Ramsberg Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 (edited) Hi all, This has probably been done before, but the recent discussion involving burnt hands and gloves has got me wondering. Please note that this is a question regarding general blacksmithing, not welding or grinding. Caleb Ramsby Edited March 23, 2009 by Ramsberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archiphile Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 From my other post you know where in the poll that I stand. I think that it come from my background in the welding field. I have always worn gloves on both hand and it only feels natural to do so while smithing. I feel naked when I only where one glove, and in twelve years working with metal this is the only time that I have burned my hands. It was ingrained in me early on that you should not use glove with holes and I usually replace glove that have worn through, but I was in a hurry and all excited and I got a case of the dumb. Wont do that again that is for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Aspery Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 A glove with a hole in it is no longer a glove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tech413 Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I only wear a glove on my holding hand when smithing. I find I loose some hammer control if I use one on my hammer hand. Now if only I could find someone selling bags of left handed gloves:rolleyes: Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 NO gloves when blacksmithing, I want to feel the heat and be able to turn it loose without getting burned. I do wear a glove when punching etc to protect from the heat of the stock, but Hofi has a pair of tongs built for the same purpose. I wear a glove(s) when welding but usually that it to move metal still hot from the welding. Ox/ac is the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptree Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I almost always wear a glove on the holding hand. Cushions a bit, and protects from radiant heat, especially when hold tools over hot iron. I never wear a glove when using a hand hammer. I often use gloves on both hands when using the powerhammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TASMITH Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 It depended mainly on what I was forging at the shop I worked in. I generally wore the two finger welder mitts when making tongs but that was to protect my hands from the heat of my furnace. My furnace was an industrial size capable of heating three 4" rd billets at a time if needed. I didn't forge the billets myself but often times heated them for the set-up men for trying out the dies on the big hammer. Sometimes it would take two days to make a complete change over on the big hammer and trim press. It took 8 hours of preheat time to get the furnace for that hammer up to heat so they would bring a half dozen billets over to my fire to heat them. As my fire was always running at those temperatures (around 2200 deg F) and being the size it was, you had to wear gloves to be able to get any steel out for forging. Now that I am working just at home with my 'little' forge, i only wear the glove on my holding hand. Some old habits are just hard to break I guess, but I do get much better hammer control without a glove. Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new guy Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 i have a lighter work glove on my right hand and a heavier gauntlat on the holding ahnd (better safe than sorry). the right glove is a lighter ironclad ranchwork glove so i just feel safe and the wife stays happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoleDoc Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 My day job is doing dermatology surgery (Hence "MoleDoc") so I wear kevlar gloves at all times in the forge. I must report that I am the only one in our guild that does so. Ted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Most the time I do not wear gloves. Having said that I always wear both gloved when forge welding, because I have been burned too many times at the junction of thumb and forefinger. A lot of the times only left (holding) hand is gloved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 (edited) Normally, I do not wear a glove on either hand but I have heavy cotton mill gloves for special circumstances when a holding hand would be burned from radiant heat. Leather can shrink on your hand and badly burn the skin. ~I might also add that the skin on my hands is absolutely wrecked by all sorts of UV. I work outside a lot (in South Texas), sometimes weld and of course, do blacksmithing - but rarely wear any sort of skin protection (yeah, I know about skin cancer but I also thought I was ten feet tall and bullet proof when I was 20). I am now 50 and don't have damaged skin anywhere else but the backs of my hands look like they belong to an 90 year old chronic sunbather. So coming from someone who should have known better, I'd recommend that anyone who exposes themselves to UV should wear long sleeves and light gloves.~ Edited March 24, 2009 by HWooldridge Content Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsberg Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Well, great comments all around! It is very interesting to hear why people wear or don't wear gloves for what purposes. I was very curious to see if anyone would check "Yes, but only on the holding hand" and almost didn't add it as an option. Someone has checked it, I am very curious to hear the personal reason for doing so! Again thanks for the contribution everyone! Caleb Ramsby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Hi all, This has probably been done before, but the recent discussion involving burnt hands and gloves has got me wondering. Please note that this is a question regarding general blacksmithing, not welding or grinding. Caleb Ramsby I'm afraid I had to answer this as, NOT just general blacksmithing, because, as I stated in other threads on this subject, when I enter my shop, I don't JUST "blacksmith." To me, blacksmithing involves a lot more than just forging. I get tools out, I line up materials, I cut them to manageable lengths, I organize here and there as I work or wait for the forge or steel to heat up; I never JUST forge. Steel is unforgiving, hot or cold. I can understand some guys only where gloves on their holding hand, but to not wear gloves at all?? You gotta carry good insurance because no matter how careful you are, sooner or later your gonna get bit. OK I know, this is just referring to JUST forging, but if I take my gloves off when I ready to forge, I may misplace them or get careless and forget to put them back on when I need to do other metal work. Yeah I'm THAT scatterbrained. I'm 53 years old + change and its not going to improve :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Depends. ;-) When electric welding, drilling, using machines, yes. When working at a coal forge, no. When using a gas forge, sometimes but preferably not. Wet gloves are worse than no gloves at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnptc Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 most of the time due to radiant heat and forge fleas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironlord Oz Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I only ever wear a glove on my holding hand & usually use the gloved hand for pushing more coke onto the fire too!!! Probably not the safest practice but i've never burnt myself doing it (in 9yrs of blacksmithing, 6yrs full time) & I just like playing with my fire! Oh yeah, ya can buy a pair of "leftie" gloves, most welding supply stores should be able to get em :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dablacksmith Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 i usually dont wear gloves but when i use a propane forge i sometimes will wear one on my tongs hand to protect from the heat ... the worst burn i ever got was caused by glove ! a hot coal went down the cuff and couldnt get glove off fast enuf ... burn was about the size of a nickle..anyway the hammer hand i never wear a glove cause it lessens control... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
divermike Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I wear a liner glove inside an outer glove on my holding hand, both are fire resistive kevlar, and yes, I have been burned through both, but think of how bad it might have been otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 No gloves for me, Although, lately I find myself looking for them more... Wonder what that means? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I always wear a glove on my holding hand, but not on my hammer hand, it doesn't give me enough control with the hammer. Although the other week I dropped my fire poker and picked up the wrong end with my bare hand. I wear two gloves when welding, got a nasty UV burn on my arm once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finnr Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 On rare occasions I wear a glove on my holding hand for punching or drifting due to radiant heat. Otherwise I hate the things. Never have been comfortable working in gloves. Finnr PS Yes I do wear them for arc welding. (still hate em ) LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimaudio Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I started out wearing gloves on both hands but got rid of the one on the hammer hand in the quest for better control. Tongs hand I use a cheap loose fitting HF welding glove so I can get it off quick if I need to. -Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DClaville Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 i use no gloves when forging normally some times on the left holding hand when punching or working with really short stock but no tongs that can hold it. and never on the hammer hand it takes away all of the feeling of the hammer and i need that to work good with it. and yes i get bit, burnt some times but i don't care my hands are kinda numb to pain anyway.. DC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintjohnbarleycorn Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I use gloves all the time from electrical work to gardening and balcksmiting, learned how to work with them I guess. I play stringed instruments and don't need callouses, cuts burns etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil shelton Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I have worked with my hands for better part of 51 or 52 years have learned to wear gloves in my work whether forging or welding mainly welding but do wear Kevlar nit gloves to forge with. one or both hands try to always protect my hands no rings or watches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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