gloves

[Gordon Stump]

Gloves..
if you don’t know when to wear them in the shop, you need a lot more help than this..

Dear Mr. Duren, Thank you for your thoughtful comment. Very truly yours, Gordon Stump

[Warren Lake]

the gloves I tried with the sticky palms were good on the jointer. Still I had to stay with what we were told and have for a long time. The gloves were tight and in that type of jointing not a hazard. There was nothing for them to get caught in. I didnt continue with gloves but not opposed to trying it again to rethink it future for that same function dont see others. Maybe some partly wear gloves as cold shops, seen enough guys bundled up in you tubes so some shops are cold.

I went back to how I always did it the damp sponge in a container beside the machine and just press my hands on whenever it seemed right. It lasts a bit, not long. The damp hand gives more grip on the wood. We are going more forward than down but down as well. Its very different to joint a small piece than long. Even longer still jointing 14 - 16 feet as new dynamics appear. I had no idea if i could joint long stuff the first time, it had never come up before. cutterhead is covered for a long time when you joint long stuff, at least if your fence is drawn over.

[Gordon Stump]

cleats.jpg

Edge sander:

Sanding and breaking the edges on the walnut cleats in the picture hurt me more than once. I used gloves today and it went well. Another good application for gloves is the flap sander. I sand them down to 150 and 180 G on the flap sander. It can pull you in but with gloves it does not sand off skin if you get too far in.

I guess there is a time and place.

[Mike Cutler]

For decades I was anti gloves in the wood shop. It was the way I was taught, and to wear gloves while wood working was just heresy.
A wenge project I did 10-12 years ago kind of changed that. Wenge is nasty to work with, and the splinters hurt like hades going in and coming out. I typically work with tropical hardwoods, and they can be nasty. Gloves can help mitigate the splinters.
Do I wear gloves all the time. Absolutely not, But If I'm running largish material through machines and my hands are well away, why not wear gloves? for positive control, Plywood cuts really suck, and you can get those just moving plywood around.
When I do wear gloves, they are tight fitting kevlar reinforced gloves with rubber coated palms and fingers. Never leather gloves, or any glove that will allow my hands to slip.
I can definitely see gloves around large sanders. Sometimes all you need is a split second or two and the glove can temper that. If you have sanders that the running edges are exposed, something is missing on that machine, or it is really old.
There's a time and place for everything, and there is no one size fits all answer.

On a personal note, the worst cuts I have received through the years have all come from hand tools. Get in a hurry cleaning up and pick up a #5 plane set up for scrub work wrong, and it's good for a few stitches across the fingertips.

[jack duren]

I’ve worked the shops for decades and never wore gloves..

[Mel Fulks]

No one should wear gloves while woodworking, without learning when they need to be removed ! Statistics show that many who say they they don’t need gloves get more splinters than those who wear gloves. But they get to take a lot of breaks in the infirmary.
I worked with one guy who got fired for using to many bandaids .

[Mike Cutler]

I’ve worked the shops for decades and never wore gloves..

And you do not have to, unless your employers require it.
I would however like to see the results of any OSHA Material Handling inspection in these shops. Every lumber mill I've been in recently has everyone wearing gloves to handle lumber, and sheet goods.
Realize also, that the number one answer given when someone gets hurt in the work place is, "I've/We've always done it that way".
The OP is asking for a very specific instance of wearing gloves. Not the wide spectrum of all things that can possibly be encountered. One singular aspect of an operation is what he's looking for input on.

[Warren Lake]

the stroke sander has an exposed belt it needs a cover.

The blocks I see no reason for gloves for those, its simple sanding. Ive never used gloves on an edge sander even on tiny things, youd have less feel. On the positive you wont stay in in long if you get in. Its best to keep your finger prints.

When doing lots of jointing of rough material calluses were thick protection. Got very few slivers from rough red oak. Know some are worse, one mentioned somewhere above and my body didnt appreciate any aliens from IPE.

[Dan Chouinard]

I routinely wear tight fitting thin grippy gloves in the shop especially at the table saw and jointer. Speaking for myself, loosing grip of a work piece presents far more danger than having a glove get grabbed by a blade. Hands are far more strong with a good grip. This is so apparent when handling plywood for example. Go ahead and pick up a sheet bare handed and then again with a grippy glove. Night and day difference. At the table saw, It is so much easier for me to get that lateral pressing necessary to keep work piece tight to fence when wearing an appropriate glove. My focus when ripping is just that, watching work piece where it meets the fence and use all the lateral right hand finger force I can muster to keep it from wandering away and potentially binding. I use custom shop made plywood push sticks for narrow stock.

[Gordon Stump]

Thanks to Warren Lake I lowered the guard and attached a board on the bottom. I think I will make a C channel that goes around the belt from the front. Like Mr. Cutler said.....just because it has always been that way does not make it right....

I will still wear gloves on these sanders. I need my fingerprints to open the iphone!

Appreciate the comments

[Jim Becker]

The only time I wear gloves in the shop, other than during finishing processes, is when flattening rough/splintery boards on the jointer, particularly wide ones like the 345mm (about 13.25") boards I was processing today. Otherwise, I avoid it for the obvious reasons.