wearing gloves when using machinery

[Günter VögelBerg]

I read on another thread criticism of the practice of wearing gloves while operating a table saw. I wear thin, tight-fitting nitrile gardening gloves most of the time when I am not doing hand tool work, especially if I am working with oak or hickory or something splintery. I can understand why it would be a problem to wear gloves that are thick or loose fitting, but is it bad practice to wear gloves at all?

[William Chain]

Gloves are one more thing a machine can catch and pull into a moving blade, bit, etc. and if flesh is inside that glove....

[Jamie Buxton]

My take is that high-friction gloves are good near tools like table saws and jointers. The gloves lessen the chance that your hands will slip on polished wood, and get into the blade.

[andy bessette]

My take is that high-friction gloves are good near tools like table saws...

Most certainly NOT! You want your fingers to be able to slide freely over the fence so you can wrap a few fingers around it while pushing material through. Also you really don't want your fingers to be any more bulky.

[scott vroom]

My main concern is that gloves mute my tactile sense, thus reducing my control of the workpiece and putting me at greater risk of accident. And a gloved hand caught on a sharp spinning cutter could cause the hand to be pulled into the cutter, greatly increasing the severity of the injury.

While nitrile gloves wouldn't likely cause a hand to be pulled into a cutter, they do reduce tactile feel and might even increase the risk of a hand slipping on polished wood that Jamie mentions.

[Brian Holcombe]

I would not ever wear gloves near machinery, tight fitting or otherwise.

[Darcy Warner]

I would not ever wear gloves near machinery, tight fitting or otherwise.

I find there is an exception, at least for me.
Handling rough lumber through the first few machines to break it down.
Rather not get huge splinters feeding a SLR, gang rip, resaw, big 36" planer.

After that, I am good.

[J.R. Rutter]

My take is that high-friction gloves are good near tools like table saws and jointers. The gloves lessen the chance that your hands will slip on polished wood, and get into the blade.

Same for me. I'm not using a lathe or drill press, and have power feeders for shapers. I appreciate the splinter protection in the initial machining steps, and the extra grip after S4S. I'm prone to carpal tunnel issues, and going without gloves would cripple me.

[Bill Carey]

I would not ever wear gloves near machinery, tight fitting or otherwise.

2nd that. If I want a better feel / touch, I'll wet my fingertips. I have a splinter removal kit, but not a finger re-attachment kit.

[Bruce Page]

I have a condition called hypoesthesia. I have little to no tactile feeling in my fingers; basically, it feels like my fingers have a thin film of oil on them. I started wearing MaxiFlex Endurance gloves a couple of years ago and feel they have greatly improved my safety, particularly when pushing wood through on the table saw.
Prior to my condition I had a rule of never wearing gloves on the bandsaw. As a young machinist apprentice, I was wearing a pair of canvas/leather work gloves pushing a block of steel through the BS. I couldn’t see the scribed lines I had laid out and like an idiot I tried to brush away the chips. The blade caught my glove and cut almost a ¼”split into my finger tip. I didn’t want to risk getting fired so I washed up and soldiered on. But it really hurt!

[Robert Engel]

Guys, if that type of glove gets caught in a blade, he's going to get injured regardless!

Use your machines properly, use push blocks there won't be an issue.

The safety of added grip far outweighs the miniscule.

They won't do much for splinters. The best way to avoid that is don't slide your hand along the board.

I use glove quite frequently when planing rough lumber, how can I get hurt?

But I never find a need when using a table saw.

[Darcy Warner]

2nd that. If I want a better feel / touch, I'll wet my fingertips. I have a splinter removal kit, but not a finger re-attachment kit.

My hands are callused enough that I don't get typical splinters, the ones I get are like wood daggers from handling a bunk of RS lumber.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Interesting. I always wear tight fitting gloves (not nitrile - more like Ansell Hyflex) when machining, but I'm extremely careful to not have my hands anywhere near the cutters. Is that poor practice?

[lowell holmes]

I use safety goggles and push sticks when running my table saw. I did cut by thumb on my table saw one time. I was by myself when it happened and had to drive my self to the emergency room with a towel around my hand. They saved my thumb.

I also wear hearing protection.

