Thread: gloves for metalworking?

One of the maintenance blokes at work left a pair of these lying around the other day:

48-201 Ansell Sensilite Black Ploy Urethane Palm Dip Glove (12 Packs) - Industrial Gloves

I tried them on before handing them back to him and they seemed like they would be ideal for metalworking. How many of you wear gloves when doing metalwork? If you use them, which ones do you use?

Chris

If its anything heavy i use proper leather gloves,riggers or deerskin, other than that its the ninja type gloves. I was once handed a pair of ninja type gloves with fleecy liner and they felt nice but after when i went to take them off the liner pulled inside out and i couldn't wear them after that, not sure if they were a dodgie pair or not but i was not interested in the lined ones after that

Originally Posted by jack620

One of the maintenance blokes at work left a pair of these lying around the other day:

48-201 Ansell Sensilite Black Ploy Urethane Palm Dip Glove (12 Packs) - Industrial Gloves

I tried them on before handing them back to him and they seemed like they would be ideal for metalworking. How many of you wear gloves when doing metalwork? If you use them, which ones do you use?

Chris

I have some of those gloves and use them sometimes for metalwork. Mostly in cold weather. I also wear leather riggers gloves but one has to consider the risk of the glove catching in revolving machinery. I did a silly thing with holding a part (only plastic) for milling in my drill and got the glove caught in the cutter. It was the type linked above. I held my hand rigid and the drill stopped and I was able to turn it off. Got a scar but no other damage. Lucky it was only a drill press. The glove was ruined.

Dean

I thought wearing gloves around revolving machinery was a no-no because of the chance of snagging and pulling your hand/arm in.
Same as for loose clothing. unbuttoned long sleeves and loose long hair.
There are plenty of horror stories of people being caught up in exposed rotating pto's/machinery. There a number of cases of women having their long hair caught in pto shafts and being scalped alive.
Try and imagine that revolving shaft pulling your face down into it and ripping your scalp off.
Now that hopefully should keep you away from the nasty bits.


Ken

Gloves can be a real hazard when using a big pedestal grinder. When working with hot metal they can be OK ie boiler-making. On Lathes and drills I prefer no gloves. Machinery lends to leap out and bit one so I leave the gloves off when using a lathe. Gloves tend to dull the sense of touch when handeling metal. I have a few dodgy fingers but after 45 years in the trade I still have ten digits. 4-6-4

Hi Chris,

Gloves are handy for welding and whenever you are handling hot stuff, those ones you linked to might be good for general work, unloading stock, and maybe handling material that might have sharp cutting burrs.

But, not for use around rotating machinery like lathes, drill press or mills and so on.

Even bits of rag can be dangerous around rotating machinery, I got caught once drilling a hole with a cordless drill using the rag trick, and got a finger caught in the cloth... not much fun as I recall...

Regards
Ray

Hi Ray,
I've got some very heavy duty welding gloves.

I've experienced the rag in the drill. Actually it was my T shirt which got caught in the spade bit I was using to drill some holes in a timber joist. The T shirt wound itself around the bit and drew the spade bit into my guts. I couldn't let go of the trigger because the drill had twisted anti-clockwise jamming my hand against my body. I eventually managed to get my hand off the trigger in time to prevent serious injury. Very scary.

I reckon the gloves I linked to will be good for hacksaw & filing work, which is where I tend to do most damage to my hands (I'm impatient and tend to work too fast ).

Originally Posted by RayG

Hi Chris,

Gloves are handy for welding and whenever you are handling hot stuff, those ones you linked to might be good for general work, unloading stock, and maybe handling material that might have sharp cutting burrs.

But, not for use around rotating machinery like lathes, drill press or mills and so on.

Even bits of rag can be dangerous around rotating machinery, I got caught once drilling a hole with a cordless drill using the rag trick, and got a finger caught in the cloth... not much fun as I recall...

Regards
Ray

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU RAY.

Originally Posted by RayG

But, not for use around rotating machinery like lathes, drill press or mills and so on.

In general I agree, but there's rotating machinery and there's rotating machinery. eg I wear gloves when using an angle grinder and chainsaws and while reciprocating is not necessarily rotating I use gloves when operating the metal hacksaw at work.

Perhaps surprisingly in this OSH document on machine safety all they say for lathes is "Avoid using gloves etc . . . "

I agree that it is dangerous to use gloves near revolving machinery but when I operate my lathe I don't put my hands near the revolving chuck. I use gloves because I suffer from cracked skin at the tips, from the edge of the nail. This is painful and gloves reduce this happening.

Most contact with the lathe is with the hand wheels and tailstock. Safety is using common sense more than anything. My experience with work related safety is that most safety rules are designed to protect the lowest common denominator from injury. We had a vintage casual who had had 3 days induction (safety), pour caustic into a totally full tub of water and wondered why she got splashed with it.

Keep away from revolving parts with or without gloves is my idea. If you are not going near the chuck there is no risk. The risk is based on whether you can trust yourself to do the right thing and not just touch the machined part just once to see what it feels like etc. Common sense.

Dean

What type of gloves do you wear Dean?

Along time ago I was production drilling, the swarf was being a little painful on my left hand so I put on one of those tight thin cotton gloves. About 5 minutes later the drill took it back off in the blink of an eye, lesson learnt.

Stuart

Agree, I sometimes wear gloves, sometimes not, depending on what I'm doing. Unlike some, I typically DO wear them when at the bench grinders. I'm genuinely interested in how a grinding wheel can draw a gloved hand in, on the other hand (excuse the pun) they do protect from the heat and have often saved smaller cuts etc when the material has been sharp. Of course I always wear gloves when welding, indeed have a special pair I reserve just for the purpose so as not to contaminate the TIG with oil and so on.

Dean instead of thick gloves, and I have to agree with others, they are dangerous around a lathe, have you considered the blue nitrile gloves? KBS Intouch Blue Glove

I use these quite a lot, indeed tonight as a matter of fact, especially if I'm doing really dirty work or handling solvents, also when painting or powder coating so I don't contaminate the work after degreasing. They're not quite as natural as bare hands, but pretty darn good just the same. The beauty if not having to scrub with hand cleaner when finished. Instead just peel them off and away you go. Because I'm such a tight-wad I turn then back out the correct way and keep using one pair until they break or leak, so a box seems to last forever, however though they're not expensive. I think they would protect your hands well without the safety concerns.

Pete

http://www.drsindustries.com.au/p400...5.html?cp=8_31


these one are great. they don't last long at work thou.
you can get used to wearing them but for some jobs like bench grinders ect its best not to wear gloves.

If I have to pick up something hot or heavy and sharp, I use the old thick style leather gloves.
For anything else like welding and grinding etc I don't wear gloves. If I am sharpening HSS on the bench grinder, feeling the heat through my fingers tells me when to dunk it in the water.

Dave