Gloves

[royboy47]

What kind of gloves does everyone use. I'm looking for heat protection with leather palms. Not interested in long welding gloves. I have a pair $8 that I added a leather palm and they work pretty good. Just seeing what others are using.

[George N. M.]

I just use standard, run of the mill, leather work gloves.  Welding gloves take away too much dexterity.  There are 2 schools of thought about cuffs.  On one hand some folk like a tight cuff to keep out scale and hot stuff.  On the other hand, and the school of thought I follow, you can snap off an open cuff very fast if you need it off which you cannot do with a tight cuff.

The best gloves I ever used were a sort of terry cloth cotton fabric which was more insulating than a leather glove.  I have never been able to find them again.

I have heard that kevlar or nomex gloves are the best but I have never tried them.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Glenn]

Type of gloves you want depends on the work you want to do. 

Usually when you need to protect the hands from heat, the arms are close to the heat source and need protected also.  The next consideration is if wearing gloves, and they become too hot to hold onto things, you can not just let go and think it is all over.  The heat is no longer in contact with the glove, but the heat that is still stored in the glove continues to come on through the glove to where you live.  The answer is to remove the glove. 

How much heat protection do you want or need?  Is dexterity an issue?

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I never wear gloves when at the forge. If my tongs get too hot to handle I just stick the reigns in the slack tub for a few seconds and good to go. A glove on my hammer hand messes up my control so no glove there. For other stuff where I need a glove HF sells a good work glove that reminds me of a RR engineer's glove heavy cloth with a leather palm. For welding it's welding gloves and leather arm sleeves.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus

[Frosty]

Depends on what you're doing. I have a couple pair I use on occasion. Usually I wear them using had held struck tools like chisels, punches, etc. where I'm holding a relatively short tool with my left hand to strike with my hammer. If I'm punching a hole through 2" square for a hammer my hand is within a couple inches of a sizeable piece of 2,400f steel. Unprotected your hand would start blistering in a few seconds. I have a pair of tongs I can hold punches with but tongs put another layer between my hand and the tool in a situation where getting the punch straight in two directions while smacking the tool  with a hammer. I have insulated leather gloves I wrap a piece of aluminum foil around.

I have thin "pig skin" tig welding gloves for things that need a sensitive feel but still require protection.

The thing you MUST be aware of wearing leather gloves around the kind of heat we play in is leather SHRINKS when it gets hot and by time you can feel the heat you may not be able to get the glove off your hand. This is a B A D N E S S thing, a leather glove can cook your hand before you get it cut off. 
 

Sacrifice the glove or boot and stick it in the slack tub (tub or large bucket) of water. The water will cool the heat and make the leather sloppy floppy big so you can get it stripped off soonest. This works great if a hot bit of steel, slag or burning coal falls in your boot. It might be pretty hard on the boot, maybe ruin it but that sure beats the kind of damage a piece of yellow hot 1/4" round cuddling up with your foot will do to you.

Always wear long pants over  your boots to help shed debris away from the boot tops.

Remember only wear natural clothing, cotton, flax, leather, wool, silk in a hot shop. Synthetics will melt and deep fry you if touched by material above 300f, even Kevlar will melt and burn the tar out of you if it touches hot enough material. It's way better than say nylon or rayon but it's still more dangerous than natural materials.

The Kevlar gloves mentioned above work well, they're a lot more comfortable and safe than leather gloves. Leather only needs about 250f to start shrinking. Do a web search for Kevlar fire protection or gloves. Some claim to withstand 800f but add the disclaimer of "Limited contact time." 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

I got hold of a case of Kevlar terry cloth gloves a while back that I use for hot work. They do heat up after a while, but I have enough of them that I can switch out with cooler ones as needed. 

Leather gloves for welding, and heavy-duty leather work gloves when I’m moving stock, reorganizing the shop, or the like. 

I also have a very large supply of surgical gloves that I wear while doing non-hot work on anything greasy, dirty, or wet. Never have to worry about gluing your fingers together!

[Shainarue]

I use the Hardy brand goat skin gloves from Harbor Freight. I have two pair. One pair that fits which I just use when I'm using a powered cutting blade or to keep my hands clean when I'm messing with transferring coal/charcoal or sorting metal in the buckets. Basically whenever I'm specifically NOT working with hot stuff. Then I have a pair that's one-size larger which I use only on my non-hammer hand to hold a punch or chisel if the stock bar is putting off too much heat for me to hover long enough. The one-size larger makes it easy to pull off if I start to feel the heat - but not so much bigger that it impedes in the dexterity I need to hold the tool in place.

Other than that, I prefer bare handed & using tongs if the stock isn't long enough to hold a cool end.

[Frosty]

My pig skin tig gloves are so comfortable I sometimes forget I'm wearing them. I've come into the house and only noticed when I had trouble getting the twist tie off the bread bag. 

I have surgical gloves in the shop too, I bought them after getting epoxy all over things when I got it on my hands. I have both vinyl and neoprene, latex is too fragile. I was going through a spell when my hands were chapping badly, wearing surgical gloves after a liberal application of hand lotion healed them up nicely but latex gloves would come apart in a few hours. 

They're great for preventing cross contamination in the shop.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shainarue]

Oh yes, I also have vinyl/neoprene gloves for stuff like that. I have a latex allergy so I never even tried the latex - but good to know they would have just dissolved anyway, lol

[Frosty]

Latex allegies are pretty common, to the point it was hard to fid latex gloves. I have really sensitive skin and the thought of a skin born allergy brings back bad memories. When laundry detergents started putting enzymes in the detergent I suddenly started breaking out like crazy, E V E R Y W H E R E! For a short time I was using dish soap in really tiny quantities. A health food store had a liquid detergent that worked for me, then I discovered Dr. Bronner's pure castile soap. Recent detergents are no problem but I steer clear of enzymes, they seem to think my skin is dirt and eat it.

Frosty The Lucky.

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning Roy,

Gloves should be loose, so you can throw them off in a hurry. I never wear gloves unless I am doing work on the Power Hammer. When you can feel heat in the glove, it is almost too late, the glove will burn you as well. Leather takes a bit to cool down too.

Neil