Gloves Are Tools, Right?

[Garcky]

Today's technicians are really lucky. Inexpensive gloves are readily available these days, and I see most techs using them. I'm an old-timer. Back when I was working as an automobile mechanic, nobody wore gloves. I don't think any of us ever thought about gloves. If we did, the ones that were available completely destroyed your sense of touch.

So, we had dirty, greasy hands. That's what we had. Many times a day, they got washed off in the parts cleaner, wiped with red shop rags, and scrubbed with Lava soap. You couldn't test drive a car without cleaning your hands. Customers would have screamed.

None of those things, though, got the black from under our fingernails. That took a nail brush and plenty of time, so it didn't get done all that often. Some guys cleaned up their fingernails at the end of the day. Some gave up on trying. I got pretty proficient at scraping the black out of my fingernails with the point of my pocket knife blade.

I'm not wrenching much these days, and I have a box of nitrile gloves in my work area. I forget, though, to put them on about 60% of the time. I'm just not used to it. So, you younger guys are lucky. You're getting the habit of gloving up. If you do that all the time, you can forget about the fingernail brush at the end of the work day. You also don't have to have your hands in a tank full of Stoddard Solvent multiple times a day. That's hard on the hands.

Progress!

 

[RedneckWelder]

If you don’t use gloves at my work you can get written up and then fired. Technically we are supposed to use a cut resistant glove, level appropriate to the task. Work supplies several varieties of gloves including nitrile.

That said my boss is pretty lax.

We do have one nasty ******* here who I swear comes in filthy, refuses to wash up, uses the break room without getting clean, and at the end of the day throws his tools down and runs out the door filthy as ****. He’s just plain stupid.

My wife complimented me while we were dating f with “the way you make sure you are clean at the end of the day nobody would know you were a mechanic”.

 

[dffay]

Yep, gloves are tools. Tools are anything that helps make your job easier.
Anything that you’ve touched and leached through your pores was filtered through your liver.

 

[Garcky]

If you don’t use gloves at my work you can get written up and then fired. Technically we are supposed to use a cut resistant glove, level appropriate to the task. Work supplies several varieties of gloves including nitrile.

That said my boss is pretty lax.

We do have one nasty ******* here who I swear comes in filthy, refuses to wash up, uses the break room without getting clean, and at the end of the day throws his tools down and runs out the door filthy as ****. He’s just plain stupid.

My wife complimented me while we were dating f with “the way you make sure you are clean at the end of the day nobody would know you were a mechanic”.

Yeah. Wives and girlfriends helped encourage us to get cleaned up after work, for sure. There were times when that was a big job, actually. I was glad to stop working on cars as my job when I did.

 

[Garcky]

Yep, gloves are tools. Tools are anything that helps make your job easier.
Anything that you’ve touched and leached through your pores was filtered through your liver.

Very true. We ignored that in those old days. I can't count the number of times I blew off brake dust with an air nozzle. We never even gave it a thought at the time. It's amazing we're still alive.

 

[Kent_B]

After my wrench turning days, I wound up in electronics manufacturing and repair. I needed really good manual dexterity for some of the smallest components I replaced or tested. Some chip components half the size of a grain of rice. I took really good care of my hands and fingers.

Now when mucking about in my garage, I still take really good care of my hands by wearing gloves when appropriate and sometimes err on the side of caution. Yep, gloves are tools.

Side note: every time I've caught my son beating on something with the heel of his hand, I tell him that's a really expensive hammer and find another way.

 

[LXCam]

You saying it’s no longer acceptable to bath in the parts washer??

So now after 40+ yrs, wth am I supposed to do on Saturday night?

 

[Garcky]

You saying it’s no longer acceptable to bath in the parts washer??

So now after 40+ yrs, wth am I supposed to do on Saturday night?

The dealership shop where my Dad worked for many years had a shower in the locker room. A lot of guys showered after work, including my Dad. "Go home clean," he used to say.

 

[Garcky]

After my wrench turning days, I wound up in electronics manufacturing and repair. I needed really good manual dexterity for some of the smallest components I replaced or tested. Some chip components half the size of a grain of rice. I took really good care of my hands and fingers.

