Projects How many of y'all wear rubber gloves when working??

My son was going downstairs to do some sheet metal work on his International. I told him, wear gloves. His reply was, "Yeah, yeah". About 5 minutes later, he came in bleeding like a stuck pig with a wound in the center of his hand, caused by a sharp corner he was attempting to bend. 5 hours waiting in the ER to get sewed up cured him. The long wait was because the ER was overwhelmed with a brutal injury due to a kick back while using a table saw, and two heart attacks. The bleeding had stopped, but he still needed a tetanus shot, just to be proactive.
Now, when he is home, he gives me crap for not wearing appropriate safety equipment. He even bought me a pair of $300.00 steel toe boots with the armoured soles. I whine because they are heavy. I promised myself that I will start wearing them when I am working on my heavy equipment.
Bob

 

When I worked in the papermill, the mill doctor was also in the Air Force reserve so he would go on active duty occasionally. He told the story of how this one cocky fighter pilot always gave him a hard time during his physical. When this pilot was due for his annual physical, the doctor said he got a rubber glove and filled it with water and tied the end. When it was time for the pilot to get the finger test, he said he had the pilot bend over the table and he put the rubber glove with water in it on one shoulder and his hand on the other and proceeded with the finger test. He said the pilot never gave him a hard time ever again.

 

That's not funny! Well, it is really. We used to have to have the exam once a year, and the old joke was the both hands on the shoulder thing. The other joke was, after the exam, the doctor exits and re-enters the room and asks, " do you know that person"?
The ignominy of it all, was after age 40, it was twice per year. A number of guys were caught with early stage prostate cancer, and I can't think of one that didn't return to work after treatment. That was in the 80s and 90s, before the more sophisticated treatments available today.
Bob

 

I wear gloves all the time at work.I had the same reservations and discomfort at first.Now it is second nature.If I don't,by the end of the day my hands are burning. I've been at this for 40 years and I wish I had gloves earlier. I can only imagine the amount of chemicals I've absorbed through the years.Even people who have smoked many years have health benefits from quitting.

 

I have the HF nitrile gloves, though I don't wear them all the time.

 

This year I have been transitioning into a full time sheet metal fabrication business and I spend all day handling sheet metal. Strangely enough I know I should be wearing gloves when I am wheeling up an ungainly panel but I can’t be bothered. The dust and grease that ends up on my skin annoys me far more than the cuts and scratches.

 

Sometimes, depending on what I'm doing. Brakes, exhaust, paint, chemicals, etc. Only have about 50% feeling in my right hand to begin with, so...PITA

 

about 15 yrs ago I ran across some peccary leather gloves at an auction. thought it was a brand (know different now), but when I tried one on, I had to have them. damn things felt like a second skin. there were about 20 pair in the box and I bought 'em all. still trying to wear out the first pair.

 

Rubber gloves make my hands sweat so bad, which is odd because I don't normally have sweaty hands. I only use them when working with harsh chemicals or stuff (sealants, paint, etc.) that really sticks to the skin. I also have a box of different leather gloves for various uses like handling wood and other sharp stuff. Otherwise, it's usually bare knuckles for wrenching on regular dirty stuff.

For you guys using dish detergent or brake cleaner to wash your hands---- Are you nuts? Invest in some GoJo, your hands will thank you for it.

 

90% of the time.........the other 10% not messing with greasy stuff!

 

I also keep the HF nitrile gloves on hand...but often find myself already greasy before I think to apply them. I try.

 

In my day job I do a lot if work in a laboratory, I need to wear gloves for handling chemicals and to keep the natural oils and contaminants on my skin from getting on sensitive instruments and glassware.
In the home shop I will use them for quick jobs like oil changes or some particularly nasty jobs like bearings, brakes, clutches, and during the parts cleaning process. Once it's time for reassembly, the parts, tools and working area should be clean enough that you shouldn't need gloves.
I will use leather or mechanix style gloves when working with metal, welding, cutting ,grinding, polishing...and around hot surfaces
For clean up I use a industrial hand cleaner paste with ground walnut shells in it and a finger nail brush.
Chappy

 

Everything that touches your skin goes through your liver.. Growing up in Pittsburgh during the industrial era, I saw first hand how dangerous this stuff is and how ugly the diseases are that kill you from exposure to it..

