kevlar gloves with a bandsaw?

Not with power tools.

If I have body parts close enough to a blade to think I need those things, I take a time out to rethink the method.

However, I do use "carver's friction table" on my left thumb and forefinger when ripping jointed stock, as I'm tired of slitting my skin with the sharp board edge. I slip the tape on and off, reusing it for weeks.

Yes, jam in the throat plate along with your finger.

Think this through. As the fabric is pulled down into the throat plate, where is your *finger* being pulled?

Not anyone with any sense...

Here's a test. Take a sausage, shove a chopstick up the middle to simulate bone, stick it in a finger of the glove and then jam it into the bandsaw. See just how much damage the sausage suffers. (I did this a while ago with a plasma cutter - interesting results)

If these "Kevlar gloves" are the typical knitted sort, then they're only "cut resistant", they're only claimed to be cut resistant against stationary smooth knives rather than moving objects or any sort of toothed or abrasive saw, and the manufacturers are extremely vociferous in stating this.

In practice, they're loosely knitted and will catch on anything that isn't glass smooth. Although they might offer a certain level of resistance to some accidents, they've got absolutely no place anywhere near moving machinery. Chances are (especially for a bandsaw) that they'll turn small accidents into big ones.

Why not try being more careful?

My wife loves all the medical shows on TV. A recent one she saw featured a surgeon who lost a finger while doing woodworking. Because he was worried about getting cut, he wore "safety gloves". Because of the gloves snagging and tangling on the blade, his hand was quickly pulled into the machine and he suffered more damage than he would have if he had been able to pull his hand free. He said using the gloves proved to be a big mistake.

Thanks, Richard

Toller wrote:

Got pictures? I may have to try this...

Pete C.

bs or ts? obviously a ts will be bad; i am not sure about a bs.

A knife blade is smooth and will slide along the kevlar glove. A TS or BS blade has hooked teeth that will happily grab the strong kevlar threads and yank them and your hand into the saw.

Pete C.

Somewhere, but I don't think they ever got put on line.

More cheerfully, it appears that a leather welding glove is adequate to protect fingers against plasma cutters. You'll probably acquire a burn in a while, but it's hardly a Dr Evil lazer-slicer type accident.

Really? The way my Hypertherm Powermax 1000 tore through a piece of railroad rail (not in use in a rail line of course) I'd think that pilot arc would blow through the glove in microseconds. Have to test it with an old glove and a hot dog I guess.

Pete C.

I don't; it's just too dangerous.

It was a table saw as I remember seeing that episode. It was most of his hand though that was injured and the guy was some big heart surgeon at the hospital. They could only reattach one of his fingers and it was his pinky if I remember right.

Did anyone see the episode of Americn Chopper where one of the employees was wearing a pair of mechanics gloves and his hand got caught in the drill press he was operating. Convinced me to never wear any type of glove while using power tools

Allen

inspired by your replies, I tried it. Well, not quite; I took a piece of spectra rope to the BS. Not exactly kevlar gloves, cut close.

It cut rather than snagged. I suspect it would have reduced the likelihood of a serious accident by buying a split second to pull away. However, using a block of wood instead of fingers would be 10x as safe.

I didn't want to try the TS, for I expect it will snag there and have God only knows what consequences.

I had kevlar rope, but lent it to someone who didn't return it; damn.

Spectra and Kevlar are _completely_ different in their behaviour to small point impacts.

To attain true wisdom, it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice a sausage.

Sat, Nov 18, 2006, 2:23am (EST+5) snipped-for-privacy@Yahoo.com (Toller) doth reveal: inspired by your replies, I tried it. Well, not quite;

Experimenting is always good. Most times. However, I think you should confine your future experimenting to keeping your body parts out of the whirly parts, rather than sticking things into the blade that you think might snag. You are your own worst enemy.

The only way I would ever wear gloves in my shop is if it would be very, very, cold in the shop, I would be handling metal objects, and I would not be cutting or routing anything. And I don't wear glovs at any time in any cold weather, even outside, unless I am handling metal, or making snowballs. I learned that as a kid - if y ou always wear gloves when it is only cool out, your hands will get used to gloves, then when it really gets cold and you need gloves, they won't keep your hands warm.

JOAT Democratic justice. One man, one rock.

I use them at work sometimes-

They're itchy when it gets hot, but otherwise work well.

There's some value to this advice, but I did see a guy with kevlar sleeves get tangled in a drill press once. Although it made his fingers turn a little purple from the cut off circulation, he did not get cut.

Some jobs require you to wear them, others require you not to wear them. Ultimately, the only thing that is completely safe is to keep your damn fingers away from the blade, gloves or no. All the other crap is determined by OSHA or the insurance actuaries.