Now when mucking about in my garage, I still take really good care of my hands by wearing gloves when appropriate and sometimes err on the side of caution. Yep, gloves are tools.

Side note: every time I've caught my son beating on something with the heel of his hand, I tell him that's a really expensive hammer and find another way.

I can't count the number of hub caps I put on using the heel of my hand. Finally, though, I hurt that hand and switched to the rubber hammer on the back of the hub cap remover tool. "So...that's what that's for..."

 

[LXCam]

The dealership shop where my Dad worked for many years had a shower in the locker room. A lot of guys showered after work, including my Dad. "Go home clean," he used to say.

i worked as a millwright in a lead acid battery plant for a year or so. My areas were the nastiest environment there, ball mill, pasting, grid casting. You definitely showered before you left the joint.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Yes I try to wear gloves whenever I can. I don’t care what someone says. Plus they are free to me my shop provides them we have MicroFlex Diamond Grip latex gloves provided and for those who prefer Nitrile it’s the MicroFlex Black Oynx. I personally prefer the thicker Diamond Grip latex gloves. As many as we all go thru I’d hate to see the prices they pay for them. At home I use the HF rubber gloves of various thickness depending on the task. It’s weird for me too because if we are out of the latex gloves I get the nitrile and wear an XL in nitrile and a large in latex. Guess the rubber is a little bit different when they size it. I think just about every person at my dealership wears them regularly even the old guys.

 

[Garcky]

Yes I try to wear gloves whenever I can. I don’t care what someone says. Plus they are free to me my shop provides them we have MicroFlex Diamond Grip latex gloves provided and for those who prefer Nitrile it’s the MicroFlex Black Oynx. I personally prefer the thicker Diamond Grip latex gloves. As many as we all go thru I’d hate to see the prices they pay for them. At home I use the HF rubber gloves of various thickness depending on the task. It’s weird for me too because if we are out of the latex gloves I get the nitrile and wear an XL in nitrile and a large in latex. Guess the rubber is a little bit different when they size it. I think just about every person at my dealership wears them regularly even the old guys.

Yeah, I'd be wearing them now, too. We just never thought about it, and gloves weren't really available. Welding gloves, of course, but for everyday work, we just went bare-handed. Lava soap was good, too. These days, I used Dawn dishwashing soap for oil and grease. It works pretty well. But at the age of 77, I don't need to do that very often.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Back in the 80s we used liquid glove, it was supposed to make it easier to clean your hands. Now i wear disposable gloves whenever i can. I supply all my guys with disposable and whatever gloves they need, ppe is required, encouraged and free.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

If you don’t use gloves at my work you can get written up and then fired. Technically we are supposed to use a cut resistant glove, level appropriate to the task. Work supplies several varieties of gloves including nitrile.

That said my boss is pretty lax.

We do have one nasty ******* here who I swear comes in filthy, refuses to wash up, uses the break room without getting clean, and at the end of the day throws his tools down and runs out the door filthy as ****. He’s just plain stupid.

My wife complimented me while we were dating f with “the way you make sure you are clean at the end of the day nobody would know you were a mechanic”.

Stuff is pretty baked into my callouses now, not even pumice stones will take it all out. You could sand the tissue until it bled and it wouldn't come out, not with soap, gasoline, or anything. Normally if I take a week off and the normal process of skin-turnover will get my hands to push out the offending material. It just doesn't come off, it's ground into the skin too deep.

Girls have told me my hands "look ******* ugly". Oh thanks for the compliment. I do my best, gloves, frequent washing, but it just doesn't come out of calloused skin.

I buy my own gloves for work. They supply some as a remnant of covid, but supplies are drying up. I'd say we've had zero for 2 weeks or so? As the prices on gloves skyrocketed, I hoarded all they'd give me, and didn't waste them pulling cars in and out for virus protection. Much rather have my hands covered packing a wheel bearing, or pulling an intake, or messing with gear oil. Last batch they supplied were food safety gloves, which you couldn't hardly do an oil change with before they were dangling in pieces. I'm pretty in tune to knowing when thye're restocking and grabbing usable gloves before they're gone.

