At work I work with mostly sheet steel. .040 and thinner. lots of sharp edges, tiny hair splinters, and devils horns.  Needless to say, I wear leather gloves.

When working with hot steel at work, 3/16" and thicker, I wear leather gloves. 

At the forge at home, I wear a leather glove on my holding, not hammer hand.

That said, any glove that I wear fits such that I can pick a dime off the floor. I can also remove the glove with a single shake of my hand, while holding hammer in the other hand.   

There are times working with metal, and machinery, I will not wear any glove for safety reasons. Even though OSHA requires it. I've done other jobs in the past where the wearing of gloves is required by OSHA, and accidents happened due to the use of gloves.    Leather gloves heat slowly, and transfer heat slowly, but by the time you notice that it's getting warm, it's time to remove it, due to the slow transfer of heat. the outside of the glove is still super hot, even though you have removed the heat source. That heat is slowly (slowly is a relative term) being transferred to your hand/fingers. The ability to remove the glove with a single shake of your hand is the difference between "that got warm", and "WOW 2nd degree burn, that was fast!"  Or a hot scale jumping in your glove with you, quick shake, and you're good.  

If you can't work with a glove that you can shake off, don't wear gloves.  Working around hot metal, whether welding, forging, casting, or whatever. There will be glowing hot things flitting about, and they will jump into pockets, gloves, ears, noses, etc.   Clothing that doesn't melt, doesn't fit too closely, and can be quickly removed, or at least separated from the body  with minimum effort is a good thing.  Cotton, wool, and leather come to mind. 

I guess that's about it. 

I'm with you on gloves and hot work. I wear mig welding gloves and keep a bucket of water handy in case they get too hot to shake off. Leather has a NASTY habit of shrinking till your hand is trapped before you feel the heat. A plunge past the cuff in water stops the heat and swells the leather untrapping your hand almost instantly. 

The issue I have with OSHA is regs are often written by people with no experience in the particular field. They'll see one accident report, look for more and write a new reg. 

You should've seen the OSHA regs related to using a cat head (capstan) and rope to drive casing and samplers. One required nylon stress strands in the rope running on a cathead that gets hot enough to make manila rope smoke. Then there was the reg requiring a safety cage over the cathead to prevent the operator from being drawn into the cathead if they get tangled in the rope. Anybody on the crew YELLED at anyone who stepped in a loop of rope, even if we weren't using a hammer. 

The reg "requiring" a second "safety" person to stand behind the one running the hammer to pull him out if operator got caught. Evidently nobody told the guys at OSHA pulling the free end of the cathead rope is what makes it pull. Friction between rope and cathead is what draws the direction of rotation, pulling harder makes it pull harder and faster. 

That nonsense came to a peak in the late 70s early 80s I think but we stopped seeing memos and alerts from OSHA and we were a State Drill crew so we were really under scrutiny.

Sorry old OSHA issue memories.

Frosty The Lucky.

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

A plunge past the cuff in water stops the heat and swells the leather untrapping your hand almost instantly. 

Thanks Frosty, I did not know that (well, I knew about water stopping the heat).  I teach all my students about the dangers of wet leather gloves and shrinking from heat, and explain that in the summer, I have 3 pairs (well, lefts anyway) that I cycle through when hot punching, hot cutting etc, because I tend to sweat if the temp is above 73 degrees.  
I agree about many OSHA regs being dumb (I just found out that I and every other employee need to get trained on how to use a ladder to satisfy OSHA regs).  But IMO it's not OSHA who we should blame, but our legal system and the excess of greedy lawyers in this country who sue the bejeezes out of folks/companies and don't recognize that there are such things as accidents.

I forgot to mention it but once dunked a glove is out of action until it's dry and oiled. The oil is a leather treatment and doesn't make the leather oily, it just saves a pair sometimes.

Maybe I should have a wax hand made at the next state fair so I can dry a wet glove and save the shape! Hmmmm, better make that a pair of wax hands. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks, Frosty.  
I forgot to ask if the leather stretch out.  But from your last message, it sounds like it would only if you'd had a mold to stretch it around while it was drying to prevent it from re-shrinking....
Probably easier to just get a new glove and donate the shrunken one to the community pile for those with smaller hands to use.

