Holding metal while finishing

Jewelry Discussion
41

It may have been mentioned already, but 3M makes this wonderful
(green) self-adhesive tape they call ‘vetwrap’. You can get it in
2cm width. You cut little pieces, folding them over like a bandaid in
layers and make a thimble for each finger you wish to protect, and
no worries about machines trying to eat your flesh- they just slip
off like a thimble (however I have never had the polishing wheels
take them away). They take the shape of each finger nicely once used
a bit. They do take a little getting used to, but I must say I swear
by this stuff, and don’t know what I would do without it! (Working in
repairs and custom, there is a lot of polishing/grinding etc. to do
on a daily basis). They are re-usable if they don’t get too
mucked-up with compound, and you take care not to pinch them shut.
Once this stuff sticks, it’s stuck! If you try it out, be sure to
fold the end of the tape over so you can pull it off the roll again.

Good luck :slight_smile:

42

There is also the important fact that your fingers TELL you a great
deal about the environment they are in, naked skin feels - moving
air/ heat / polishing mops ect… I always feel that if I can feel
and sense through my skin I am far safer. Holding / working close to
your work is far more informative and safer for me.

mary

43 
I want to STRONGLY second James Binnion's advice - DO NOT WEAR
GLOVES around polishing wheels or anything else that spins rapidly,
nor finger cots, nor anything else on your fingers.

Let me repeat what I wrote on this topic a few years ago – I always
wear leather gloves when using my bench grinder for polishing. They
are very heavy leather – they will stand up on end by themselves –
and are not a tight fit. Obviously, very heavy leather gloves would
not work well for holding/polishing tiny pieces of jewelry. But
they’re great for the larger pieces I make – no problems with heat
or with chronically dirty fingers. In 30 years, my gloves have never
been “grabbed” by the wheel. (Some of my jewelry has, which is why I
wear a plastic face shield,etc.)

But I love tumble-polishing the most!

Judy Bjorkman
Owego, NY USA

44

When polishing small items I often link two together with a
paperclip. It gives me something to hold onto, and less chance of
them getting misplaced in the steel shot in the tumbler.

Janet Kofoed
http://users.rcn.com/kkofoed

45

I usually individually email to thank those orchidians who answer my
questions in the digest. However, after asking this question, I was
suddenly called out of town by the unexpected death of a good
friend. So I am taking this opportunity to thank the very many people
who offered help on this subject. I will be reading the 20 pages of
saved responses.

I love this group!!!

Karen

46 
I was taught to polish holding the work with a small square of
soft, flexible leather. This protected our fingers while not
wrapped around them, thus if the leather caught, it would smply be
pulled from our grasp, instead of injuring us.

I had an employee who taught us a cool trick. He takes a short strip
if leather, about 1 inch x 4 inches with several holes in it. Small
pieces with loops or piercings can then be held with a button hook
through the hole so that the leather protects your fingers. A
smaller pin hole can be used to hold a post earring. Hold it by the
post through hole in the leather. We use belt leather.

1 Like
47

Hi All,

Here are some comments here at Ganoksin on this issue:

Glove comments:

Polishing related comments:

I am a fan of Vet Wrap, of cut-off leather glove fingers, and of
using Pre-Vex or a similar barrier cream before polishing.

best
Charles

48 
convinced me that no glove is safe around rotating machinery

Or anything loose for that matter, I had a buddy who lost a small
locket of hair once, boy was he lucky and he learned his lesson.

With all the impliments and tools that are available to us, there is
something out there that will hold even the smallest piece for
polishing. Along with a cup of water for cooling, my personal arsenal
of tools for polishing are leather lined wooden ring clamps (these do
the brunt of the work), wooden chopstick style outside ring clamps,
modified vice grips, pin vices, cheapie keyless drill chucks, a bunch
of specality holders, and of course just holding the piece with bare
hands.

Not to mention, I also do a lot of grinding with an industrial
2"x60" belt sander, if you think polishing gets jewelry hot, try
grinding on these bad boys, things get real interesting real quick.