 

[plinker]

Over time, I've had things that things that should have been injuries not happen or have a reduced effect simply by wearing gloves.


I've been buying these for a couple years now, good price and they usually work with touch screen stuff I've found, very good dexterity too. Before I had Kinco 1890's for years, both hold up well for my use, the G-tek are a bit less money. I buy about 3doz. at a time and wash them at the end of the week. Lasts 6mo. to a year or so.
https://www.zoro.com/pip-foam-nitrile-coated-gloves-palm-coverage-gray-xl-12pk-34-c232xl/i/G0660409/
Only down side to these is they are ****** cold in the winter if you're doing something outside. They will fit in mittens just fine though.

Not a fan of nitrile gloves for the most part unless needing disposable gloves in particular (packing bearings, ete..), most are too thin & tear easily, SAS raven and 6609-40's are the better ones I've found. Anything is better then nothing though.

 

[Sumboodie]

The dealership shop where my Dad worked for many years had a shower in the locker room. A lot of guys showered after work, including my Dad. "Go home clean," he used to say.

The mill my Dad worked at starting making people change clothes before and after work, and showers highly suggested. IE, don't go home with dirty work clothes.

They're thought was less chemicals and other hazardous stuff would find it's way into POVs and homes.

 

[dchawk81]

Yes, I agree; people who wear gloves are tools.

 

[dnschmidt]

Well as an ex semiconductor guy I wore gloves my entire career. Not because we were trying to protect ourselves but our chips. People are replaceable, chips cost money. That stated I've always hated getting dirty. Even as a little boy I always came home clean so your damn right I wear gloves when I'm working on my car. I know it's a phobia but I can't fight it. Dirt ***** and grease ***** ten times worse. When I see these YouTube mechanics working on filthy engines it makes me cringe. Get out the pressure washer and clean that pile of **** is my first reaction. 40 years of working in a clean room will do that to you.

 

[dchawk81]

Well as an ex semiconductor guy I wore gloves my entire career. Not because we were trying to protect ourselves but our chips. People are replaceable, chips cost money. That stated I've always hated getting dirty. Even as a little boy I always came home clean so your damn right I wear gloves when I'm working on my car. I know it's a phobia but I can't fight it. Dirt ***** and grease ***** ten times worse. When I see these YouTube mechanics working on filthy engines it makes me cringe. Get out the pressure washer and clean that pile of **** is my first reaction. 40 years of working in a clean room will do that to you.

Replace semiconductor with snack foods and my story is the same.

 

[Professional Tool User]

PPE in general are tools. Even if you have to pay for it yourself, it's better to use it than to be injured. If you don't use disposable gloves, good luck with claiming workers compensation down the line for diseases like cancer where the cause is usually long term exposure to chemicals.

 

[oldmachinenut]

You saying it’s no longer acceptable to bath in the parts washer??

So now after 40+ yrs, wth am I supposed to do on Saturday night?

I had to do this once. Early 1980 a Chevy Citation came into the dealership and it was a “zone complaint”, 3 other dealerships had tried and failed to fix a trans leak. I was the only guy in the shop doing the 125 transaxle so I was blessed with it. The other shops had each replaced the convertor seal with zero success. I suspected a bad weld on the convertor but GM would not authorize a new convertor till a bad weld could be found. I put it on the bench with the convertor held in with a shipping bracket, plugged the case vent, put the axles in and used low air pressure to pressurize it through the dipstick tube. It started weeping on the crank pilot on the convertor. When I removed the blow gun from the dipstick tube all 6 quarts of Dexron came out like a fire hose, it was dripping off the ceiling. Luckily (not) I caught most of it. I had to pretty much take a bath in the Varsol tank followed up with GoJo. My hair was moderately long then and when it dried I looked like Bozo the clown in a Chevy uniform.

 

[dchawk81]

Stuff is pretty baked into my callouses now, not even pumice stones will take it all out. You could sand the tissue until it bled and it wouldn't come out, not with soap, gasoline, or anything. Normally if I take a week off and the normal process of skin-turnover will get my hands to push out the offending material. It just doesn't come off, it's ground into the skin too deep.

