[Mischief]

Donno how I did it....I sliced my finger. I was wearing a kevla glove..... On checking after the blood bath. ( I did it with a roughing knife in the bedroom) I notice I sliced the gloves threads. So its time for new gloves. Time for the iron gauntlet I think. I wouldn't say the glove didn't work. I think it took the brunt of it. I got the tip of it and it went deep and sliced a hole in the glove. Any recommendation other then the iron gauntlet?Is full leather better then kevlar?

[Ashbys]

No leather is not better, leather slices freely .

Hope it heals quick for you.

Ash

[torpidhummer]

Now you are a "qualified carver"'better find a good source that will sell you bandaids at a discount.
Oscar

[Lynn O. Doughty]

What type of glove did you use? No glove will protect you completely but the heavier duty meat cutter ones are better than the filet gloves you can buy in the sports section.
Heres a good one: Safety Items at Little Shavers

[Mischief]

I used the Kevlar that came with Little Shaver's beginner's kit. It did save me from the slice but there was a bit of a slice-stab thing going on and the tip got through the kevlar. Anyhow, I have ordered the heavy duty one. Now....all I need to do is hide the bloody glove...or else beloved hubby is going to ban carving.

[Just Carving]

Don't feel too bad--I did the same thing last Sunday. I was wearing a glove that I got from Little Shavers--nothing wrong with it. I was using the bench knife that I got in the beginners kit that I got from Little Shavers, too--nothing wrong with the knife either. I was carving a piece of butternut that I got from Heinecke--nothing wrong with that either. So, by now, you're wondering, what was wrong? It was the idiot that was using all the good stuff and made a bad move--I carved towards the hand and instead of going perpendicular to my hand, I slid the knife parallel to the hand and the point went into the weave and poked a 1/4" long slice into the center of my palm--and of course, blood came out like crazy. I thought I actually nicked an artery. But now after reading about Mischief's accident, I think the reason we bleed like that when carving is because we have an extraordinary amount of blood in the hand under pressure since we are using our hands actively, and holding a piece of wood like a vise. The result--a lot of blood pressure in the hand and if you create a leak--well, you already know the story. But I was able to save the day by pinching edges of the wound close, and simultaneously holding pressure on the wound so that the blood would start to clot. Once it calmed down, then I got out the trusty crazy glue and "sutured" the edges together. A bandaid, some bacitracin, got another kevlar glove--the other one had to get washed out, and I went back to carving.

I am also comnvinced there is nothing worng with the gloves when they are new. They are doing what they are designed to do--keep sharp edges from piercing your skin, but they aren't so good at stopping sharp POINTS from piercing your skin. And, I think as time goes on, and the glove gets worn--or stretched, the potential for a sharp POINTED tool to hurt you becomes greater since the weave of the glove's fabric becomes looser.

I am also starting to use a holding device more when carving. Maybe not so much for when I am detailing--and using less pressure on the tools, but particularly more for when I am using more force on a tool, i.e. roughing out or hogging out.

Since I am carving small things--like the teddy bear pins--I use the carver's bench hook which was in the first issue of WCI on page 52. If you want I can give a better description of it in another thread--but my guess is it has already been covered many times over in the forum. The article was by Joel Hull about carving nametags. But I'm not certain who originated the idea of the carver's bench hook. Lynn Diehl also used it on his Poor Man's carving vise. On occasion, I will also use a bench stop to keep my hands from getting injured. I find the holding devices to be great in alleviating the aches that come with holding a carving and/or keeping my arm in the same position for a long period of time.

Sorry, to digress a bit but it's all in the name of preventing, and in our cases, minimizing injury.

Bob L

[sharon cottrell]

I use a fillet glove,over that I use a SAFEGRASP brand glove.It's puncture and cut resistant, not proof.I used a heavy leather glove that worked pretty good UNTIL I was using a dull gouge and was applying a whole lot of pressure,(knew I shouldn't be doing that).The darn thing slipped full force into my palm,midway between my forefinger and thumb.Itwas really deep.I have numbness in my forefinger now.I have hopefully learned to keep my non cutting hand out of the way,keep my tools sharp, don't carve when I'm majorly p#ssed off, which I was and pay better attention to what I'm doing. That happened in Jan. or early Feb. I doubt that my finger will ever be the same.Anyway, the two gloves have worked pretty well so far, because every now and then I still do the stupid careless stuff.I barely got poked, SO FAR! Oh yeah, those SafeGrasp gloves are exellent for getting blackberries and weeding around roses. Got them at the hardware store.Be safe as you can!

[Toffeeliz]

if hubby threatens to ban carving, threaten him with the chisels? lol.
I'm surprised that it broke through the kevlar, isn;t that what bullet proof vests are made from? :|

I don't use a safety glove but I have a butchers chain-glove from my "goth" days lol. I should start wearing that but its uncomfortable as hell. I;ve started using a benchhook so that I don't have to hold the piece I'm carving and when i don't use that I use a vice or clamp, so theres no reason to have my hands in the cut lines. Hope your hand gets better quick, put some savlon on it lol, that heals everything!

sharon - is it numb all the time? my grandad cut the tip of his finger off and although they stitched it back on, he says it feels dead. I'd not noticed at all until he told me and showed me the faint scar lol.

[AlArchie]

"Bullet Proof?" First off those Kevlar vests are NOT bullet proof....They are designed to withstand a standard hand gun round with either flat or round nosed amo. A jacketed round is going right on through. All the ones I have worn specifically warn they are NOT protection against knife attacks. I have very personal experience with that; the material on these Kevlar vests are 3/8" thick or greater. My vest saved my hide, but in a bar fight I was knifed (didn't know it at the time) and when I changed uniform that next morning found a small slice on my back. Checking my vest I found that it had a 2" cut in it right through all layers of the Kevlar. OK, if I hadn't had the vest on I'd probably be dead; this was right over a kidney, but that knife attack DID penetrate the full 3/8" of Kevlar.

But, here's the point (no pun intended). If some idiot in a bar with a half-*** sharp knife can slice me through a 3/8" multi layer Kevlar vest, what chance has a "one-wrapped" yarn of that stuff going to do against our razor sharp tools. I would expect it to stop a front on attack from a chisle or gouge. That's pretty much what the vests are designed to do, but a slicing cut or a "point on puncture" from a knife or skew is going to go right on through.

The fine stainless steel wire gloves wrapped in Kevlar will give a bit more protection, as will those butcher gloves. The Kevlar gloves are far and away better than nothing and most likely a bit better than a leather glove, but please don't over-estimate their effectiveness. Care and proper technique will far better serve you.

That said, WEAR THE DARN THING!

Al

[RussL.]

Double gloving (and more experience at keeping digits out of the line of fire) has been the answer for me.

I wear the usual "cut-resistant" glove on the inside and a heavy leather work glove on the outside.

I tried the chain-mail type glove but I found it dirtied the wood I'm holding and makes it a bit harder to hold (slippery).

RussL.