# Gloves and woodworking.



## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

I have never been a fan of gloves of any kind. In my "twilight years" [I like that word] I am using them more. I see some people on You Tube using them with saws and I think that is dangerous. My problem is getting scrapes and they bleed and bleed because I take a low dose aspirin every day. So what do you guys do? Do you have a glove you really like?


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## JIMMIEM (Apr 4, 2010)

hawkeye10 said:


> I have never been a fan of gloves of any kind. In my "twilight years" [I like that word] I am using them more. I see some people on You Tube using them with saws and I think that is dangerous. My problem is getting scrapes and they bleed and bleed because I take a low dose aspirin every day. So what do you guys do? Do you have a glove you really like?


I feel your pain...literally. I sometimes wear gloves when installing screws to protect my fingers from the burrs.....not too smart when the screw threads grab onto the gloves.
I've seen the wrap material that they use around the finger tips to give some traction when pushing wood on a table saw or router table.
Cutting down on dish washing duties will cut down on the skin softening.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

bout the only time I wear gloves in the shop is while doing some finishes and milling rough cut lumber...
I use the below gloves. Purchase a size too small, so they fit like a second skin, a bit of a pain to get on when new, but
after a couple minutes, they stretch out. There are no guarantee's when wearing any kinda glove in the shop, but I"m 
pretty comfortable with these


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

The only glove I will wear when working around things that go round and round really fast are the nitril gloves. I feel, and this is solely my opinion, they offer enough protection, yet will still tear and not pull my hands in. Mind you, I've fortunately never had to test this theory yet. 

For just general work around the house or on the cars, I will either wear cotton work gloves or mechanix style gloves.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

I've seen several accidents resulting from wearing gloves around spinny machinery, so I won't wear gloves when running my machines. But I do wear leather gloves when moving lumber or sheet goods. 

Charley


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

I wear gloves for applying finishes. Don't wear them at all around spinning blades or cutters. No glove, not even chainmail will stop a saw blade or router bit. I, too have to be very careful of scratches and nicks. As someone recently said growing old is not for sissies.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Ditto with others - no gloves around spinning things but yes to protect my hands when I'm moving rough lumber, Nitrile or Vinyl gloves for finishes and stains, and heavy leather gloves with hot things.


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## kklowell (Dec 26, 2014)

Sometimes I think my skin will tear if the wind blows a bit too hard, it's gotten that thin! But, I don't wear gloves when running power tools in the shop.


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## Gene Howe (Jul 10, 2007)

Only when handling stock. NEVER around spinning blades.
A little blood is better than a lot.
No long sleeves or jewelry, either. I once got a sleeve caught in a stationary belt sander. Ruined the shirt, scared me good, lesson learned.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

I am just going to say +1 for what has already been said.

Dang Don, it sounded like you wrote my reply!

Gloves used when finishing or handling rough stock.

No gloves around anything rotating.


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

Handling plywood I use the same as Bill (TwoSkies57)

For finishing I use nitrile gloves as I have a free supply of them (from my S/O)


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

My back yard is filled with desert plants than when clearing, tear my skin like mad. For that I found heavy leather welders gloves are good. They are extra long and go up the arm almost a foot. Nitril for finishing. But I still manage to scrape the back of my hands now and again. I keep large bandages on hand as well as antiseptic hand cleaner to clean the wound immediately. They delivered my chemo through the back of my hand and after that, the skin there got pretty fragile. No gloves, sleeves or jewelry when using tools. The insulated, heated and AC'd shop makes that possible. Can't imagine working safely in a shop without having reasonable temp control. It was 107 degrees f (41.6 C) here yesterday, 75 f (24 C) in the shop.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Tom,

You did say the "insulated shop" makes things better, right?

Cheap stretchy gloves for painting and finishing - use them over and over til they tear -- saves the hands not having to use solvents and stuff

Leather for moving things

Bare hands when working around any tools in the shop. Band Aids are cheap.

