Fish filet glove

[pfduffy]

Having the good sense of my advanced years to stay far away from the AAW conflict raging on this page, I offer one small but useful tip; use a filet glove on your left hand when turning. Yes, cut the tip of the little finger off. The glove provides wonderful protection from sharp wood chips, from heat of the tool (--never ever happens to me!--) and it slides along the tool rest like silk. I had an old glove lying around and the thought struck me that it would work well in this application. Tried it, loved it.
Lets get back to good turnings and good fellowship. Philip

 

[Mark Wollschlager]

Is that the stainless steel reinforced , kevlar or another sort?
I have some of the kevlar carving gloves, but they seem a bit baggy.

Mark.

 

[Michael Stafford]

I am assuming you are speaking of the kevlar gloves not the chain mail type gloves....

I have several pair and never considered using them in that way...

 

[Rob Wallace]

When doing general roughing (and ONLY roughing!), I sometimes use a fingerless construction glove (close-fitting nylon with velcro closure strap and a leather-lined palm) on my left hand to fend-off bark flying and rough shavings until the piece is rounded-out and ready for more delicate shaping. Then the glove comes off....

Baggy gloves invite the real possibility of catching a glove on rotating wood, with very 'unpleasant' consequences. Be very careful when using gloves (long sleeves, long hair, neckties, jewelry, etc) while turning.

Rob

 

[Jamie Donaldson]

That's why I use....

a leather golf glove. That hide is still tougher than my hide, yet still quite thin enough to afford good "touch" with the tool.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Hang 'em high ... oops wrong thread. (shifting gears ...)

Our club has hosted several well-known demonstrators who also use various types of gloves with the fingertips removed. During casual discussions among club members who were present for the program and asked for their thoughts about the idea, the response almost always seemed to be that using gloves is unnecessary and could pose a risk of getting something caught and wrapped around the lathe that you would rather not experience.

I know that this point of view is often based on safety awareness training. I was an engineer for a large manufacturing company and nothing would get a shop employee (or anyone else for that matter) fired faster than violating a safety rule. Foremost amongst those safety rules was wearing anything that could get caught in rotating machinery such as gloves, jewelry, loose clothing, or long hair.

Shortly after I started turning, I received a good education on what it is like to get a finger wrapped around the spindle of a lathe. It was all over before I even knew that anything had happened, but the index finger of my right hand was now pointed in a direction that I did not think was possible. The ER doctor told me that it would have been better if my finger had broken and spared the ligaments from being torn up as they were. After a few months of physical therapy and five years of slowly recovering, my hand is mostly back to normal except for the range of motion of my index finger. I learned from the therapist that the hand is the slowest part of the body to recover from torn ligament injuries.

In my case, it was not a glove, but a piece of sandpaper that I was holding to sand the inside surface of a very shallow dish. The sandpaper latched onto a small bark inclusion and before the sandpaper could harmlessly slip out of my hand, my hand got jerked around for a couple rotations of the dish. Things happen fast and our reaction time, by comparison, is very slow.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Doesn't take long sleeves to get wrapped up. The spindle on the old Delta lathes was known to grab a short t-shirt sleeve from an unwary turner attempting to turn or sand around the headstock.

I've done frozen wood, birch with the bark slapping my knuckles and other woods with questionable bark adhesion which resolved with a throw and a whack. Still turning barehanded, because I'm too familiar with glove accidents in my other life.

If you don't like hot dry wood shavings against your hand, modify your choice of tool or hold direction to drop them away somewhere else. Or just quit pressing, and that's often enough to cool the cut.

 

[Neil S]

I'm not going to recommend anyone else do so, but I'm a dedicated glove wearer myself.

Turned bare handed for many years (40ish), but now prefer to use gloves and reckon I would have clocked up 10,000 hrs in the gloves since I went over to turning in them.

Prefer to use gloves to avoid: cold steel on my hands in my cold workshop during the winter, the hot steel after an intense burst of turning , the hot hood from my spot lamp, splinters from wood, accidental cuts from my turning tools, bruises to the thin skin on the back of my hands from knocking into things, and generally getting stained and cracked fingers and hands.