[Patrick Kane]

Im also a glove guy from the lumber rack to the jointer and planer. I used to wear gloves almost 100% of the time i was in the shop, and ive gravitated away from that crutch. S2S stuff is fine to handle glove-less for me, but if im processing more than a few rough boards, i put the mechanic's gloves on for the jointer and planer. One, you cant tell me there is any increased risk from the planer with glove vs bare. On the jointer, I have a big homemade bridge guard that keeps my hands about 6" away from the cutterhead in either direction. I dont wear gloves around the lathe, table saw, bandsaw, router table, shaper, or drill press anymore. Not that i ever had questionable moments, just trying to stack best practices in my favor.

[Pat Barry]

I wear gloves during cold weather in my shop without issues (so far, cross my fingers) because I don't like numbness, which is worse than wearing gloves. Gloves provide a level of protection but you guys sticking your fingers into a saw blade, with it or without gloves, are going to get hurt.

[Günter VögelBerg]

My rationale has always been that if I am wearing thin, tight gloves then if my hand is close enough to the ouchie spinny to be a problem with the gloves then that is the problem--not the gloves I am wearing. Gloves are not a substitute for push sticks, push blocks, and common sense.

It's interesting to me that there is a plurality of opinion. I was afraid I was violating some cardinal rule and just did not understand how.

[andy bessette]

...there is a plurality of opinion. I was afraid I was violating some cardinal rule...

You are breaking a cardinal rule, but you have company.

[Günter VögelBerg]

You are breaking a cardinal rule, but you have company.

The thing is, though, with safety there are rules that you just follow. You wear eye protection. You wear ear protection. You use push sticks. To me, after that it is about common sense. I just needed a smell test on my common sense.

[Jim Becker]

I am not "generally" in favor of wearing gloves while woodworking and around machinery. I do occasionally make an exception when I'm face jointing certain rough boards where I need to protect my hands from splinters while pushing things through but I exercise extreme caution when doing so. These are always wide boards, too...not something narrow and my hands are only on top of the board; never hanging over. (These are boards where push blocks are just not doing the job)

[Dan Friedrichs]

Perhaps there is a slightly increased risk of a pull-into-the-tool injury with gloves on (versus without). That seems indisputable.

Perhaps there is also an unintentional risk compensation element (ie - when you're wearing gloves, you feel a little "protected" and less careful). I, personally, am much more worried about this.

[Darcy Warner]

I wear gloves running my big buffer that has wire wheels on it. Didn't use to, but that thing takes skin off fast.

[David Kumm]

I wear gloves running my big buffer that has wire wheels on it. Didn't use to, but that thing takes skin off fast.

Same thing with edge sanders. Dave

[glenn bradley]

Many opinions. I’m a no-glove guy.

[Darcy Warner]

Same thing with edge sanders. Dave

Nothing will help you on my 37" disc sander.

[Malcolm McLeod]

The thing is, though, with safety there are rules that you just follow. You wear eye protection. You wear ear protection. You use push sticks. To me, after that it is about common sense. I just needed a smell test on my common sense.

Hand injuries are my (big) company's number one cause of lost time incidents. A relatively new policy requires anyone on our job/work sites to wear approved impact-resistant gloves. Period. (No gloves? Don't get out of the truck.) You can remove them for short duration IF and where a fine tactile action is required (i.e. pencil/keypad/touchscreen), then they go back on. I did the typical "never-a-glove-on-my-hand-to-pull-me-in" cringe when they announced the policy, but you can't argue with the results. Hand injuries are down - both severity and count.

Typical injuries are crush or severe abrasions. The gloves are surprisingly resistant. I haven't seen any studies of why they help, but abrasions seems obvious, and I suspect the glove gives a few extra microseconds to withdraw a hand - maybe sliding inside the glove for a crush type incident?

That said, we are not in the woodworking business, and maybe this is not a fair comparison with no whirling 10" open-faced carbides. If we did need to get as close to a spinning blade as a table saw requires, the Safety Dept would go bananas and we'd probably have something other than a table saw delivered in 20 minutes. Even processes that involve rotating equipment have been amended to get people out of the line of fire and/or hands off the equipment. (Good example is lifting a piece of equipment: Never put a hand on it, gloved or otherwise - - only contact allowed is via tagline.)

In my workshop I don't typically wear gloves, but the next time a KD Red Oak splinter goes into the web between my thumb and fore-finger, stopping just 1/16" from my heart, I'm thinking I'll wear gloves from then on. The reality is if a glove can worsen the injury, I had the wrong tooling setup. The setup should have prevented ANY injury. (For the business owners here, who'd allow an employee to free-hand a cut on a Bridgeport?? But we do it on a drill-press w/o a 2nd thought.)