Back in about 2010 I had the pleasure of working at a metal plant in Huntsville, AL during a safety push for gloves, and having a guy walk into a safety meeting holding three of his fingers where they shouldn't ought to be able to go. As they'd been wanting, he'd been wearing them running sandpaper around a metal rod on a lathe. The fingers were still technically attached...sort of. Part that killed me is they let him early retire by a year or so, but they still made him come in to work for about four months after he got out of the hospital first, even though he didn't really have use of the hand. Nobody made him do anything, he was just there like a ghost.

Since then I've avoided them like the plague if I can help it. Sometimes for working with a stamp, punch, or drift that's too hot and short to handle easily and tongs won't cut it. Otherwise, I'd rather take a no-glove injury over the potential glove injury. Sheet metal might convince me otherwise, some of the nastiest cuts I've ever got.

It's not completely airtight, but the workers' comp laws normally prevent employees from suing their employers over workplace injuries.

And more on topic, the one time I regularly use a glove is on the hand holding a non-handled punch or chisel.  Missing the punch and driving my hand onto the workpiece got my attention.  (Luckily, I learned that lesson cheap.  It was one of those where you rub off the ash that was once the top layer of skin and you're as good as new.)  

Punch tongs are the easiest there is, almost as easy as twist tongs. make a pair of twist tongs and heat the working end place a piece of round stock a little smaller than the punch / chisel shaft between the "jaws" squeeze the hinge side in a vise and squeeze the side above the tool jig together with tongs.

Making a hinge on the working end works well and gives you practice making hinges.

EZ PZ.

Frosty The Lucky.

When I started working full time in a blacksmith shop, I was told not wear gloves for most stuff as you would become accustomed to the protection they provided but they would eventually get holes in them.  You would then get burned through the hole.  Being the smart guy that I was, I didn't listen and wore welders gloves with the gauntlet type cuffs.  I was tasked with cutting a bunch of stock on the abrasive cut off saw and as the blade wore, It would not quite make it through the piece but I found I could just smack it against the table and the short piece hanging on would get knocked off.  Wouldn't you know that eventually one of those pieces flew off and found its way to the open end of the cuff and fell down to the back of my hand and when I tried to get the glove off, the burning hot piece rotated inside to lock the glove in place.  Made a nasty burn so no more gloves for me!  The exceptions were when running the stick welder as spatter/radiation would burn you and while using the air angle grinders to dampen vibrations.  Also,  the air tools would get exceptionally cold in the winter in the unheated shop.  Most everything heated in the coal forge had a piece of pipe welded to it for a handle which did not get hot.  The habit in the shop was to touch everything quickly several times to determine how hot it was before grabbing hold of it.

That said, I do wear gloves in my shop when welding and grinding and at least one glove when using the gas forge which has the tendency to heat more than is needed to forge.  I've found pigskin glove to be the best as they don't get stiff from the heat.

Gloves are protection against abrasion and sharps, not hots. That is my rule of thumb for life. If it is hot, it gets my hand, where I have been gifted organic heat-sensors that gloves cannot emulate. But hand me a shovel and I will always ask for gloves. Blisters are no bueno. 

As an aside, does anyone else's hands get smoother working in a coal forge? I feel I am moisturizing with coal tar... 

Doesn't work with a propane forge, even if there's minimal dragon's breath the high yellow hot interior of the forge is still heating any stock or tool having line of sight within a couple few feet. 

If you have a wide enough porch you CAN use pieces of brick to make narrow openings at an angle to the forge's heart to shield stock outside the fire. Still. 

I wear long sleeves and pigskin gloves to maintain tactile sensitivity at the anvil and it doesn't take a lot of heat to shrink them onto your hand and it can happen so fast it will trap your hand and bake it. Dipping the handle end of stock in the quench tank is an option but touch something HOT with wet skin skalds which makes nasty burns. 

Coal is no problem, I've never been burned working in a coal forge except when working with someone used to working alone. I learned to hesitate with my fingers a fraction of an inch from contact before touching it let alone picking it up. I also have a hot rack under the forge and a cool table. The last time I got a burn was because someone else at the meeting set his piece on MY space while he went to look for something! Mine was cold I was waiting a turn in the forge.

