Gloves?

[Ten Hammers]

Good Gloves. If it's too hot for my hands, these work well and they also are of course excellent welding gloves. BTW I do not wear gloves very often.

[Mills]

I too only use a gloves under certain conditions. But there are times.

Once I was forging 1 1/2" sq 16" long in a twelve burner forge 6-8 at a time on a 100# LG drawing them to 30". they were hot and heavy and I used a very nice insulated welders glove that worked like a charm. I needed one for my face also but alas.

I have quit wearing a watch as well. The heat would be absorbed by the band and and cause my skin to swell and then chafe it severely. So know I don't know if its time to get up or go to bed. ;)

[ThomasPowers]

One aspect about wearing gloves is that you get used to holding too hot steel and someday the glove will not be there or have a hole in it and you find you have latched onto a hot piece and get severe burns.

Not wearing gloves I'm much more wary and more prone to lightly touch the material as a test before latching on.

My great grandfather used to chew tobacco and would spit on steel he wasn't sure of...

[Bentiron1946]

When forging on a daily basis it is best not to use a glove. You get used to the hot metal. If you are weekend smith and doctor or a dentist wear gloves. When I was doing it more or less full time I wore no gloves but when I was making my living drafting and had to keep the tracing clean I had to keep my hands nice to prevent the coal dust and dirt from my hands. I always did my best work without gloves. I only got one bad burn from hot metal and that was because I was talking and paying attention to which was the last piece out of the fire. When everything is black it is hard to tell how hot it is:D

[RainsFire]

I've used torn up gloves to an obvious ammount of success.. THere was one hole in the index finger, and I was thinking about making a quick toss into my annealing bucket.. and flattened the tip of my finger in a few seconds of burn..

[Glenn]

About now we need to discuss when not to use gloves.

Gloves around moving machinery can be dangerous. If the machine catches the glove it can pull your hand (and arm) into the moving parts.

Any other times when not to use gloves?

[DocJohnson]

Any glove used on the hand swinging the hammer requires the hammer to be held more tightly causing muscle fatigue, possible tendonitis, and potentially carpel tunnel syndrome.

If a glove is used around hot steel and the glove gets wet, the steam will burn before before the glove can be removed. This is especially true of the plain leather gloves.

I like the Kevlar glove for my right hand, as I am left handed, not for the sake of the heat, but rather to prevent the tiny cuts in the palm from holding the end of poorly deburred barstock.

As I work in the medical field, I also need clean hands. Coal, charcoal, the really dirty black dust from sanding scale, and used Harley oil, all come off with a wire brush. Please note, the wire brush comment is meant in jest and is not advised. I actually use a GoJo- like waterless hand cleaner so my spouse will let me back in the house. I then use bar soap and a stiff nylon brush. No problem.

[jayco]

I've had a couple of 'near ' accidents with those 'brown jersey' gloves. Seems to happen in cold weather...when I need the warmth on my hands.

I've got one of those homemade bench grinders that's powered by an old washing machine motor. A fan belt connects the motor and grinder,....got that glove hung in the pulley once. My finger went all the way around the pulley before being thrown free.
Yep.....that hurt!
Good thing the belt wasn't really that tight!

Got my coat tail caught in the belt of a corn elevator once. ( I know it's not a glove, but the principle is the same.)

another time, one cold winter day......an alternator belt on a running car took a 'jersey' glove right off my hand. Probably lucky the glove didn't fit so tight!

[dimag]

Prior to injuring my hand,I never wore a glove on my hammer hand and only occasionally on other hand.One of the factors that created the accident was my glove getting caught in the screen on the top of a plow truck.
Now I use a glove of the winter variety on my hammer hand as a cushion, it extends the time that I can swing a hammer.Still only occasionally on my left hand,never with tongs.

[evfreek]

I recently had a few bad experiences with gloves. The big box stores' gloves are getting a little lower in quality.

Be careful about chiseling hot with the cheap leather gloves. The cloth backs are thin enough to let enough infrared radiation in to burn the backs of your fingers. It appears that this cost saving measure is recent. Cloth jersey gloves are much better for this kind of protection, but...

the cloth jersey gloves sold in the cheap stores often have a little bit of polyester in them. Not enough to make them a fire hazard, but the polyester thread is used to hold together the cotton structure. One little flea (very familiar to those working with BBQ charcoal) will cause one of these gloves to unravel in a line similar to unzipping. A pair of gloves will only last one session . Recently, I fire tested an old 100% cotton glove by putting it next to the forge fire. It caught a lot of fleas and was pockmarked with burn holes, but it did not unravel. Eventually, it flamed up and was half consumed. It took quite a bit of abuse, and I would not be hesitant to wear these when forging. Unfortunately, I can only find these online now, and they are pricey (Made in USA)!

[meancoyote]

i only wear gloves when i might burn my hand. sometimes i did not know that i was going to burn my hand, and then i wish that i had been wearing gloves. most of the time i dont wear gloves. i get burned alot sometimes, sometimes i dont.