Mechanix Work Gloves

[Paul Thompson]

For the past 3 years of woodworking and general home improvement, etc, I have been using a pretty standard set of work gloves. You know, the bulky, lose all sensitivity to feeling sorts of gloves that are common at home centers, hardware stores, etc.

Well, the other day in Lowes I stumbled across a pair of Mechanix gloves. They are something like this pair (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001VNZQY/qid=1109055200/sr=8-4/ref=pd_csp_4/103-5259670-1404632?v=glance&s=hi&n=507846) available on amazon.com.

Anyhow, I fell for them immediately, brought them home and tried them out the next day while I did a bit of woodworking in my shop.

My short answer is that they are great. They provide a much higher level of sensitivity to touch then my old gloves. They fit tight and don't get in the way.

I just thought that some of you folks might have liked to hear about my discovery.

Anyone using these already? Anyone using anything else good that you'd recommend?

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Paul,

First off, WELCOME to the creek! Glad that you have joined us!

As far as gloves go, I too like the Mechanix gloves, they are very comfortable and the feeling of touch is not lost with them. That said, please be careful when you are wearing them in the shop. Some say no gloves in the shop, some wear them for every operation. Just realize that if your hand does get too close to a blade, the glove may pull it in. As I said, I wear them too... Just not at the table saw or drill press.

jeff

[Bill Ryall]

Ditto on the gloves. I have 2 pair, one that lives in the truck, and one that lives in the shop.

Again though, NEVER when using the table saw or drill press, or anything else with a spinning blade or bit in close proximity to the hands.

Bill R.

[Bill Lewis]

Check out the gloves at http://www.duluthtrading.com They have a wide variety of what I like to call "technical" gloves.

[Paul Thompson]

Thanks for the input considering the usage of these kind of gloves while in the shop. I was aware that gloves should not be used while using a spinning tool, such as a drill press or lathe.

However, I had not heardthat the same rule applied to rotating blade tools as well.

Considering the different tools in the shop, we have tools such as the table saw, CMS, and radial arm saw. These tools, while having a rotating blade, I am not sure that gloves would get tangled up in them the same way as while working on a lathe or a drill press. This seems especially true with the table saw, with the presence of a table being in the way that would stop hands from getting pulled almost at all.

A bandsaw, because of the direction of force being applied straight down to the table, seems pretty ok with gloves as well.

As for a jointer or planer, I'd think that the enclosed nature of the rotating cutterhead would remove most concern with getting gloves caught.

Again, I thank you for the input and I definately want to be safe in my shop. However, I definately want to hear more about this topic as well. Anyone have any thoughts?

[JayStPeter]

Paul,

I've been saved on the TS a couple of times by feeling the breeze coming off the blade. With gloves on, this might have been a finger.

Otherwise, I like Mechanix gloves. I even use them as my every day cold weather gloves. It's good to be able to grip things.

Jay

[Chris DeHut]

First, let me clarify, I too am guilty of wearing a wedding ring while running machines, so yes, I violate my own rules.

However, loose clothes, gloves, etc. are all nasty things around any power tool. Any machine with moving parts (drills, saws, jointers, etc.) can grab loose clothes. Once the tool grabs the material, one of two things will happen...

1) the fabric will rip and come off. This is rare because as the tool grabs the fabric, it will pull in more and more and as this occurs, the fabric gets "rolled" into a cord of sorts. This cord, regardless of what fabric is very strong and will continue to pull you into the moving component. If you are fast enough and strong enough, you will break free (and then thank your lucky stars).

2) If you are not strong enough to break free of the fabric and tool, your body (or any part of it) will be drawn into the machine. What happens once your body comes into contact with the machine depends on where you are tangled up with it - if it is a cutting edge designed to cut wood, chances are it will do the same to you.

I don't even think Bruce Lee (of Karate fame) was fast enough to react to getting caught in a table saw or even a band saw. I don't think Arnold Schwartzegger [ spelling? ] was ever strong enough to break apart a leather (or other suitable strong fabric) glove from the clutches of a spinning saw blade.

Unless you are faster than Bruce or stronger than Arnold, I would suggest you:

Keep shirts tucked in if they are loose fitting
Keep your hair tucked into your shirt (if you have long hair)
Keep your arms naked from the elbows down
Wear short sleeve shirts
No neck ties
And my favorite saying I remember all that way back to shop class in High school....

Cleanliness is next to Godliness in the shop!

