whole arm and "it" was his winter coat into the hopper auger of a combine. It almost took his whole arm off.

There are so many ways to make mistakes around moving equipment that you really need to stay on your toes. My theory is that the easier it is to do things, the more complacent we get.

I was thinking about this earlier today before reading this thread and I think it gets progressively harder to think about the possible disasters that can befall someone the easier it gets to perform a task.

I'll use, as example, the old way to fell a tree...

When you're swinging an axe, and those few wood fibers that remain keeping it vertical are about to go, you start to hear them tearing. When you're running a chainsaw, you don't hear that as well and the whole process happens much faster so I think it's easier to drop the tree on someone unintentionally. Of course this all changes for the better with better technique.

It's the same with power tools. Plowing into a job (farm pun intended) with power tools (or farm implements) without proper respect for their strength, is an accident waiting to happen.

To return to the OP's thought, I wear gloves a lot but not much when around powered equipment, except my chainsaw. It might have the most power of all of them, oddly enough. Go figure...

Tom

 

[Frank Pellow]

...
To return to the OP's thought, I wear gloves a lot but not much when around powered equipment, except my chainsaw. It might have the most power of all of them, oddly enough. Go figure...

Tom

Tom I am with you on this. As I said above, I do wear gloves when using a chainsaw (my scariest tool and tree felling is my scariest job), but I don't wear gloves with any other machinery.

 

[erikfsn]

Gloves, that is.  After having to dig out numerous splinters from my hands . . .  If you use them, what kind do you get?

Ironclad makes some nice work gloves. They're a little pricey, but comfortable.

 

[John D]

I was wearing some of those tight work gloves when drilling some pressure treated lumber on my drill press. (I really hate getting splinters from pressure treated lumber).  I brushed some chips off the work piece and the drill bit grabbed the glove and proceeded to wrap my index finger around the drill bit.  My immediate reaction was to try to pull my hand out of the drill press.  Of course the drill press would not give me my hand back.  It took a couple seconds for me to realize I could shut the drill press off.  The drill bit made a mess of my finger and the fabric/threads in the glove messed up the muscles in the finger.  It took several years before I could actually grab anything with that finger.  After 5 years I can now almost fully bend the finger, but it still hurts.  I was lucky in that I didn't get cut too badly, but the internal damage to the hand has been long lasting. 

So my vote is no to gloves when you're working with anything that spins. 

John

 

[Wim]

Another thing not to wear is (a) ring(s) on your finger(s). Sorry for the complicated way of writing, it is my mathematical tic.
Once I saw a guy working on a Diesel-generator and he touch the battery-plus and ground with his almost new wedding ring. One flash and the next second his ring finger was on the ground with the ring still glowing. Before that I did not liked any jewelery on my body beside a wristwatch and after that the dislike changed into hate.
And do not be so snobby wearing a necktie when woodworking, not even for the president.

 

[peter halle]

Another thing not to wear is (a) ring(s) on your finger(s). Sorry for the complicated way of writing, it is my mathematical tic.
Once I saw a guy working on a Diesel-generator and he touch the battery-plus and ground with his almost new wedding ring. One flash and the next second his ring finger was on the ground with the ring still glowing. Before that I did not liked any jewelery on my body beside a wristwatch and after that the dislike changed into hate.
And do not be so snobby wearing a necktie when woodworking, not even for the president.

Absolutely on both counts.  I gave up with the wedding band after mashing it on my finger.  Neck ties - I watched someone get one caught in a conveyor belt.  He managed to break it thru brute strength.  He was lucky.

Peter