 

I know I should but I don't. I do wear them when I am messing with paint and body work. Fingerprints showing up in a paint job sucks. Or the oil from your skin showing up when wearing gloves would prevent that.
Getting fiberglass resin off bare skin is tough .

 

Working with gloves on is like washing your feet with your socks on.

 

Never used to wear gloves at all. Now wear the nitrile gloves for messy jobs that are greasy or involve harsh chemicals or paint. Like everyone else don’t like the feeling of hands sweating inside the gloves. Got a bit more used to wearing gloves while working in a metallurgical lab and using chemicals and acids that definitely would cause harm. I also wear them when working on the sanitary system hoses for our motorhome.

Never have been able to get used to the mechanics type gloves that have reinforced palms and are padded. I have several pairs around the shop but just don’t have the feel while working on things. I also think they are dangerous when working on machines or around disk/belt sanders or grinders. I now do wear them when working on sharp rusty stuff. I know a lot of folks wear them all the time might be I just haven’t worn them enough to get used to them.

 

Ok, I had to look them up....here's what I found:

Learn all about the peccary leather; what makes it extra special & why any dapper gent needs one in his glove collection.

Sounds like they'd be pretty nice to wear! I got some doeskin gloves for welding with a torch, when I was taking classes at the community college 30 years ago. I liked them, too. Not quite the same as rubber gloves, though.

 

Mac VP which "thickster" version do you buy?

 

About 50% of the time.

 

I never did for general shop work, but then started when packing wheel bearings.
I've always used them when welding, hooking up to a trailer and pre-trip at work.
When I was using epoxy to build a boat, I was using H-F latex, but have switched to nitrile and using them more and more....esp for paint, even latex house paints

 

I wear them alot, being a Biomedical repair tech, I am repairing equipment that could have(does) blood an/or bodily fluids on them, so I got used to wearing them, I get the good nitrile ones from Uline. Sometimes I work on sterilizers so then I use the rubber palm cotton gloves with a extra large rubber over the top.

 

Thanks to the OP for this thread. A lot of good information here.

 

Gimpy is right, that is a proven fact that absorbing all that crap can be a factor in Leukemia. Kind of like closing the barn door after the horse got out but I wear gloves all the time.

 

White rubber gloves on all the 'technicians' were a new sight to me in 1974. Kinda looked laughable, like Walt Disney fitted them, as he did to mice and other...varmints.

I used the 'glove in a tube', silicone based cream that rubbed in, then 'set' with water, air dry. Felt strange at first, the water-set...but could work in anything, grease, ATF, solvent (remember Safety Kleen?) Everything was fine, fingernail beds and underneath looked terrible, but the hand wash soap took it all off, no need to brush.
I'd come home with clean hands.
I was introduced to the product my first trip to BMW school, when it was in Culver City, CA, 1970...

 

ignore them if you want but, more than once in my life had nails, etc go through bottom of shoe/boot - recently trimming a large lemon tree and long thorn went through bottom of boot

 

I only wear them when dealing with nasty stuff. I know I should but can't be bothered to put them on for a two minute job, unless its real nasty.
I did read somewhere that your skin is the largest organ on your body, and when you put your hands in varsol or similar stuff, it will end up in your liver in about 3 minutes.

 

I have three boxes of nitriles around the shop, even one in the top of the main rollaway, but I usually notice them as I'm heading for the sink and Dawn to get the grease off. I do have several sets of leather gloves from clean to greasy around, and like the mechanics type, which can be washed. For fine stuff, TIG welding gloves, even the HF ones, work pretty well

 

I started out at the age of 16 washing greasy parts in a bucket of gas. Spent some time doing heavy equipment washing parts in a bucket of diesel. Finally graduated to safety kleen parts washing fluid. After 60 years of it, I just avoid greasy parts. Never wore gloves, never will. But, I don't pay a lot of attention to expiration dates on food either. I'll probably die from it before I'm 90.

 

Only time I wear any gloves is when I'm welding or when I am driving one of my cars when it's cold and I don't have heat. HRP

 

Well..........should have, but never did. Retired construction worker of 34yrs. who wore them all day long, and go in garage after work and not wear them. My hands were cut and scrapped,bruised,mashed,pinched and dried out at 71yrs.old. Ironically, I am battling skin cancer at the moment on my hands and arms. Dr. says it was sun exposure as a child in early 50’s...................go figure!!