P@

49 
On a side note to pieces getting hot while polishing: Is is
possible to heat silver to the point it builds firestain from
polishing? Rouge on a felt disk gets pretty fast pretty hot - if I
don't feel the heat by using sticks, gloves... can it get too hot
for sterling?

No, Firescale is a high temp oxide, for it to get hot enough for
firescale… well lets just say you wouldn’t be holding on to it
even with leather.

Cheers,
Norah Kerr
www.besmithian.com

50

Ok I had to go back and read this thread…Crazy gluing anything to
one’s body is insane… but if it’s your favorite method no one is
going to change your mind… if you are casting miniscule parts why
not leave the sprue on it? seems clear enough to me, as removing a
sprue is a quick snip with well maintained cutters, and a brief hit
and run with 3M’s radial bristle discs to clan and polish at the same
time…

Gloves are equally insane, again, we may all think Lee is asking for
disaster but no one is going to change his mind, and the visions of
loose mechanics type gloves are expressly NOT what he’s talking
about- skin tight driving gloves are- nevertheless, the point is each
person has their own methods. Rubber finger cots don’t work, plain
and simple, the same heat that makes the workpiece hot melts them.
facts are not trying to convince someone to change their method.
Untrimmed. Leather finger cots are about as dangerous as gloves that
are loose. a piece of leather is easily released when it gets caught
in a tapered spindle, or any other H.S. rotating equipment. 3M again
has thought of everything and makes gauzitape/vetwrap (about 3 bucks
difference per box if one buys the type for pets or the human
targeted type. both mold to one’s fingers and when doing production
tasks makes sense. It works, keeps hands cleaner, and helps prevent
calouses. If you already have callouses you don’t need the tapes!

Combine powdered Borax and liquid soap, (or melt some glycerine soap
base or bars you may have on hand in a stainless steel saucepan and
add borax to it, (about 8 oz to a 16 oz. bottle of liquid soap, or
1/4 cup to a normal sized glycerine bar) pour into a mould. the mould
can be anything from a paper cup - which can be peeled off, to a
parchment lined loaf pan which has been sprayed with either oil, or
silicone release spray before putting the paper liner in the pan) and
cut to the size bars you like, or in the case of the paper cup, once
the paper is peeled off you are left with a tapered cake of soap
that) whitens your hands, softens your skin and the borax boosts any
soap’s cleaning power. if you use unscented liquid soap, or your
glycerine soap bar has lost any scent it once had, add up to 50
minims (drops) of essential oil to the melted/liquid soap per 16oz.
Spearmint oil is emollient and actually whitens too, If you add some
food grade camphor (say two cubes worth- available at Indian grocery
stores -ask for 81 Brand fine camphor you dont want the blocks of
fake stuff) to the mixture it adds a degree of cooling to hands that
are cracked and damaged and helps boost the whitening power of the
borax too!

Wooden pliers, any number of holding devices are available. they are
appropriate for some. personally, 3M’s radial bristle discs in all
the available sizes, and types and the FX wheel have eliminated most
gadgets necessary for holding things. (i use a grs benchmate though
and lots of double sided foam tape, and setters cement). if you
haven’t tried them you may consider getting some radial bristle
discs. the small ones are as great as the 2 inch heavy duty sizes.

Canned air is not all equal. some cooling brands intended for
computers or heat sinks are chlor-flouro-methane, NOT CO2. If you
have an always on /pilot type device for your torch- you definitely
dont want to use that type. in fact even canned air is risky around
those torch lighting systems. I personally do use canned air for many
things in the studio, even cooling stone set pieces that i don’t want
to get wet. regarding water, some compounds are water soluble ( vigor
brand red rouge, wonder bar, and platinum compounds) and, yes dipping
the work in water helps in a few ways- from diluting the compound
gradually as the piece is polished/pre-polished, to instantly
quenching metal and fingers, to cleaning off polishing shapes made of
felt as the piece achieves the state you are after. Everyone that
works metal is a “real jeweler”. I have a real problem with
subjective generalizations that fly when a thread simply asking for
advice on holding pieces from a new jeweler begins- it happens too
often on Orchid. there is no “us and them”. it is all us - in
different stages of learning. isn’t that the point of Orchid.
(besides it’s function as a marketing tool. sourcing concensus
queries, and in some cases shameless self-promotion!). if we could
all learn to eliminate personalized targeting and state YOUR
experiences as you know them. …this site would be so much more
pleasant to visit.

