opinions on cut resistant gloves?

[Beth White]

Does anyone have experience with the Hex Armor ultimate L5 glove (it's only sold in pairs). I want the most protective glove possible with dexterity. Also looking for any opinions on the Spectra Polar Bear Plus. Thanks!

[Claude]

Hi, Beth - welcome to the forum!

I'll give you my $0.02 worth. I have the kevlar glove from Woodcraft. It does a decent job of deflecting errant slices, but pokes can still get through.

About carving gloves: If you are relying on the glove to protect your hand completely, you're doing a lot of wishful thinking. There are three primary things that keep you from badly cutting yourself.

1) sharp knife. A dull knife requires more force to cut, and more likely to slip or break the wood.
2) arm and shoulder muscles. If you use these to carve with a knife, you're an accident waiting to happen. Use only the muscles in the wrist and fingers. Go to YouTube and look at Gene Messer's videos (Whittler0507) - he does it all with just the wrist and finger muscles.
3) plan ahead. Every time you put the knife on the wood, look to see where the knife blade will go when it slips; if the path intersects some of your tender flesh, change your grip on the wood until the knife blade path is clear. After a while, this becomes almost second nature, but at first you have to concentrate to remember it.

A lot of carvers don't use any gloves at all - I prefer one because I sometimes don't practice what I preach about looking to see where the blade goes.

That was probably closer to $0.05 than $0.02, but, oh well...

Claude

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Ditto on Claude's glove. Have used one for the past 16 years with no cuts yet! Wore out several gloves though but better the glove than my fingers or hand.

[sludgeguy]

I've found the cheap filet gloves are cheap.

I think safety is one place to spend the $20 and put away the band aids.
Always remember 4 small cuts in the wood is less painful than a big forced one in your finger.

Doug

[Paul_Guraedy]

I agree with Doug. I have several types of gloves; but still prefer the fish filet glove. The others that I have tried have been too tight and cramping.

One thing I did learn, by accident, when a filet glove started wearing out has helped me overall. I could not find the medium size I wanted so wrapped the fingers of the old glove in duct tape. Worked well, and helped me grip the carving. Now, I often wrap the fingers of a new glove with duct tape. As it wears out, simply put more on. Sure makes the gloves last longer also.

[RUssL.]

Along with heightened awareness, sharp knife and strategically holding all digits out of the path of the blade I have taken to using a double-glove method for hand-held projects.

The inner glove is a cut-resistant carving glove of top quality. The outer glove is an inexpensive, heavy leather glove from the hardware store.

These practices have kept me totally cut & nick-free for the past couple of years...

RussL

[dwlind]

I'll go along with RussL on this, originally I just used the carving glove from Woodcraft but I found that it seemed a little to slippery while holding the wood, that was a big worry. I now wear on top of the carving glove a mechanics glove that I got from Sears, it has leather and slip resistant vinyl patches on them and they allow me to have a real good grip on the wood.

I think wearing a glove or two gives you a heightened sense of awareness as to wear your hand is, but the best advise I believe, as was mentioned before, is to learn to only use your wrist and hand muscles to slice through the wood, this limits the distance the blade can travel if it slips and greatly reduces the force behind the runaway blade.

Doug

[pallin]

As one who doesn't use a glove, I would agree with those who make the distinction between using hand & wrist muscles vs. arm and body muscles. If you are holding the work in your hand, it is best to use "paring cuts," drawing the blade toward your thumb. If you are working with gouges, veiners, or chisels, mount the work on a bench or other firm stand and hold the tools in both hands. The only time I have cut myself was at a recent event, carving cottonwood bark for the first time. I made the mistake of hand-holding the work while working with a gouge. The bark broke and I nicked my palm.

[Sharon of the Dell]

The only times I have seriously cut myself is when using gouges and holding the work in my hand.Gouges go right through any kind of glove! I use a glove when I use a knife. I have only once cut myself bad with a knife,carving, and that was when I was a kid carving with shorts on and trying to cut to much off at once.still have a 1 inch or so scare above my knee! If I want to use my gouges, I put my work in a vise now.Nerve damage is no fun! My right forfinger is numb now and the tip of that finger is smaller than what it used to be.I've come close to getting vains in my right wrist from gouges.Hard lessons to learn!!!

[Sharon of the Dell]

Forgot to mention, I wear a fish fillet glove with a heavy leather glove over that. Plus don't wear a fillet glove when using a dremel or the like. I've had a bit get caught in the glove and twist, about broke my fingers! Good thing I have strong bones!