I have held off responding to the discussion of gloves vs. no gloves
while polishing on a bench polisher. I sure would not want to have
anyone follow my advice when there is so much advice against gloves
while polishing.
I have thought about all the comments against gloves and polishing
and can not figure how tight heavy leather gloves can by caught by a
buffing wheel any more that a bear finger can be caught. Tight
leather gloves do not have knuckles and loose skin to get caught in
the wheel.
Fingers can be grabbed by the wheel if the finger is perpendicular
to the wheel. The wheel can grab the finger and spin it around the
wheel. That can happen to either a bare finger or a gloved finger.
Fingers should always be place parallel to the polishing wheel while
polishing.
Cloth and rubber gloves are a problem in that they can be stretched
by the wheel and then be grabbed.
I have use heavy very tight leather gloves when polishing at least
35 years.
However I use vice clamps pliers with rubber pads on the jaws to
hold earrings to large buckles while polishing.
The pressure of the jaws against the work can be adjusted.
The gloves are mainly used to hold the hot jewelry while I
reposition it in the vice grips.
There are a few times when vice grips will not hold an item. In that
case I hold the item in my tight fitting leather gloves.
In 35 years I have worn out a large amount of leather gloves.
I have made several shapes of wood clamps to hold rings while
polishing them. Other than rings there is not much of my jewelry that
I can’t hold with the vice grips pliers.
I do hold my large pieced of pottery in gloved hands while polishing
them.
I must admit I do not have very fine delicate pieces of jewelry to
polish. However if I were to polish delicate pieces I would do it on
my Fordom.
Just a side note. Tripoli on a buff can sure burn a finger is held
against the wheel for an instant too long.
As I said earlier I sure would not want to have someone follow my
advice when there is so much evidence against buffing while wearing
gloves. However I will keep on wearing my leather gloves while
buffing.
For those of you who are vacuum casting be sure to read my paper on
how to prevent fire scale while casting. it’s a very simple process.
My blogs
http://leessilver-lee.blogspot.com/
http://leessilver.web.officelive.com/default.aspx
That’s my two cents.
Lee Epperson