Chris

[Jim Becker]

As a general rule, I don't prefer gloves when working with power tools. The only times I personally make exceptions being 1) I occasionally wear a tight fitting, fingerless glove on my left hand when turning certain dry materials to avoid the 2nd degree burns I've had in the past and 2) I wear a rubber coated set of gloves when processing wide, rough lumber (face jointing) for the first time on the jointer to maintain my grip and avoid the splinters that often come from that operation. Both of these are very limited uses that I've made a personal decision to embrace knowing the risks, but again, I'll suggest that gloves shouldn't be worn when using power tools as close to 100% as you can get. (along with all the suggestions that Chris made...especially avoiding the neck ties... :D)

[Karl Laustrup]

I've got a pair of Craftsman mechanics gloves. Really like them. With the exception of jointer and planer, I do not wear them using any other power tool.
I only use them on jointer and planer because of splinters in the rough sawn wood.

I've grown very attached to my digits over my life. I want to keep them with me til I get planted.;) :D

[Rob Russell]

I have worn plain old, thin, unlined rubber dishwashing gloves when handling a lot of stock. The rubber helps give great grip. The gloves prevent mini-splinters from rough stock. The thinness of the gloves means you still feel things. The runner is so thin that any blade will tear through it (and you) before wrapping it into a cord and dragging you into the blade.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Unless you are faster than Bruce or stronger than Arnold, I would suggest you:

No neck ties

Chris[/QUOTE]

Aww now I can't wear my ties in the shop!?!? What kind of place is this!??! :) I know... I know.. .some people do wear them in the shop, but I hate wearing ties and you sure won't catch me in one in the shop :)

Thanks for the advise Chris, it is always a good reminder.

[Chris DeHut]

I know all of you would prefer I look better on camera, but I stand by the rules put forth and posted somewhere in the shop, no neck ties. Hmmm, perhaps I could wear one of those bow tie things - heck that would even go with my tuxedo :D

Yeah, that's it, I think I will change the magazine to "Formal Woodworking at Home". :p

Sorry all, I couldn't resist.

Chris







Unless you are faster than Bruce or stronger than Arnold, I would suggest you:

No neck ties

Chris

Aww now I can't wear my ties in the shop!?!? What kind of place is this!??! :) I know... I know.. .some people do wear them in the shop, but I hate wearing ties and you sure won't catch me in one in the shop :)

Thanks for the advise Chris, it is always a good reminder.[/QUOTE]

[John Gregory]

I use those type of gloves too, but only when handling rough lumber. About the only power tool I use while wearing the gloves is my Cordless 6/5 inch DeWalt circular saw. Once the material is cross cut to rough demension, the gloves come off.

John

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I know all of you would prefer I look better on camera, but I stand by the rules put forth and posted somewhere in the shop, no neck ties. Hmmm, perhaps I could wear one of those bow tie things - heck that would even go with my tuxedo :D

Yeah, that's it, I think I will change the magazine to "Formal Woodworking at Home". :p

Sorry all, I couldn't resist.

Chris



Yeah Chris! The bow tie would look great! If you watch the apprentice you can check out someone who wears a bow tie all the time :)

Thanks again!

Jeff

[Paul Thompson]

Sounds like the general consensus is to keep your arms naked below the elbow when working with a power tool, or something close to that.

So, I'll adapt my shop rules along those lines.

Thanks for all of the great input, folks!

[Chris DeHut]

Sanders, random orbit or jitterbug, create all sorts of vibrations. When doing a lot of sanding, the nerves in the hands and wrists can get very irritated. This leads to some really nasty pain that can last for hours or even days. :( Some folks have used special gloves to minimize the transmission of vibration into the hands and arms.

As I have suffered from this on occasion, I picked up a pair at a car race a few years back. The sales guy swore they would cure that problem because they were specially designed for that purpose (body shop guys use sanders that are similar to our woodworking sanders). They had gell filled palms and straps to hold tight around the wrists.

I tried them on several occasions and found no relief. I also found them to be "hot" to wear especially during the summer months - even if we have the air on in the shop. However, I have many friends that swear they benefit from the special gloves.

As this type of tool can't grab or cut you (to any extreme), this is about the only power tool that I have seen people safely use gloves with.

Chris

[Jim Becker]

Chris, I did find that the gell-filled gloves helped with sander vibration when I was using the PC ROS in my shop. Since I've moved to another brand of sanders (at a cost...), the vibration has pretty much gone away and I no longer think about those glove sitting in the cabinet on the wall.

[Ian Barley]

I'm with the others - avoid gloves as much as possible. I wear a pair of knitted "gripper" gloves when I am feeding sawn timber through the planer because I work with some timbers that give unpleasant splinters and avoiding them is a good payoff.

Specific anti-vibration gloves have a place but even better is to do what Jim has done (and me and many others) and go with a tool that engineers the risk away to a minimum.

[Ken Salisbury]

There is no way I would even consider wearing gloves while feeding a planer. I have an old dear friend who was wearing gloves while feeding an old Belsaw planer (some 20 yrs ago) when his glove was grabbed and before he could get loose he lost his right arm up to his elbow. I would rather catch a splinter every now and then than loose part of my body (any part).

