[TheForge] gloves

[xlch58 at swbell.net]

On 3/31/2011 12:40 PM, David Childress wrote:
> Most smiths I know use
> just one glove on their off hand.  The glove just lets them know that
> they are about to be burned before they are cooked, it is kind of like
> a fuse.  The glove may be trash but it saves on the burn cream.
>
I wear gloves on occasion, leather.   They let me take a little more 
heat when doing chisel work or when holding a shorter iron.  The reason 
that I don't put gloves on students is that they have the wrong 
instincts and are often too absorbed in a single aspect of what they are 
doing and not paying attention to where all their body parts are.   I 
teach them to hover their hand over any piece of steel in the smithy 
before picking it up.  If it is black heat you will generally sense it.  
Even if you don't, then your reflexes will generally work as designed 
and remove your body part before serious damage is done.   If they are 
wearing a glove they can't get their hand out fast enough to prevent 
more serious burns.   Leather has a thousandth of the heat conductivity 
of aluminum, but its heat capacity is about the same, so once it makes 
it through the layers of leather, it is hot hot hot and even after you 
drop the iron, the heat will continue to build on the inside face of the 
glove as it migrates from heat saturated outer layer while you dance 
around trying to remove it.

Charles