Girls have told me my hands "look ******* ugly". Oh thanks for the compliment. I do my best, gloves, frequent washing, but it just doesn't come out of calloused skin.

I buy my own gloves for work. They supply some as a remnant of covid, but supplies are drying up. I'd say we've had zero for 2 weeks or so? As the prices on gloves skyrocketed, I hoarded all they'd give me, and didn't waste them pulling cars in and out for virus protection. Much rather have my hands covered packing a wheel bearing, or pulling an intake, or messing with gear oil. Last batch they supplied were food safety gloves, which you couldn't hardly do an oil change with before they were dangling in pieces. I'm pretty in tune to knowing when thye're restocking and grabbing usable gloves before they're gone.

Tell those girls the callouses are like a ribbed ********.

 

[CJM8515]

the pores of my skin are quite large and pick up dirt easily. i wash my hands very well, and wear gloves when needed-but i always get dirt stuck to them like glue eventually. only way it truly goes away is to not work on dirty things for a few days lol. although washing your hands with pumice soap , a nail brush and VERY hot water (almost scalding) does work.

 

[no704]

I usually wear gloves for messy jobs. But when I don’t a good pre wash with WD40 makes clean up much easier.

 

[RTM]

Replace semiconductor with snack foods and my story is the same.

Replace semiconductor or Snack food with bio pharmaceuticals, and my story is pretty similar, except when it was beer.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Unfortunately gloves don't always work, sometimes you even get a false sense of security.

 

[oldmachinenut]

I always cringe when the guys on the car/motorcycle/fab shows run rotating machinery (drill press/mill/lathe) wearing gloves.

 

[richfinn]

Today's technicians are really lucky. Inexpensive gloves are readily available these days, and I see most techs using them. I'm an old-timer. Back when I was working as an automobile mechanic, nobody wore gloves. I don't think any of us ever thought about gloves. If we did, the ones that were available completely destroyed your sense of touch.

So, we had dirty, greasy hands. That's what we had. Many times a day, they got washed off in the parts cleaner, wiped with red shop rags, and scrubbed with Lava soap. You couldn't test drive a car without cleaning your hands. Customers would have screamed.

None of those things, though, got the black from under our fingernails. That took a nail brush and plenty of time, so it didn't get done all that often. Some guys cleaned up their fingernails at the end of the day. Some gave up on trying. I got pretty proficient at scraping the black out of my fingernails with the point of my pocket knife blade.

I'm not wrenching much these days, and I have a box of nitrile gloves in my work area. I forget, though, to put them on about 60% of the time. I'm just not used to it. So, you younger guys are lucky. You're getting the habit of gloving up. If you do that all the time, you can forget about the fingernail brush at the end of the work day. You also don't have to have your hands in a tank full of Stoddard Solvent multiple times a day. That's hard on the hands.

Progress!

We had to apply barrier cream before we started work when I was an apprentice in the 1980s, nowadays I use Nitrile or PU coated gloves depending what I'm doing.

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

In the mid 80s, I got some free trade rag, like " underhood service ", no idea exactly what rag, as its been way too many years. I still remember reading an article, about techs getting cancer from some kind of toxicity picked up through the skin of the hands, IIRC, coolant was the most offensive liquid techs came into ( or at that time, that was belief ). I used to spend allot of time in Stoddard solvent, which worried me the most. Days later ( being somewhat of a hypochondriac ) I had case of Latex exam gloves getting delivered to the shop.

Back in those days, you had to find a medical supplies wholesaler ( via a hard line telelphone, anyone remember those days ? ) to find gloves, or at least a case of them. I got ribbed for likely 2 decades about wearing my ***** mittens. Im 55 now, and knock on wood, very healthy... still digging into powertrain and still wearing my mittens, even for tasks as simple as " changing my mind "... YMMV...

 

[MacMcMacmac]

I'd be in the parts washer 8hrs a day some days. My skin would turn to sandpaper on my knuckles. Nowadays, my skin dries out, cracks and bleeds if I'm in it for a few minutes. Fast Orange does the same thing.