Oh and if anyone disagrees with anything herein - or wants
soapmaking tips. please contact me off list!. . rer

51 
I guess that's the difference between the menfolk and we ladies.
The men wear such gnarled fingers as a badge of pride, but the
ladies of this world (well most of us anyway) prefer to have
elegant, ladylike hands and attractive nails - sorry if this sounds
sexist!

Not sexist at all, imho. Maybe slightly classist, though. I think
this phenomenon comes from Victorian times, and maybe before. To have
hands that were roughened by work denoted that the person was of the
working class. Who wanted to be associated with THEM! Certainly not
anyone of any breeding. Margo Ledbetter anyone?

My mother taught violin classes in our home when I was a kid. She
would occasionally have a young lady starting lessons that would
emphatically refuse to cut her fingernails. Mom would tell her that
long fingernails and stringed instruments are incompatible, and just
as emphatically tell her to return when she was serious about
learning music.

The people I have trained admittedly were not hobbyists in a
classroom environment, nor were they all men. They were and are full
time metalsmiths in a working shop. They have learned among other
things, that elegant, ladylike hands with attractive nails are not
compatible with full time professional metalsmithing. You just can’t
make beautiful jewelry for a living and keep beautiful hands.

When I prepare process shots for my kits and Art Jewelry Magazine
articles, I spend more time retouching my fingertips than any other
part of the photos. I guess I'll never be comfortable, let alone
proud about how ugly my nails and hands always look.

Noel, If you are marketing towards metalsmiths, gnarly fingers could
be just the ticket to establish credibility. Who’s gonna believe a
person with perfect, unblemished hands and nails knows what they’re
talking about in a construction article! When watching a video tool
demonstration, would “Palmolive model” hands or beat up, dirty
goldsmith hands complete with metal particles be more convincing to
persons of the metalsmithing community? Be proud of your callouses
and of how you earned them! They didn’t come cheap!

Also, those that decry the dangers of the polishing wheel are
absolutely correct. It is the most dangerous piece of equipment in
most shops. When I was talking of holding devices and gloves and such
I was answering Karen’s original question concerning using the
flexshaft at her bench. I still think most of those things are a
waste of time and money and do more to interfere than to help.

By all means NEVER use holding devices of any kind at the polishing
wheel. A large dowel or such for polishing chains is about all I
would ever get close to a 3450 RPM buffing wheel. Respect that
polishing motor. It can bite you - hard!

Dave

52

Thirty eight years on the bench. I’m done with benchwork now, I
think. Abou thirty six years ago, I made a heavy bangle with some
what sharp edges. The only time that I really hurt myself at the
buff. The buff caught the edge of the bangle and the bangle gashed a
couple of fingers. Fortunately, the 1/3 -1/2 horsepower motor was
instantly stopped. I wish that I had been wearing leather gloves that
day.

I have very rarely worn leather gloves. I have tried latex, but they
are not tough enough. Nitrile has worked a lot better for me. It is
true that they are sometimes ripped from my hands, but I have never
been hurt by wearing them and when doing a lot of polishing, and
using a little care, they have taken good care of me. When they are
ripped off, they make a racket. Instant terror. I have run through a
thousand nitrile gloves at this point, and the greatest damage that
they have done is the scare the bejeebers outta me.