HJ


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I like the Nitrile for working with finishes/solvents/anything toxic or caustic. The woven polyester fibre ones for handling lumber, anti-vibration (roto-hammer/brushcutter/splitting kindling)...I like them because they breathe!
For anything with thorns or splinters, I grab my Kevlar face-side coated gloves. VERY effective at preventing scratches and only middling effective at preventing punctures, but way better than anything other than heavy leather.
Other than that, I like leather Roping gloves when the weather gets cold and damp, here in the Pacific Northwest. Cat. #567

http://www.watsongloves.com/guides/Cut Resistant Guide_Vol 14_English_AL.pdf
Catalogue & Guides | Watson Gloves

_*Like everyone else; no gloves around spinning stuff (saws, DP, lathes, hand drills...other than my rotohammer)
_


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

I'm with you guys . When I pick up lumber and sheet goods I use those thin rubber gloves that are cotton on the back .
Try to avoid them as much as I can after that . Hate slivers though :fie:


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

honesttjohn said:


> Tom,
> 
> You did say the "insulated shop" makes things better, right?
> 
> ...


Did someone forget and use the "I" word again


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Heh...good one, Rick! lol


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

no gloves...


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

All I can do is echo what everyone else has said...gloves get checked at the door...


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

When at the home shop like most everyone, gloves latex type gloves for finishing and almost never for moving lumber and or sheet goods. I never where gloves when using a power tool in the shop.

At work is a different story. When I ran the Mill Room I started by adding long sleeves to the arms to help prevent the huge splinters (spears) that can be obtained by picking up an arm full of 2x4 SYP. I then added "Skin Gloves" with the nitrile on one side and poly woven on the back of the hand. I used these with the finger tips cut out. This was good to keep the splinters of OSB out of the hands and some of the finger yet still have some dexterity.

Now in construction I use the "Skin Gloves" with finger tips not cut off all of the time for carrying. cutting, and joining. I can get a splinter just by walking by a piece of OSB. BTW a good osb splinter takes between 3 to 10 days to get all of the splinter out. You can grab the splinter and it breaks. You can dig a hole in your skin to get it out but that doesn't work. It takes a number of days for it to eventually work itself out often times with a squeeze it pops right out. I am suppose to wear gloves at work while operating a saw or router and on occasion will have naked hands when I feel it's unsafe to wear gloves.

Every time I go to use a saw or router I look at my hands, the tool and what needs to be cut, visually go through the cut in my mind and look for possible accidents, say a prayer and use the tool! With the Good Lord Willing, when I do retire I will have all limbs and digits with out any dings, pins and scars from rotating metal blades.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Too many lessons beaten in to me by Machine Shop teachers, and too many examples in industry over the years. Grinders and lathes seem to be the biggest culprits. Some of the worst from people getting caught by sand paper when polishing pieces on the lathe, never pretty. Gloves are forbidden at any stationary tool at work.

At home I would definitely not use them on the lathe, grinder, jointer, or sanding station. The table saw, band saw, planer would concern me less if they were close fitting gloves, as your hands should never be anywhere close to the spinny things any way. That's why the Good Lord made push sticks and grippers to keep your fragile pieces as far away as practical.

If it feels wrong, don't do it. Trust your gut, respect your machinery.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

I'm happy to use gloves handling and moving rough stock. And that's it. No gloves for any woodworking in the shop, well maybe driving nails, but other than that none. I use thinned Titebond II for 99.99% of my finish work, so no need for gloves for that either.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

No gloves other than for finishing and handling toxic materials.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Pushing rough lumber through my planer and that's it.


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

JOAT said:


> I'm happy to use gloves handling and moving rough stock. And that's it. No gloves for any woodworking in the shop, well maybe driving nails, but other than that none. I use thinned Titebond II for 99.99% of my finish work, so no need for gloves for that either.


Theo why are you thinning the glue?


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, Don; Theo is using glue as the base ingredient to make a kind of glaze, not as glue. If it's thinned it'd be similar to Acrylic waterproofing solution, or liquid PVA that you use for prepping surfaces before ceramic tiling.
If it's thinned the first coat soaks right in...a GOOD thing! Bonds like you-know-what to a blanket. That stuff ain't _never_ comin' off.


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## Ghidrah (Oct 21, 2008)

I still do enough junk regularly that my hand palm meat is still pretty tough although the back of my hands have become sissies. A couple days ago I was replacing the heating elements and thermostats on the water heater. I got a couple slices on the back of my hand from the upper access panel lip.

The only time I wear gloves is working outside during the winter or while running, (during the late fall, winter and spring) and only on my left hand due to as I'm told "subclavian steal syndrome".


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