 

[slowtwitch73]

In my bike shop days one of the brain surgeons lost a part under the shelf in the parts washer and proceeded to stick his hole arm in it up to his arm pit fishing for it. He didn't feel so good after that... luckily we spotted him starting to black out and caught him and took him outside to sit on a bench.

I like gloves now but I did expose myself to lots of nasty **** for years.

 

[AJHD]

I hate gloves and rarely wear them. I really only wear them when it comes to something that might burn my hands or where there is a high chance of being cut/abrasion. I personally don't mind having dirty hands.

My hands also get super sweaty (aka wet gloves), nitrile/latex gloves just rip/tear, and fabric/cloth/rubber gloves destroy my dexterity.

When I would be wrenching on a vehicle up on a lift and my arms were above my head, sweat would run out of the glove, down my arm and into my arm pit, or just drip onto my face. That got old quick.

I too am guilty of cleaning off my hands in the parts washer, using Simple Green or Purple Power, or even just using brake clean. I've used all manner of hand cleaners (orange clean, pumice, Cherry Bomb, etc.), Lava Soap and even dish soap. In fact I still keep a small bottle of dish soap in the shower for those days I get really dirty/greasy.

It can be difficult to maintain a balance between clean and dirty when it comes to customer's vehicles. Most of the shops I worked at had both paper floor mats and plastic covers for the seats, and of course wash up before getting in the car.

 

[Mikeske]

Unfortunately gloves don't always work, sometimes you even get a false sense of security.

Working in aircraft manufacturing we were told never to use gloves when operating drills or rotating machinery, for riveting it was encouraged to wear some sort of shock absorbing gloves which never worked well but at least I made t out of that environment without having issues with my hands.

I was a vehicle mechanic in the mid 1970's to the mid 1980's when I went back and got trained to worked aircraft. I rarely if ever wore gloves except for the parts cleaner as the stuff was really hard on my hands and the gloves looked like heavy vinyl but better then having the **** on my hands.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I hate gloves and rarely wear them. I really only wear them when it comes to something that might burn my hands or where there is a high chance of being cut/abrasion. I personally don't mind having dirty hands.

My hands also get super sweaty (aka wet gloves), nitrile/latex gloves just rip/tear, and fabric/cloth/rubber gloves destroy my dexterity.

When I would be wrenching on a vehicle up on a lift and my arms were above my head, sweat would run out of the glove, down my arm and into my arm pit, or just drip onto my face. That got old quick.

I too am guilty of cleaning off my hands in the parts washer, using Simple Green or Purple Power, or even just using brake clean. I've used all manner of hand cleaners (orange clean, pumice, Cherry Bomb, etc.), Lava Soap and even dish soap. In fact I still keep a small bottle of dish soap in the shower for those days I get really dirty/greasy.

It can be difficult to maintain a balance between clean and dirty when it comes to customer's vehicles. Most of the shops I worked at had both paper floor mats and plastic covers for the seats, and of course wash up before getting in the car.

You can use the sweating to your advantage. Keeps a high humidity area around your hands. I knew a guy who managed a jiffy lube who throw gloves on to close the store. By the time he took them off after closing, his hands were more receptive to the final wash.

Sadly there is a time where gloves just don't work and you need that fine precision. But I try to keep the gloves on as much as possible.

Here in the winter your hands will die from getting washed 10 times a day and not being 100% dry. We have dishsoap and pumice paste, neither are great to wash with a lot. Strips the oil out of your skin. I use O'Keefe working hands from fall to spring.

 

[Garcky]

In the mid 80s, I got some free trade rag, like " underhood service ", no idea exactly what rag, as its been way too many years. I still remember reading an article, about techs getting cancer from some kind of toxicity picked up through the skin of the hands, IIRC, coolant was the most offensive liquid techs came into ( or at that time, that was belief ). I used to spend allot of time in Stoddard solvent, which worried me the most. Days later ( being somewhat of a hypochondriac ) I had case of Latex exam gloves getting delivered to the shop.

Back in those days, you had to find a medical supplies wholesaler ( via a hard line telelphone, anyone remember those days ? ) to find gloves, or at least a case of them. I got ribbed for likely 2 decades about wearing my ***** mittens. Im 55 now, and knock on wood, very healthy... still digging into powertrain and still wearing my mittens, even for tasks as simple as " changing my mind "... YMMV...

