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BICYCLE GLOVES FOR WOODWORKING?

Hand Protection: cut down on slivers, callouses and blood!

I know it sounds pretty weird to be promoting bicycle gloves on a women's woodworking site but bear with me. And yes, I am an avid cyclists but that's besides the point. Bicycle gloves are great for woodworking.

If I end up helping the guys in the shop, we could put through in the neighbourhood of 4,000 board feet of lumber in a day. That adds up to a lot of slivers. Each piece is manhandled off the ripsaw and sorted for going through our industrial sized moulder. The rough edges take their toll on my hands.

One of my employees introduced me to the idea of using weight lifting gloves, but I found that they just are not available for the smaller female hand. They also have long wrist straps that can get caught in machinery.

Aha! so now you know where the bicycle gloves come in. They are available in all sorts of sizes and are velcro'd at the wrist. Buy them tight as you would for biking and they don't slip.

• They have padded leather palms that wear well and protect your hands from not only the slivers but all the sharp edges of the wood as well.
  
  
• If you insist on wearing your rings (or can't get them off) they cover them as well, so they are less likely to get caught.
  
  
• The gel padding in the palm is great if you're pushing material through the jointer and need to offer a little leverage.
  
  
• Buy them with only half fingers and they won't interfere with any jobs that require fine finger dexterity.
  
  
• Buy them in any colour other than pink. Paula and I have a thing against pink :)

You'll find this is one of the best and cheapest recommendations I can offer, that will significantly increase your enjoyment in some serious woodworking! But sorry they don't do much for the manicure :) Karen

 

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