[TheForge] gloves

[ries]

Everybody is different.
I almost always wear leather gloves, and almost never burn myself, and when I do, its usually my forearms. 
Never had a problem forging wearing gloves, although I do much more power hammer work than hand forging.
I think its what you are used to, and how you work.
I am pretty fastidious about hearing protection, too, often putting em in, and taking em out tens of times a day.

But, on the other hand, I almost NEVER wear boots- I hates em, and unless I am required to by jobsite restrictions, the ol' steel toes stay in the closet. 
I wear Birki, poly foam clogs, kinda like crocs but better, and with no holes in em. Been wearing em in a general fab, welding, and forging shop for 20 years now, never even came close to any kind of foot injury. For weights under 50 pounds or so, they resist impact as well as my old steel toes, and I am careful. I can step on burning red hot stuff, they burn a bit, but stink much less than vibram soles.
And- my feet dont hurt at the end of the day, and my floor is concrete.

I realize my pro-glove, anti-boot philosophy is not common, but it works great for me, and I am injury free.

ries


On Mar 31, 2011, at 9:39 AM, Cindy and James wrote:

On the rare occasion that I do wear gloves while forging, it is normally 
on my left hand not my hammer hand.  And it is normally a KEVLAR glove.  
I use them when the object is too hot (and short) to hold bare handed 
but long enough to be handled without tongs if the glove is used.

For those of you unfamiliar with them, it is the stuff body armor is 
made from.  These are knit gloves and will allow you to comfortably hold 
something in the 500 degree F range.  You can feel the heat immediately 
thru the glove and if it is too hot, you can turn loose.  The glove does 
not hold heat.  They are not for welding as they do not prevent sparks 
at all and allow them to pass thru the glove.

I have heard these gloves are good for preventing CUTS, but I haven't 
tried that.

The gloves are cheap, usually $2 to 5 per pair and last a long time, 
usually 1 size fits none (they stretch).  Leather gloves at the forge 
are a NO- NO!

James
Paris, TX
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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist
http://www.riesniemi.com/