Hands

[Scott Roush]

Does anybody else here have destroyed hands from bladesmithing? Cuts, bruises, pokes, permanent dirt, leather dyes, dirt stuck to epoxy, super glue, cuts, scars, blood blisters, stitches, burns. Is there any hope for my paws?

[Steve Nuckels]

Nope!  No hope at all!  Now get back to work!

Steve
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Potomac Forge

[tippit]

Try latex exam gloves!  I do all my grinding & glue ups with them.  I can't afford hands like that on my day job with clients, surgery, etc.  If my finger hits the grinding belt the latex just tear without grinding my nail.  No grit under nails.  Maybe I'm a wuss but I don't sell my knives...gotta make a living with clean hands     Doc

[Scott Roush]

Thanks for the encouragement Steve!

I try gloves but I always end up taking em off to do something that requires the absence of gloves and as soon as I take em off Medium Brown leather dye gets on my hand somehow.  Even when I'm not using it. EVEN if it isn't in the shop!

[tippit]

You need cheap throwaway exam gloves...take 'em off, throw 'em away, and put new ones on.  When I'm grinding if I nick or tear one just put on a new one.  Probably 1/2 a dozen gloves per knife.  Anyway it works for me.

[kbaknife]

Scott, to some degree, it's part and parcel with knife making.
When I am involved with some of the more caustic aspects of what we do like etching, bluing, dyeing, and some other 'secret' stuff, I will wear the exam gloves. It really does help.
You married, Scott?
If so, do yourself and your wife a favor and do the dishes every now and then. Keep your hands in the hot soapy water for longer than necessary and it really helps a lot.
I'm not just being funny.

[OconeeDan]

By the way...you KNOW that CA (SuperGlue) will seal cuts pretty good, right?
I think it was invented for "stitchless sutures", and it works pretty well in areas where bandaids won't stick, such as your palm.
Dan

[2treks]

From bladesmithing? NO. Bow making? sometimes yes. A knuckle into a 6"x80" 50grit belt will leave a mark,for a while!

[Scott Roush]

that's funny.. i did a similar thread on Paleoplanet. Almost everybody complains about hitting their hands and fingers on their grinders. I've never done that...  I do everything else though.

Dan... Yeah.. I'm gonna start trying the super glue out.  It's those little cuts that never heal that get me down.  Especially when I squeeze lemons.

[Ray Hammond]

Docs right about throw away gloves but I get mine at auto parts place- they're about like a second skin and I don't lose any sensitivity with them

Plus my day job as a hand model for Raymond Weil and Breitling watches would suffer if I didn't

[Jeremy]

Originally posted by tippit:
Try latex exam gloves!

Yup, though I use the powder-free nitrile gloves instead.

[Bodork]

As a landscaper by trade, my hands look like crap all the time. If they are not cracked from the mud drying them out, they are stained with pvc primer.   Knife building brings even more elements into play. Grinding and sanding dust, epoxy, leather dye. About the best way I've found to clean mine is scalding hot water, soap and a brillo pad.
As far as destroying my hands, I'll spare the pictures but I was drilling a tang hole out for mosaic pins on a pre-made, pre-sharpened, UNTAPED blade once. The drill bit hung and the result was a helicopter knife blade on my drill press. Needless to say, it made a few revolutions before I knew it. I just felt the thump. In an instant I had cut the finger pads off 2 fingers and most of a third. Had stitches to repair the third but it fell off when the stitches were removed. My finger tips are still numb 3 years later. What a dope! Would have made a great you tube video. The worst part was the timing of it. My wife was right in the middle of a hallmark movie and had to run me to the E.R. I was banned from knife making during hallmark movies until we got a dvr.

[kbaknife]

Mike, let me make a comment about that:
If anyone, early on in drill press use, has not had that happen, then they are in the minority.
A really simple fix is to simply clamp a C-clamp on the edge of the drill press table and rest the work piece against it in the direction of the drill cut.
There is NO WAY the piece can lock up and become a food processor.
Or simply drill a hole in the table and thread a bolt into it.
Or, the drill press vise clamp that works just like a vise grip but clamps to the drill press table.
Either way, always make sure you leave the shop without a blood trail.

[elk ninja]

Yup, every knife somehow leaves a knick somewhere on one of my hands.  Might be the grinder that zipped through my thumbnail in a split second that actually left the mark, or, like you, the leather dye... something.  

I am in a similar boat to Tippet though, I am a nurse and don't want cuts on my hands.  Fortunately, I don't get 'round to making too many knives, so my hands generally look good, and I usually wear exam gloves  or leather gloves.

[Jeremy]

Originally posted by kbaknife:
Either way, always make sure you leave the shop without a blood trail.

 

I've been yelled at by my wife for cleaning and putting away my tools before coming into the house and asking her to drive me to ER.

[Ragnarok Forge]

Blood is the grease that makes a knife grow.  I find the grinder to be my most dangerous tool.  I get bit regularly during initial grinding with 36 or 40 grit belts.

[Bodork]

Great tips Karl, Thanks!
 Here is how my brilliant mind was thinking. If I point the sharp edge away from me and hold the back edge with my fingers(left hand)against the table, I won't get cut if it slips. I would have been better off pointing the sharp edge towards me because the clockwise direction would have had the back of the blade hitting my fingers instead of the sharpened edge.

[JMR]

I seem to cut myself on every knife I have made. I also had a grinder take a blade out of my hand and it stuck in the bill of my hat before I could blink. I don't use that grinder anymore and I started wearing safety glasses right after that.

[Toecutter]

OOooohhh boy do those 36-40's like to eat!  Seems my tough as nails personna   :rolleyes:  doesn't extend to my pillowy little human hands!

Nice line on the "grease that makes a knife grow" Mr. Walker!!