Gloves allowed?

Being a beginner in the world of jewelry manufacturing, I’m
probably now going through the aches and pains you have already
forgotten about. I attend class one night a week for 4 hours (going
for two months now). But my fingers get so sore! I know you had
several conversations lately about ointment, etc.for sore fingers
but I would like to know if it is possible to work with gloves.
Maybe very thin Napa leather or surgical gloves?? Have any one of
you tried it before? Any thing available on the market for this
specific purpose?

Sulette Roux
Pretoria, RSA.

About sore fingers; for polishing and holding onto small things, I
find a product called Alligator skin from Rio Grande to be
priceless. I’ve used it for about 7 years. Just wrap it
generously around and OVER your fingertips for protection from
heat and dirt. I sticks to itself and is like a coated gauze. I
could go on and on … Patty Rios Springfield, MO.

But my fingers get so sore!

Hi Sulette, The problems with gloves are large. I’m also
technically a beginner, but I’ve been doing basic work for 6 years.
Gloves can interfere with lots of delicate work, especially
involving sensitivity to the metal, which is almost everything :slight_smile:
Gods forbid you get them caught in a flex shaft or polishing motor!
In regards to sensitivity, using your fingers as a sense of
measurement in the process of piercing, filing, sanding and
polishing is invaluable. In time your fingers will gain the
necessary toughness for the day to day work, go ahead and let your
fingers learn, you will get a few callouses or just one day not
notice the soreness anymore :slight_smile: Good luck, just my 2 cents worth :slight_smile:
Terry Swift, Indiana, Midwest USA (just hit 60F* today , can you
all believe that!!)

Hi Sulette Roux, there are gloves on the market called Handeze
Theraputic Craft Gloves for arthritic hands, I use them when
crafting. They are available at any craft store or Fire Mountain
Gems catalog (1-800-423-2319); they also carry an ointment (hand
cream) called True Soft Hand Cream , a non-greasy cream that puts
back the natural oils . I hope this helps. Myself and my kids
are just beginning to make jewelry ,gook luck!!! Marjie

Being a beginner in the world of jewelry manufacturing, I'm
probably now going through the aches and pains you have already
forgotten about. I attend class one night a week for 4 hours(going
for two months now). But my fingers get so sore!

Like any profession, sports, typing, guitar playing, your hands in
the beginning will take a beating. Over the years I have callouses
on top of callouses which I rather like. In time your hands and
fingers will get stronger. If you have actual skin cracking, the
Orchid archives should provide you with some helpful hints.

For sore fingers and hands Here are some simple excercises you
might try. I got these from David Pimental who does a lot of
raising. Since incorporating these into my daily work routine, I
never had anymore problems.

  1. Stand next to a table and spread your palm and fingers onto the
    surface. Your arm should be at 90 degrees. Slowly push your arm
    forward keeping your palm on the surface. This stretches out the
    muscles in the palm. Hold for a count of 10 secs. Switch off
    each hand and do a series of 3, 10 count each.

  2. At the same table, curl your fingers so your back knuckles
    touch the counter and roll your wrist forward. This stretches out
    the muscles in the back of your hand.

  3. With your arms bent at the elbow, hands up, rotate your palms
    in a circular motion. Again for 10 seconds, 3 sets each.

You wouldn’t think of jogging or biking without stretching first.
Metalsmithing is no different. It’s important to keep your hand
and arm muscles relaxed. Stop every 20 minutes or so and do these
excercises. Your hands will get stronger and hurt less if you give
them time to relax in between.

Good luck!
Karen Christians
Fly Fish Design
282 Lexington St.
Woburn, MA 01801

@metalart

Sulette, Try Super Glue on the tips of your fingers…trick I
picked up playing string instruments and it works moderately well
for jewelry too. Denise Santa Fe,Tx.

Nah…You dont need gloves or aligator skins as my good friend
Patty Rios says so :slight_smile: We work together so I just thought I would
raz her a bit in front of everyone! In time your fingers will
toughen up and things will be fine. In my opinion you need your
fingers to feel the metal and things. But if MUST use protection,
the aligator skins seem to work good. There…I said it, but if
you ask me about it patty, I’ll deny it!! :slight_smile:

Steve Dickey
@Steve

 But my fingers get so sore!

Sulette-

Never, never, never wear gloves while polishing. Orchid just had
a recent thread about this. Go to the Orchid archives and search
on ‘gloves’. An especially scary story is in this post:Subject: Re:[Orchid] Glove YAK
From: brainnet@cadvision.com (Charles Lewton-Brain)
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998

My fingers also get sore and it also get very hot here along the
Texas Gulf Coast, so sometimes my hands are also sweaty. I use
rubber finger cots that you can get from Gesswein (they come in 4
sizes). They protect my fingers (safely) from heat when polishing
and help me hold tight to the piece when using the flex shaft or
bezel setting.

Nancy

One product which I have used is " Equine Pain Formula # 5 . This
is a very up scale horse linament . This is composed of something
like “Blue Ice” with the addition of 1+1/2 % benzocain ! It goes on
like hair styleing gel and dries in a min. or so . It doesn’t smell
after it dries and doesn’t smell bad to start with . Its good
stuff! RLPowell , Texarkana Tx.

Nothing works as well on those cuts from an ajouring saw… clean
the cut well., (boric acid and alcohol works well and seems to ber
always close by…) then squeeze the cut tightly closed, aligning
the edges as carefully as possible and smear the glue over the
surface of the skin, taking care to use only a drop and to keep the
cut squeezed closed. One wouldn’t want the glue to get in between
the two sides of the cut or in the bloodstream. it holds all day
and is even less obtrusive than a BandAid. and if you reapply after
getting home and showering, I have found that by the next day the
cut is healed better than by any other method! I strongly
caution against the use of glue on punture wounds, such as those
suffered from slipped drill bit or,(grimace) even worse, a wheel
bur. These carry enough dirt and bacteria into a cut that to seal
it only guarantees that you will get a painful swelling and
infection. L. Michael Flynn lmflynn@platinumsmith.com

     Nah...You dont need gloves or aligator skins as my good
friend Patty Rios says so :)  We work together so I just thought
I would raz her a bit in front of everyone!  In time your fingers
will toughen up and things will be fine. 

A trick from my youth when I was learning the rings in
gymnastics-- if you want to toughen up your hands and fingers, soak
them in strong black tea for a while each day-- the tannin in the
tea will toughen up your skin in short order.

Lee
Phoenix, AZ