Food for thought. ....Soapbox is now on the burn pile. Carry on. :D

[Malcolm Schweizer]

The one exception could be when using the belt, disc, or other exposed sander, but otherwise do not wear gloves. I also never wear long sleeves when working around machinery.

[Frederick Skelly]

This is hard to believe, but it is true....... I know a good machinist who was fired because he got injured and was NOT wearing gloves. He'd been with the company 20 years. A few months before his accident a large firm bought the company. It was their policy that gloves were required for what he was doing and they had zero tolerance when they found he wasnt wearing them. The day he came back to work after healing, they fired him for not complying. He appealed but was unsuccessful.

(It didnt sound like age discrimination or that he was paid too much.)

[Robert Cherry]

According to OSHA, no:

From- Guide for Protecting Workers from Woodworking Hazards

Protective gloves are the primary means available for direct hand protection. Extra-long gauntlets or sleeves attached to the gloves can extend protection up the arm. However, the appropriateness of glove use in the woodworking workplace should be carefully reviewed on a task-by-task basis. Gloves should not be worn when operating woodworking equipment due to the potential for getting caught in moving parts.

[Albert Lee]

Interesting. I always wear tight fitting gloves (not nitrile - more like Ansell Hyflex) when machining, but I'm extremely careful to not have my hands anywhere near the cutters. Is that poor practice?


I am the same. my hands are always far away from blade/cutterblock, if I am very very close to the blade, I dont wear gloves.

[Jack Frederick]

Interesting responses from those supporting the use of gloves. In my case, when I was a kid I had my Dad's drill and when finished with the hole I laid the drill aside. I had inadvertently hit the Dead man switch on the drill and the bit caught my shirt tail and began, very quickly, winding itself in my shirt heading towards my throat. Today it is like looking back at a cartoon, but at the time i was very seriously flailing around on the floor with both hands holding that darned drill for all I was worth. All clothing, including gloves are front of mind for me as a result, so no. No gloves for me.

[Edward Dyas]

I sometimes wear tight fitting gloves in winter when it gets too cold to work without them but otherwise don't. When I do wear gloves I take extra time to be more careful. It's just too dangerous to do for no reason.

[John Sincerbeaux]

Get a slider and throw away your pushsticks.

[Jacob Reverb]

I would not ever wear gloves near machinery, tight fitting or otherwise.

+1 Never.

Good way to get pulled into the whirled peas...kinda like stepping into the bight of a line.
Q: When is it safe to step into a bight of line?
A: Never.

[Pat Barry]

+1 Never.

Good way to get pulled into the whirled peas...kinda like stepping into the bight of a line.
Q: When is it safe to step into a bight of line?
A: Never.

Bight of a line? Thanks. Had to look that up!

[Jacob Reverb]

Bight of a line? Thanks. Had to look that up!

Standard USCG test question...


I had inadvertently hit the Dead man switch on the drill and the bit caught my shirt tail and began, very quickly, winding itself in my shirt heading towards my throat.

I once did the same thing, except with an angle grinder and wire wheel. Eye-opening. :eek:

[Brian Tymchak]

I've never used gloves in my shop, other than to move rough lumber around.

However, I just recently started volunteering with a group that builds basic furniture for a local furniture bank that provides furniture for those in need. The materials are seconds/defective sheet goods, mostly melamine, donated by a furniture company. We cut maybe a thousand parts a day on 2 table saws. With the extremely sharp edges and slippery surface of melamine parts, we have to wear abrasion/cut resistant gloves or our hands would be dripping blood. I proved that to myself in the first hour of the first day I was on the job. Our gloves also need to have grip in the finger tips.

The gloves we use generally are thin with rubberized coating on the finger tips. I have better performance with the gloves than without when pushing material through the saws as sweaty hands could easily slip on the slick surface and end up in the blade or cut on an edge.

[Wayne Cannon]

No personal horror tale to tell, here.

I was trained that the ONLY acceptible gloves are easily torn gloves, like nitrile gloves.

Family members who used to work in the ER have seen fingers pulled from hands because of gloves getting caught.

No matter how safely I work or how safe an operation appears to be, they're called "accidents" because something DID NOT happen as expected.

[Mike Cutler]

I have only made one exception, and that was when I was working with Wenge.
To quote my 1st shop teacher;
"No rings, watches, jewelry, loose shirts, or long hair around machinery.
And no gloves! "

[Edward Dyas]

A panel saw would eliminate push sticks too but don't have space for one of those either.

[Charles Lent]

Vibrating machinery = Yes. Spinning machinery = No.

Charley