Safety issues of wearing gloves when using power tools?

[trs80]

Can someone point to sources online that document the safety issues of wearing gloves when using machinery or with woodworking power tools? thanks

[Larry W]

You'll have to do a little looking but

is a good start.

[ROY!]

It's not rocket science. Use gloves while you're lugging around your lumber. Take them off while cutting on the tablesaw. Use a pushstick and a featherboard.

[Leon]

Common sense should equate that loose clothing near power tools is not safe.

With that said, gloves are more dangerous around some tools than others. Several years ago this topic came up and I performed an experiment with a TS and a canvas/leather glove. I used a stick to push this glove into the spinning blade several times. On no occasion did the blade grab the glove or move the glove. The blade simply cut the glove as long as I pushed it into the blade. When I stopped pushing the glove simply sat still with the blade running through it. I got the same results with both the leather fingers and the canvas cuff end of the glove. Having said that, I still do not recommend using gloves around most power tools. Accidents can happen.

[J T]

Wed, Apr 18, 2007, 6:55pm (EDT+4) [e-mail] (trs80) doth burble: Can someone point to sources online that document the safety issues of wearing gloves when using machinery or with woodworking power tools? thanks

Yeah. I damnall sure value my body parts, so I don't wear gloves. You make your own decision.

JOAT I have anal glaucoma. I can't see my ass going to work today.

[Allen Roy]

There was an episode of "American Chopper" where one of the employees got his hand caught in a drill press. The cause was some loose string on the gloves he was wearing getting caught in the drill bit. Sucked his hand in quicker than anything and cut it up pretty good.

Leave the gloves off when near the things that spin. Unless you would rather spend 4 hours in the ER rather than 4 minutes picking out splinters.

[bridgerfafc]

a loose glove fed by itself isn't too good at illustrating real world in-use conditions.

consider the blade slowed to near stalling by a bound board, like right before a kickback. add to that the glove being held stretched a bit by your sweaty hands in contact with the wood and the potential for unpredictable behavior from the objects in question go up a bit.

no gloves around machinery for *me*

[Leon]

I'll say again,

Having said that, I still do not recommend using gloves around most power tools. Accidents can happen.

[Leon]

To qualify a bit more, it is not likely a spinning blade will pull a glove in and especially if there is resistance. The glove is likely to be cut and cut much easier than wood. I still don't recommend a glove around a TS as the glove could get caught up on a guard, miter gauge, fence or what ever and your natural pushing motion could be detoured into the blade.

More dangerous IMHO are gloves around a lathe, drill press, or OSSander. Basically tools that can wind the glove up with you inside.

Gloves with a chainsaw, hammer drill, most portable sanders, etc.., not so bad.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Gloves also increase the size of your hands too and alters your spatial senses. That quck brush of a bare finger gets you closer with a glove over it.

[Puckdropper]

"Leon" wrote in news:irAVh.846$H [e-mail]:

What about bench grinders? To me, they seem to be a safer tool with gloves than without.

Puckdropper

[Leon]

Let your gut feelings be your guide.

[Brian In Hampton]

[Brian In Hampton]

[CW]

Bench grinders and sanders (stationary) are the worst. Glove gets puled between wheel and guard. Seen it a few times.

[DT]

30 years ago a drill press caught me, but I was luckier. A long (metal) chip whipped around and snagged the glove I was wearing. It *instantly* snatched the glove right off my hand with tremendous force. It was like a magic trick. I can still recall the feeling as I looked down at the glove spinning around the table knowing that my hand should be in there.

[Charlie Self]

Years ago, I was helping edit a book for a major publisher: the photo they had of someone using a circular saw (Skil saw type) was of someone wearing one of those huge, cuffed gloves that are useful handling materials on oil rigs and nowhere else. They actually argued that it was SAFER that way, until I pointed out something that doesn't apply to most of today's work gloves: the leather palms let things slip very easily. Today, the immensely strong and durable fabrics are the problem. If your glove gets snatched or grabbed, and you've got that wrist strap secured (as it should be to keep it from getting caught), then your hand is going with that glove into whatever did the catching, be it shaper, jointer, drill press, table saw or whatever.

Use gloves for handling material. Operate machinery without gloves. That includes feeding material into tools such as planers.

[Swingman]

Sad how the internet is taking the place of the brain these days. All the documentation necessary should be between the woodworker's ears.

[SWDeveloper]

Use Google--there's a bundle out there. Besides that, most owner's manuals state this in the safety section. If you want more evidence, ask a firend who has worked at a hospital for a few years--lots of stories to tell.

[Puckdropper]

"Swingman" wrote in news:EbKdndPcwcYM_LrbnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Really? Hm... let's see. I'm using the table saw for the first time. It's easy, right? Just push the wood into the blade. All the documentation's between my ears, so let's go. OOMPH! *time passes, the user recovers* Lucky for him, he put on goalie equipment before he started. Unluckily for him, it was like taking a Bobby Hull slapshot from only twenty feet.

It's often better to read documentation on the internet about how to use the saw and what to avoid than it is to find out first hand. There are things that happen to others that haven't happened yet to you but could actually be worse.

No, you shouldn't wear gloves or be reading the documentation while you're working, but at least have sense enough to read and remember what you read.

Puckdropper