[Frank Pellow]

Sounds like the general consensus is to keep your arms naked below the elbow when working with a power tool, or something close to that.

So, I'll adapt my shop rules along those lines.

Thanks for all of the great input, folks!
I keep my arms and hands (mostly) naked. But I admit to wearing my wedding ring as well as a ring from my Dad at all times.

Welcome to Saw Mill Creek Paul! You are already planning to follow some advice that you got hear and there is lots more good advice and information where that came from.

[Ian Barley]

There is no way I would even consider wearing gloves while feeding a planer. I have an old dear friend who was wearing gloves while feeding an old Belsaw planer (some 20 yrs ago) when his glove was grabbed and before he could get loose he lost his right arm up to his elbow. I would rather catch a splinter every now and then than loose part of my body (any part).

A good point well made Ken.

The machine I use is less than a year old, shielded to the extent that I cannot get my hand within 18" of the cutterhead and has interlocks such that the moment the cutterhead shielding is lifted by more than 1/4" the cutterhead is electrically braked within about 3 seconds.

Having had splinters get infected from this timber I make a judgement call. As always the balance with safety is against likelihood and severity. The splinters are very likely if less severe. The cutterhead would be very severe but based on the other mitigations in place has a very low likelihood.

I use a 100 scale score for each factor and assess the product of them as the actual risk. The splinters score about 30 on the severity scale and about 50 on the likelihood scale(1500). The cutterhead scores 100 on the severity but no more than 5-10 on the likelihood (500-1000). The severity for the splinters is affected by the fact that I have an acqauintance who contracted a necrotising infection from this timber which resulted in requiring skin grafts.

Generally speaking you are completely correct. In other operations (table saw etc..) the risk from the machine is considerably higher and I take my chances with the splinters.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I've been using them for four years in the winter. Now I buy the $10 O'Reilly's knock offs....they are actually tougher than the Mechanix at the fingertips.

They're great for working on cars or anything requiring gloves...

[Kelly C. Hanna]

As for feeding a planer, I don't feed with my hands close to the blades, I never got past the edge of the infeed tables when I had one (I need a planer now). Anytime I deal with rough lumber I wear 'em.

As with any safety concern, I see common sense and concentration as the biggest issues. You can wear long sleeves around a TS, just don't leave the buttons on the sleeves undone. You can wear gloves feeding a machine of any kind, just keep your hands away from the blades.

A friend's uncle lost his ring finger cause it got hooked on a nail on the side of a barn as he fell out of the hay loft. I still wear mine daily and it never gets caught because I keep myself aware of the dangers.

[Paul Thompson]

YAGIS: Yet Another Glove Injury Story - Might as well add mine to the list.

The dad of a friend of my wife worked in a metal shop. I don't know exactly what they did. However, a couple of years back he got his gloves tangled to a drill press, which clean ripped off his thumb.

The result was years of rehabilitation, pain, and limited use of the reattached thumb.

With my love for woodworking (and handyman stuff in general), I would be devasted by an injury that led to a reduction in my ability to be useful in the shop.

So, with that said, there's not a chance in anything that I'll be taking any chances. I have an older sister in town who is a doctor. I'll rely on her for the extraction of any serious splinters.

Again, thank you everyone for all of the excellent advice.

[Bill Lewis]

I personally don't like wearing gloves all that often. Only when I know I should. I have a pair of the Mechanix gloves up in the garage, and I have a pair of gloves distributed by the bucket boss company (http://www.duluthtrading.com/). I like the technical gloves that fit and grip well, but I only wear them when I need protection. I don't wear gloves simply to keep my hands clean.

Like right now, I would be shredding my hands and fingers while doing the sheet metal work on my DC ducts. I can also see the need for gloves when handling rough lumber, but for the most part they get in the way of everything else, even the real good gloves I've mentioned.

[Tom LaRussa]

Considering the different tools in the shop, we have tools such as the table saw, CMS, and radial arm saw. These tools, while having a rotating blade, I am not sure that gloves would get tangled up in them the same way as while working on a lathe or a drill press. This seems especially true with the table saw, with the presence of a table being in the way that would stop hands from getting pulled almost at all.

Paul,

I'm not sure you're right about the table saw. Seems to me that if your hand gets above the blade and the glove gets snagged by a tooth, the blade is going to try to pull your hand down through the throat plate, and thus it's going to jerk your hand into the teeth, even if only for a split second. Not a nice feeling, I think. :(

As for me, the only gloves I will wear in the shop are those disposable latex (or nitrile or what-have-you) jobbers that look like surgical gloves. They keep my hands reasonably clean most of the time, but if they catch on anything they just tear away harmlessly.