Somehow, I managed to not contract anything from that exposure. I don't remember any techs wearing gloves in the 60s and 70s. And we always had our hands in the parts washer and other fluids. Brake fluid, carb cleaner...all sorts of things. I'm sure it was not good for us, but I mostly worried about having dirty hands. I was a young guy then and dating. I scrubbed up a lot because of that. the last thing you want was to hear "EWWW!" from your date when she sees your hands, after all.

 

[Bubba Fett]

Gloves are essential for certain tasks, but they really can make things easier, especially when dealing with chemicals and solvents.

A good pair of mechanic's style gloves are recommended. Even yardwork is faster, because I don't have to worry about thorns and splinters, and they can absorb some of the vibration from power tools. I like them better than the typical yard work gloves, which are thick and uncomfortable.

I also keep a pair of those cheap black jersey gloves all over the place. They are not as good, but they are a good "oops I forgot my gloves" solution. I usually keep some in every jacket as well.

 

[VolvoRyan]

Gloves are great. When I need "clean hands" for some assembly, I just spay brake cleaner on my gloved hands and dry with a shop rag.

-Ryan

 

[Citation]

I'm only a shade tree mechanic but I didn't like my hands showing the uncleanable grease/oil/dirt when I went to work on Mondays. Initially I used household cleaning gloves since I had them (some of those tub cleaners are murder on your hands). At some point I discovered disposable gloves. Now I use a mix of those and the woven dipped gloves like the G-tek polycor ANSI 2 cut resistant gloves. Some of the woven gloves like the Gorilla Gloves that I have are OK but rather thin. The ANSI 2 cut resistances seems to be just a bit thicker and better pads your knuckles when under the hoot. They are really nice when you drag your hand across the sharp edge of a bracket. The ones I have fit nicely so the impact to my dexterity is small compared to nitrile or no gloves.

 

[Two Speed]

So, we had dirty, greasy hands. That's what we had. Many times a day, they got washed off in the parts cleaner, wiped with red shop rags, and scrubbed with Lava soap. You couldn't test drive a car without cleaning your hands. Customers would have screamed.


Progress!

Wouldn't be so bad if the young guys de-gloved before getting behind the wheel. Might be due to being a fleet vehicle and they think it gets abused, but everytime I got to clean the grease/oil/grime off the steering wheel. From observation, they just keep their dirty gloves on... I talked with one of them, completely oblivious about it, he wears the gloves to protect his hands. Okay, fine, but what about the customers vehicle? Deer in headlights look... 'my hands are clean'.... but your gloves aren't...
Knowing that shop owner (same guy who banned me from the bays for calling out the bad tire they wanted to install on my van) he probably gives the guys **** for going through too many gloves. Sometimes I like the old ways better;
You couldn't test drive a car without cleaning your hands.

 

[Garcky]

Wouldn't be so bad if the young guys de-gloved before getting behind the wheel. Might be due to being a fleet vehicle and they think it gets abused, but everytime I got to clean the grease/oil/grime off the steering wheel. From observation, they just keep their dirty gloves on... I talked with one of them, completely oblivious about it, he wears the gloves to protect his hands. Okay, fine, but what about the customers vehicle? Deer in headlights look... 'my hands are clean'.... but your gloves aren't...
Knowing that shop owner (same guy who banned me from the bays for calling out the bad tire they wanted to install on my van) he probably gives the guys **** for going through too many gloves. Sometimes I like the old ways better;
You couldn't test drive a car without cleaning your hands.

When I was working, you never got in a customer's car with dirty hands. Before driving it on a test drive, before getting back in it after working on it, you cleaned up, especially your hands. Even the fleet shop I worked at demanded fender covers, seat covers, floor mat covers, and clean hands. In fact, we used the blue paper towels you see by the pumps at gas stations for customers to use, to wipe off steering wheels, door handles, etc., as the last thing you did before the customer got the car back.

Other rules included not changing the seat position, not adjusting the mirror, and leaving the damned radio tuned to the customer's preference. You did not mess with the customer's car in any detectable way.