Didn't tell him where I threw it when I picked it up, I was looking for 1st. aid for second degree burns. I HATE it when steel sticks to my hide and peals a couple layers off getting it loose!

It's the worse thing about open forge at meetings, a room full of beginners walking around with or waving HOT steel in the air every danged where!

Frosty The Lucky.

Speaking of burns, I'm watching Ridiculousness and a guy is frying an omelet without a shirt on, turns away from the stove and flips it high. Unfortunately the handle comes off the pan, the omelet flips over his head and lands on his bare back. 

I've burned myself lots of different ways, especially in the kitchen but . . . 

Frosty The Lucky.

There was one time I was working with an anthracite fire on a hot August day. This was before I got my big shop fan, so it was REALLY hot, and I decided that since I was wearing my big leather apron, I could safely take off my shirt. Anyone who's worked with anthracite knows that it has a tendency to pop, and on this occasion, a glowing shard projected itself out of the fire while I was turned towards the anvil and went right down the back of my jeans into the cleft where my back changes name. Never before have I danced so vigorously or so well.

Getting back to gloves, I have a large selection of gloves made from Kevlar fiber terrycloth, which (1) are great for holding hot workpieces and (2) don't shrink like leather. Since I have a lot of them, if one starts to feel too hot, I can switch it out for another while the first one cools. They're also good for holding bowls when I'm doing any cold raising, as their thickness gives some cushioning against the shock from the hammer blows.

I never wear a glove on my hammer hand, as it reduces control and increases fatigue. However, I will occasionally wear gloves on both hands if I'm holding the workpiece with one and a top tool with the other while someone else strikes with a sledgehammer or while I'm using the treadle hammer.

I suppose I've been spoiled by my gas forges; both of them did not have dragon's breath. I used to have an old Sandia recuperative forge which has a hinged door and a back port shooting the dragon's breath up and away. The current forge is a Mr. Volcano that I have tuned just so and it does not radiate heat out the front while simultaneously getting the piece occasionally up to welding temps. I would say that it heats the bar stock a bit further up than the coal forge, but I make liberal use of my slack tub to help it. My tub is an old plastic wine making barrel outside my shop. Nifty thing, though it is starting to grow....something.... 

I've never found much in the way of a glove I like, except for thin leather ones. I like having full use of my paws - texture is a big thing for me so I want to know what I'm touching. 

As far as burns.... I had anthracite pop into the pocket of a good carhartt I had - it was cold out, so I did not notice myself burning from the inside out for a few minutes. Of course, this was shortly after I carried coal bags out of the shed and ended up with some 3" diameter wolf spiders coming out of torpor on my shoulder.... 

 

"Lovin' you is like frying bacon nekkid" 

When i was in Louisiana we got a new manager. He was out meeting the crew and went into the builders den. He was talking to our lead tech while he was building a trans. The tech was wearing an apron and when he turned to get something he was but naked under the apron. 

I use the back of my hand to check for heat. 

I am in the no gloves club myself. I can not stand not being able to feel things, even the latex gloves are a no go for me. I do wear them at times like when hot punching or cutting with a chisel, not latex obviously. But even then i prefer to hold the tool with a pair of vise grips or something. Same with drilling sheet metal on the drill press. I would rather take the time to clamp it down or hold it with a pair of vise grips than put on a glove. At work i sometimes have to clean chips out of the machine and those can get quite sharp edges, i am talking razor blade sharp, so i do wear gloves for that. One of my co-workers had to get a bunch of stitches in his hand not long ago. The chips clogged up the conveyor and one of them sliced through the leather glove and pretty deep into his hand. 

I don't have a dedicated pair of tongs for punches, but use something like below without the adjustable jaw. I think they are antique pipe pliers. Someone hopefully will correct me. But they grab a variety of punch sizes and are very efficient. 

I'm of the no gloves (with exceptions) school.  However no one has mentioned an aspect of gloves that I consider important, cuffs.  I don't like the gauntlet cuffs of many welding gloves because I feel that they can catch hot stuff and channel it to your hands.  I also don't like tight cuffs because while they may eliminate the catching effect of gauntlets they can be problematic if you have to snap them off your hand quickly if they get too hot or in the case of fabric gloves catch fire.  IMO, the best gloves for blacksmithing have a slightly firm elastic cuff that protects against catching things but can be quickly removed.

