Hi Dave and everyone
The gloves to help keep hands clean, but my primary motivation was to be able to hold the pieces as they grew hot from friction.
I have found that jewellery with stones, e.g… opal, malachite,
turquoise, etc., that if the piece is too hot to hold then it is
close to too hot for the stone. I prefer to not use gloves unless it
is a metal only piece where the heat of polishing doesn’t matter.
Case in point: I was polishing a beautiful ring I had made with a
nice dark, juicy amethyst in it using one of those ring holding
jigs. I didn’t prefinish as well as usual and thought a little extra
time with tripoli fit well with my lazy feeling that day. Low and
behold the amethyst cracked and I burnt my fingers on the ring when
I attempted to remove it. Luckily it was not a customers stone as
the ring was for stock. What a waste of a good stone.
Karen Seidel-Bahr the ‘ROCKLADY’ @Rocklady K.I.S.
Creations May your gems always “Sparkle”