Leather Gloves when Wire Wheeling on a Bench Grinder

[Kenwc]

I KNOW its generally bad practice (so no scolding) to use gloves when at the bench grinder but I'm wondering if anyone does use them and what type?

I'm looking at the Kevlar cut resistant type or just plain "thick" close fitting leather gloves to help avoid loosing the occasional 1 or more layers of skin.

Thanks

 

[shampoop]

Never really thought of it as a safety hazard, but it definitely makes sense. The soft wire wheels I've used never actually break the skin when they come in brief contact.

 

[dittle fart around]

Go with the leather glove. First they're cheaper, buy a pair and leave them at the grinder. That will make a good reminder to put them on. I've slipped and run my gloves into the wheel with no problems.

 

[R6 Racer]

I didn't know it was a bad practice! I have used leather gloves when grinding & wire wheeling for years. I'm like diddle fart, I keep my "grinding gloves" right on my grinder.

Steve

 

[Kenwc]

Cool...thanks for the replies...

 

[white500xl]

When using any kind of a bench grinder, wire wheel or grinding stone, you should always use a pair of vise grips to hold small parts. This will prevent your fingers or hands from getting pulled into the spinning wheels. I wear latex gloves anytime I'm working in the shop, and when I grind something, the gloves protect my hands from the flying sparks.Or you could wear leather gloves, but they are a little cumbersome. The vise grips does their job holding the parts. Also wear your safety glasses or a full face shield.

 

[Zeke]

The main thing about gloves and machinery is the ability to get the glove, or your sleeve, or something else, caught in the movement of the machine. OK, long hair has to be secured for just about anything.

But, it's the machines with torque that can hurt you badly with gloves on. That would be a drill press, a lathe or even large hand held grinder. You could get yourself hurt with a bench grinder for sure. The deciding factor is if you might get in a situation where you can't get your hand out of there quickly because it's in a glove.

Hence, wear gloves all you want around a table saw because once you have your hand in the blade, you're gonna bleed real bad no matter what. Get wrapped up in a lathe with gloves on and you might lose the whole arm.

 

[Kenwc]

For the most part...I have made holders for male and female threaded items...like an all-thread rod with a wingnut near the end that you back up against a nut you want to wire wheel. Or a female threaded rod to hold bolts while cleaning the head...I have most all the sizes. I also have a couple of handled hand vises.

I restore old machines so I'm often wire wheeling nuts and bolts.

But there's always those things and those times where I just grab it and go at it.

 

[Andy Griffith]

I use leather gloves when using the wire wheel, but generally not when using the grinding wheel. I find that even when using vice grips or other means to secure small parts, the wire wheel can be unforgiving when it 'catches' the part. Also, it is more likely that I really need to be putting some pressure on the item when using the wire wheel vs the grinding wheel.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I've always thought: no gloves with a drill press, lathe, anything that could grab the glove and twist your digits.

 

[Steevo]

I'd probably still have fingerprints and fingernails if I had thought to protect my digits a little more often.
Just today I ground a slot across the back of a finger with a 4-1/2" side grinder that has no guard in place on it.

Funny part is, I don't recall what job I was doing that led me to remove the guard, and I noticed it sitting in the box when I got the grinder out, but never thought to re-install it.
I also sunburned my hands and forearms due to welding with no gloves or sleeves.

A little protection can go a long ways in certain situations.

 

[Skin]

i try to always wear gloves around wire wheels. Done it countless times and never once had the wheel grab, just scuff the hide a bit. What ***** though are wire wheel rashes and splinters from not wearing gloves.

 

[december45]

I know better.... but used a pair of leather gloves when buffing some metal, grabbed my glove and tore it off my hand.... roughed up my hand pretty good, and im old enough to know better.

 

[ncfh]

Gloves and rotating machinery are bad news.

I watched spiraling chips on a drill rig catch a man's glove and rip his fingers off. The horrendous, debilitating part was the 10" of tendons that were pulled out of his forearm and lay dangling out the stumps of his fingers.

I can still hear that man's screams.

Needless to say, I am VERY cautious around rotating machinery.

 

[Lump]

The extreme example of a situation to NEVER wear gloves around machinery that I personally know about is a set of power rolls in a sheet metal shop. Sharp edges of sheet metal pieces going through a roll have a really good chance of cutting your hands, so it is tempting to wear the gloves. But the rolls are REALLY good at grabbing the finger tips of your gloves as you feed the sheet metal panel. As a young apprentice I once cut my hand at the roll, and got mad and went and got my gloves and put them on. An old journeyman saw this, grabbed some vise grips and walked purposely right up to me (he happened to be a friend of my dad, who was also a tin knocker.) He said, "Lump, give me your left hand." He then snapped the vise grips shut on just one finger tip, and then said, "NOW, pretend this glove tip just got trapped in the rolls. QUICK, PULL YOUR HAND OUT OF THAT GLOVE BEFORE IT GETS CRUSHED!" Of course, I pulled with all my might, but didn't have a chance. The glove worked just like those old chinese handcuffs. And that was with just one finger clamped in the grips. Then the journeyman took my glove from me, and fed it through the roll on top of the sheet of metal. Not only was it crushed...it was crushed so badly that I couldn't use it again. Threads were ripped out of the seams, etc.

He said, "Now. Don't EVER let me catch you with a @#^%$#$^ glove on around that roll, or I'll beat you half to death. And I MEAN it!" He was the gentlest guy in that shop, and a real friend to my dad and me. But I later found out that he had witnessed a man who lost his hand in a power roll, and so he got pretty upset when he saw me like that.