BTW, the catching hot stuff hazard applies to boots too.  I had a friend who was wearing cowboy boots with his jeans tucked into them and a red hot drop from cutting on a hardy went down his boot and gave him a severe burn on the front of his ankle.  IIRC he had to have reconstructive surgery because there was tendon damage.  Moral of the story:  Don't tuck your cuffs into open top boots.

G

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I tend not to wear gloves unless the piece is to short to hold comfortably but too long to use tongs on.  I do get asked about it and explain I have had pieces slip, slide, or twist on me with the wrong gloves.  That being said, I do have a mill glive that I use and when I oil quench something I have a glove on to prevent burns from flare ups.  Years back when I was working at a nuke plant outage, I got intuition it with a safety guy who was trying to insist I wear gloves while running a drill press.  He eventually came back and apologized.

21 hours ago, Ridgeway Forge Studio said:

it does not radiate heat out the front

FYI (and yes, I'm being very technical here), as Frosty insinuated above, this is impossible.  You can minimize the radiant heat, but you cannot eliminate it.

 

21 hours ago, Ridgeway Forge Studio said:

I would say that it heats the bar stock a bit further up than the coal forge,

This is radiant heat (stepping off the soapbox now)

Foisted on my own petard.... 

BillyO, you are absolutely right. What I ought to have said is that the dragon's breath does not blow out far enough to warrant any protection. My dragon's breath, for whatever reason, stays small. 

On the old sandia I used to have, since it had a door that lifted kept even the majority of the radiant heat from the ceramic from affecting the workpiece. 

Thank you for the correction. Take up the soapbox anytime, this is how we all get better. 

On 12/2/2025 at 10:55 AM, Frosty said:

It's the worse thing about open forge at meetings, a room full of beginners walking around with or waving HOT steel in the air every danged where!

One of the first lessons Carl West teaches in his intro classes at Prospect Hill Forge is how to move around SAFELY with hot steel, especially when sharing a forge and anvil.

Re: dragon's breath, I remain a vigorous proponent of a simple air curtain, which not only redirects the dragon's breath upward and away from the smith, but also has a slight cooling effect on the portion of the stock outside the forge. Of course, it's sometimes worthwhile to turn the curtain off, especially in wintertime!

I WISH John, our club was organized by a couple farriers and myself then shortly taken over by a mid management type that felt attendance was THE goal. Other than during a demo the entire studio is packed with people wandering around, sometimes bumping into people at a forge and often stopping in any convenient open space, say between anvil and person using it or anvil and forge. There was one guy who kept pushing behind me when I was running a belt grinder and there wasn't room for anybody between the table behind me. The second time he almost shoved me into the belt and I yelled at him he told me, "it's okay relax," and started to shove past. I didn't actually strike him but my knee pushed his thigh under the table while my shoulder bent him over it till I couldn't bend him any farther. 

Then I shouted for the meeting's attention and had a little safety shout. It wasn't bad for maybe 3 meetings and it drifted back to too dangerous to attend so I stopped.

I probably should've contacted the studio owners insurance company and suggested they review payouts and maybe visit during a meeting.

I gotta stop I get too worked up over gross disregard of basic safety.

Frosty The Lucky

 

Frosty, 

You'd think common sense would be so named because it is widely distributed. Safety is always top priority. Unfortunately for some, they do not see what we call safety to be safety. Those who may squint while using a grinder, perhaps, or those who are okay catching fire as long as the painkillers are good enough? 

 

A lot of people think that's what "common" means in the phrase but it doesn't.

In this context "common" means "not special" to paraphrase from memory. A good example would be a, "common skill." A domestic electrician would KNOW how tight to make a wire nut. However one at Morton Thiokol may have never use a wire nut but can solder wires to a circuit board in his sleep. Different places different "common."

It's all training. 

A reckless disregard for safety indicates an abandoned child just like the general lack of education. You don't hear about people walking into traffic while texting anymore, I figure it's just not newsworthy but I see folks walking into each other and things in stores and around. 

Oh well, I'm just an old fart griping about the changing times. At least I can still do basic household repairs though I don't even like opening the hood of one of our vehicles!

Frosty The Lucky