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Any insights on cleaning of hands after Polishing

Jewelry Discussion
#1

My very good friend, Umesh

My jeweller, who also is a darn good ring polisher uses a pair of
skin-tight gloves. Otherwise his hands would be, gnarly & with deep
cuts in the Dermis (outer layers of skin) in his fingers. If didn’t
use them, his fingers would catch all kinds of polishing dirt & cause
a multitude of infectious problems. e. g. lesions, permanent
scarring…& whatever. a. k.a.

YUK!

He throws away the gloves each week, but his fingers are as clean
as if he never did any polishing. Plus no need to scrape & wash the
skin clean each time he uses his machinery. Hope that this has been
some help to you!

Gerry Lewy
https://ganoksin.com/blog/gerrylewy/

#2

I use this when making my molds or doing mechanics with grease
anything and a tiny bit goes a long way

not affiliated just a happy customer

Teri busy thinking about the owl cameo I am carving while I do email
lol

#3

Hi Gerry,

Polishing leaves my fingers in a mess. There is no point putting on
nail polish. I used to clean off the polish from my work in hot water
and cloudy ammonia. It’s not great got your hands but it did clean
off all the polishing residue both from my work and from my fingers.
Now that use an ultrasonic to clean off polish I have to wash my
hands with liquid soap. I have always been wary of wearing gloves
when using the polisher because of the obvious safety issues. However
when doing a lot of polishing I have used disposable thin latex
gloves. I figure these tear easily enough that if they get caught
they will simply tear and not pull my hand into the machine. They
also offer a modicum of heat protection.

All the best
Jen Gow

#4

I would not recommend latex gloves. If caught in a polishing motor
they will stretch and pull your hand in. I use the nitrile exam
gloves from Costco. Like silly putty. When pulled slowly and gently
they stretch. When pulled hard and fast they just snap off clean.

I am very fussy about my hands and nails so I polish with them. I
use them in the garden too.

Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer.

#5

I use this when making my molds or doing mechanics with grease
anything and a tiny bit goes a long way

#6

Gerry. I have used heavy leather gloves for years when polishing
with tripoli on my big, heavy twisted sterling silver bracelets. This
process generates a lot of heat and dirt. I also use a light cotton
glove when finish polishing with rouge. I have had the experience of
injuring my finger when the end of a gloved got wound up in the
spiral threads of a spindle. Luckily, the fabric ripped off before
my finger did. Without gloves my hands would be useless. As it is, I
have neuropathy in both hands and three fingers are without feeling.
I am always interested in talking gloves. Can you tell us what the
skin-tight gloves are that your jeweller uses and where he gets
them? Thanks. Rob

Rob Meixner

#7

Years back I tried wearing gloves when buffing but found I needed
designated gloves for each compounds to keep from cross
contaminating. The gloves would get pretty nasty and seemed to
spread the nasty around via rendered tallow binders. Yuk. At that
time I was using Tripoli, bobbing, and rouge compounds. I found that
French Green Clay soap worked wonders to clean my hands and it also
kept my hands from cracking.

One day about 8 years ago I threw all the buff-hardened gloves away
and old dirty caked buffs in the dumpster. Then I kicked Tripoli,
bobbing, androuge out of the studio forever and replaced them with
water soluble compounds. Now just about any soap will clean my hands
and the jewelry.

My ultra-sonic cleaner now works more efficiently. My dust collector
does not have that perpetual greasy feel and the studio air feels
better. I don’t wear gloves now unless it’s for heat issues. I will
never go back. I found the water soluble compounds to perform equal
or better than the old standby products. I did keep my Zam for
certain silver and stone polishing.

Google. Luxi polishing compounds another brand is ‘Dialux’ and there
are other brands.

Sessin Durgham
Rio Grande

#8

Hi Teri…

That Instead-A-Glove product looks interesting.

Is the dried surface tacky or draggy on your skin? That’s what I’ve
experienced with other “gloveless” protective products that contain
glycerin.

Thanks.
Pam Chott
songofthephoenix.com

#9

If you don’t mind getting your fingers black using the right bristle
brush and dish soap is the key. There is nothing like the feel of
your skin without gloves for polishing. The best brush used to be a
tooth brush but I evolved to a nail brush but then on my adventures
I came across a lug nut brush which I affectionately call a nut
brush. It’s the perfect stiffness and has multiple loops of bristles.
Kicks ass especially for cleaning under and uppers of rings out of
the ultrasonic. Auto parts store, check out out. A tiny amount of
dish soap and bristles do it great. I learned something from every
jewelry who moved through and Jodi taught me that soap cleans hands,
who knew!!

#10

Gloves in a Bottle helps. They get dirty, but is much easier to
clean your hands. Basically, it is a lotion. It is not sticky and
doesn’t leave a residue. I also put it under my nails and around my
cuticles. The hardest place to clean.

Holly Gage

#11

Hello all,

When I moved my clean-up room from the basement bathroom (sink too
small) tothe laundry area I discovered that using undiluted liquid
laundry detergentcleaned my hands better than anything I’d ever used
(I had been resigned tothe “black in the cracks”). Pour a little in
a small dish and scrub using asurgeons’ scrub brush. They are one
piece plastic nail brushes with fine plastic bristles. Available in
Canada from Lee Valley Tools.

#12

Hi all

since my ultra sonic broke, sadly can’t be fixed I have gone back to
cleaning in dishwashing liquid. I use blue hubble as a polish and it
washes off very easily. Use a bristle brush on my fingers and washes
the polish off easily as well with the dish washing liquid.

Blue hubble works better than other polishes for both 18 kt gold and
Argentium. It polishes off the marks from 1200 sandpaper. No need for
tripoli then hyperfin. But use the softest buff you can get.

It is expensive but worth it for the time saved.

all the best
Richard