The gloves are carefully chosen tight fitting pigskin. So tight that I fight to get them on when worn for the first time. They soon stretch and mold to my hands and last about 500 hrs of turning before needing repair or replacement.

As for OH&S, I can't see any risk from wearing gloves. But as I say, I'm not going to recommend anyone else use them in case there is a genuine and proven risk that I'm not aware of.

Seems to me that most items of clothing (including those floppy sleeved turning smocks) are far looser and prone to being caught in the lathe/blank than a tightly fitting pair of gloves.

.....

 

[robert davis]

i use gloves for exactly the same reasons you do

 

[Gretch Flo]

Bill-Are you saying not to sand by hand with the piece spinning?? I am not sure what happened here. I do this all the time, and yes when there is a void it sometimes catches the sand paper or sanding disc when used with a dril. Gretch

 

[John Torchick]

Gloves

I have been around different types of turning machinery used in manufacturing. I don't feel it is safe to wear something that can get caught in a revolving part. I know of one instance where a lady with long hair was literally scalped by a lathe as she didn't tie up her hair as required.

 

[Jason Silva]

That is a grim picture you have just painted...

 

[Gretch Flo]

I have been around different types of turning machinery used in manufacturing. I don't feel it is safe to wear something that can get caught in a revolving part. I know of one instance where a lady with long hair was literally scalped by a lathe as she didn't tie up her hair as required.

Reminds me of an old crude saying my father used to say, referring to the old time clothes wringer. When my brother was a little guy his arm went into the wringer ( not sure of the circumstances) and he has scars to this day in front of the shoulder. Gretch

 

[Michaels]

Gretch, my father was 9 when a similar incident occurred to him. Those automatic wringers were wicked - he has about 7" of scarring on his left arm to this day (many, many decades later).

Regarding the dangling things, I've seen some awful nasty incidents occur to others: Router w/ a ring finger, jointer w/ the cuff of a long sleeve shirt (fortunately the shirt tore before it got too much), and I was shown pictures of what a moments distraction does at a metal lathe when I was in shop many years ago. I suspect you can find pictures of those metal lathe accidents if you do a little googling - and one glance at some of those will cure anyone of wearing long sleeves...

There's just too much risk for a little comfort. If it's an issue, I recommend the lexan shield that accompanies the easy rougher.

michael

 

[John Torchick]

Rings

Michaels, your comment reminded me of a picture I saw during basic training at Fort Jackson, SC. It showed a picture of a hand, ring, and the outside fleshy part of the finger. The ring caught on the side of truck when the trooper was dismounting, caught the finger and peeled off the skin and tissue. Our training company was given a direct order to send all rings back home along with our civilian clothes.

Also, I was at a turning demo a while back. One of the fellows had a turning jacket that I noticed had very short sleeves. I talked with him and described a lab coat that belonged to my father. The first thing he said was to cut off the sleeves and sew on velcro tabs to secure them. It's on my wife's sewing list.

 

[Jim Silva]

As a first-hand witness and the one who actually found the finger afterward, I can't advocate the wearing of gloves while turning or working with any rotating equipment. I'll spare everyone the gory details but suffice it to say that I was aware that something had gone horribly wrong before the person it happened to was. It happens that quickly.

If you're getting burned by hot shavings or bits whacking you in the hand, take a 4"x4" square or shirtback cardboard, Poke your tool of choice through the center then position it just after the tool rest against your lead hand. The easy rougher uses a small square of plexiglass fixed to the shaft of the tool for the same purpose IIRC. I've used the shirtback cardboard for years before they came out and the principle is sound.

It'll deflect hot shavings and sharp little bits of things from your hand and still afford workability, visibility and won't come into contact with the spinning wood unless you decide to stuff your tool rest into it. (Though why you would choose to do that is beyond me.)

As far as sandpaper goes, I use either folded discs or short, folded squares of paper and NEVER get my finger(s) inside the fold and always with the fold positioned where it'll fly by my hand rather than around it in the event of a catch.

Same for friction polishing. Never a rag. Ever. Paper towels will work just fine and will rip rather than wrap if you get em hung up in anything. Not foolproof, but quite fool resistant.