Bruce D. Holmgrain
JA Certified Master Benchjeweler
goldwerx.us

53

Lee,

With all due respect for your experience, is it possible that the
inherent strength of the leather glove would give the wheel
something to snag, drag, and cause damage… IF, it does get caught?
(Admittedly, tight gloves would present a much smaller chance than
loose gloves.) Skin alone being weak will give way; any chance of
entanglement is halted. (That part I’ve proven to myself. Wink!)

All the best from San Antonio where the wind is blowing 40 and the
temperature is hovering around 98. Rain… what rain?? If anyone has
surplus, send it this way, please.

J Collier
Small Scale Metalsmith

54

I use a few wraps of masking tape around the ends of my thumb and
forefinger as a way to protect my fingertips from the heat of
polishing. I believe that I learned this from a post here on Orchid.
I also use wraps of masking tape to protect my fingers and other
parts of my hands from abrasion or blisters when doing other jobs
like filing.

I have posted this suggestion before. When I looked for my post in
the archives, I found that Orchid members have many uses in the
studio for masking tape. Another use I have for masking tapes is to
shim up square stake shanks that do not fit tightly in the stake
holder. A few wraps of tape will usually build up stake shanks that
are too small or not quite square. When you need to remove it, just
cut it off with a carton knife. I hope that this helps.

David Luck
www.davidluckjewelry.com

55 
A large dowel or such for polishing chains is about all I would
ever get close to a 3450 RPM buffing wheel

This is why it is such a critical advantage to have a two speed
lathe. At high speed, yes its very snaggy, and bad things happen
instantly, I had a fractured skull as proof (no comments from the
peanut gallery please). At low speed you can polish fine chains and
things with snatchy corners. As far as shop safety goes, this is
among the wisest investments one could make.

56

Doing Lapidary work as well as Silversmithing keeps my fingers and
thumbs well sanded. I don’t have the telltale black fingers of a
Silversmith but I lack fingerprints and finger nails are a distant
memory. With no fingerprints if the Lapidary and Silversmith gig
doesn’t work out I can always turn to a life of crime… :slight_smile:

Rick Copeland
Silversmith and Lapidary Artisan
Rocky Mountain Wonders
Colorado Springs, Colorado
rockymountainwonders.com

57 
By all means NEVER use holding devices of any kind at the
polishing wheel. A large dowel or such for polishing chains is
about all I would ever get close to a 3450 RPM buffing wheel.
Respect that polishing motor. It can bite you - hard!

I’ll 2nd that. I use my fingers… I never want to get into it
with those who like fixtures for everything, but they take you
farther and farther away from your work, and thus less control,
mostly. The polisher is dangerous - the split lap is perilous…
Also not going to get into what polishing with a flex shaft in any
serious way is about, either…

58 
Use a pinch of soft leather instead. (I use some scrap deerskin
that I had laying around.)

Even that is dangerous. Where it is desireable to use any material
for holding work against a rotating tool, only paper is acceptable
and then only like kitchen towel paper - that will tear away before
your hand gets dragged into the whirling tool. I also have seen
people who have lost fingers and had their hands mangled by being
dragged into a rotating lathe or buffing wheel and some of those had
just been holding their work in gloves or a piece of rag… Don’t do
it and stay safe!!

Best wishes,
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK

59 
It is true that they are sometimes ripped from my hands, but I
have never been hurt by wearing them and when doing a lot of
polishing,

I knew a guy once who had no fingers. Just two thumbs. Playing
chicken with machinery is always foolish. Sometimes it’s more
foolish than other times…

60 
I see how loose fitting gloves might catch in the wheel but not
very tight leather gloves.

To elaborate a little on Jim’s response to this-- Skin-tight gloves
are a problem for the same reason that we wear them. They are
tougher than skin. If somehow your skin should “catch”, it will
tear. Bloody, perhaps, but probably quite minor. The gloves, by
their nature, won’t do that and may take your fingers where you
don’t want them to go.

And even skin-tight leather gloves will have raised seams, which few
of our fingers have, and those seams make catching more likely.

Please don’t do it.

Noel