I can stand a few cuts or abrasions on my hands when working around power tools. But to each his own...

 

[richtersrodz]

I wear a pair of Wells Lamont? gloves. I've buffed old paint off of door hinges, and they
get real hot, real fast. And clamping vice grips on them, leaves marks..

I also have almost cut open the back of my hand, on a chop saw once. Cut the piece of
wood, and pulled it from under the blade, as the blade was going up. Got a little too quick,
the blade caught the back of hand. Lucky that I had on gloves, and it caught the glove.
So from that point on, I always wear my gloves. I have the Craftsman ones, where the
fingers are cut out. 1/2 finger, and palm coverage, with velcro around the wrist.

 

[t100]

 

[amolaver]

For the most part...I have made holders for male and female threaded items...like an all-thread rod with a wingnut near the end that you back up against a nut you want to wire wheel. Or a female threaded rod to hold bolts while cleaning the head...I have most all the sizes. I also have a couple of handled hand vises.

I restore old machines so I'm often wire wheeling nuts and bolts.

But there's always those things and those times where I just grab it and go at it.

wouldn't a blast cabinet be a lot easier/safer to clean up small parts like that?

ahm

 

[rlitman]

Lump, your answer was VERY well put.

Just a note: If you think a leather glove will trap your hand, kevlar is far worse. The knitting is even more likely to close up like a chinese fingercuff, and is less likely to tear.

If you're losing skin at the grinder, find a better way to hold the part.
Vice grips are an option for parts that can get scarred a little. You can make your own "soft" jaws for more delicate parts.

 

[justanengineer]

Try using a better wheel. Unless you need to remove the 10% of paint that is actually cemented solidly onto the part, try using a NYLON or other soft wheel. My nylon wheel takes off the majority of paint without harming the material, and wont hurt my hand other than a slight burn if the digits touch it for a few seconds, which they tend to do. Gloves = injuries, so dont make that mistake.

The material of your wheel isnt as important as speed is in the **** removal process. McMaster, Grainger etc should have a good variety of different wheel materials. I personally use the common steel wire wheel <10% of the time.

 

[Sterff]

I was always told to not wear gloves when grinding. I have a brass wire wheel on my grinder and it doesn't really hurt if you bump your hand on it.

 

[Zebu Fellenz]

I'm in the "no gloves" camp for the most part. My only exception to this rule is 4 1/2" angle grinders that do not have locking on switches. Sometimes I wear glove using knotted wire wheels, first because if I do lose control of the grinder the power switch will most likely kick out and second because I know (from experience unfortunately) that the grinder (4 1/2" DeWalt) will stall out if the wire wheel tangles in my glove.

I watched a kid in school have his arm broken when his glove caught in the wire wheel on a pedestal machine and swung him around, worst injuries we ever had without gloves were skinned fingers.

 

[Zeke]

When I went to welding school as an adult the rule was if it had a power cord and a switch, you were not to wear gloves. Not welders, of course.

I had to disagree when it came to the small stationary thin belt sander for tungstens. Who needs 2% thorium on your skin?

Still, they had their rules and I'm sure insurance had a lot to do with it.

 

[bgott]

I don't use gloves while using a grinder. I do use welder's gloves while polishing small objects on a buffer. Is it safe? Probably not. But stuff will get really hot really quick when being buffed.

 

[slipjointed]

Gloves and rotating machinery are bad news.

I watched spiraling chips on a drill rig catch a man's glove and rip his fingers off. The horrendous, debilitating part was the 10" of tendons that were pulled out of his forearm and lay dangling out the stumps of his fingers.

I can still hear that man's screams.

Needless to say, I am VERY cautious around rotating machinery.

This pretty much sums it up.

My entire career has been in a shop, and to this day I still fend off comments about not wearing gloves.

I do make a couple of small exceptions, but they're in specialty scenarios that I only feel comfortable entering because of decades of experience. I removed the AC motor and fitted a DC motor and drive with variable torque to my drill press, specifically for safety reasons.

If I were to lose even a single finger, it would have a serious effect on my earning ability.



IMO one of the most dangerous pieces of equipment BY FAR is a metal lathe. Long stringy chips come flying off that machine and will skin your arm down to bone before you even know that you've been caught.

 

[rlitman]

I don't use gloves while using a grinder. I do use welder's gloves while polishing small objects on a buffer. Is it safe? Probably not. But stuff will get really hot really quick when being buffed.

Just as bad.
There is actually a tool for this, called a jewelers ring clamp.

It's pretty easy to make one:
Split a 10" long 1 1/4" dowel lengthwise. Pad the tips at one end with leather. Put something in the center to space them apart a bit, and make a ring to hold them tightly together onto that spacer. Then drive a wedge into one side to clamp whatever you need to hold. What makes it special is that it will not mar any small parts you're buffing unlike vice-grips.

 

[Mmfh]

One thing that comes to mind on this, the normal bench grinders with a stone on one side and a wire wheel on the other. If a person is using one of these, unless its one of the industrial larger ones, it probably pretty safe to wear gloves.

My reasoning is, these grinders don't have enough power to do you much damage if you are wearing gloves. Bare skin can hurt a bit, but stick a glove in the wire wheel on one of the every day grinders you see everywhere will just stall the grinder and no damage done.

I like to use TIG welding gloves for times when I want to protect my hands while using the small bench grinder, they allow you to still have some feel. If I can lean on the wire wheel with a larger part and stall it, I figure its safe enough to wear gloves.

Mm