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My brother and I were discussing why tool manufactures don’t make the trigger holes of saws and stuff big enough. That is big enough to get a gloved finger in there to comfortably hold and operate the tool. I came up against this Tuesday when the temp was in the teens and we were cutting osb two layers of gloves and could barely fit the trigger finger in the saw opening.
Maybe just the tool guys way of saying if it’s that cold stay home and make whoopee.
BTW how do you guys/gurlz keep your fingers warm and working when the temperature dips
stay warm
jim
Replies
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Big problem. Got frostbite on two fingers 15 yrs. ago when I was young and framing. I didn't know when to stop or tell the boss something was wrong. Now I buy the brown cloth gloves by the dozen and cut the tip off the thumb and index fingers for nailholding and tool using. When I feel it's becoming a problem I stick my hands in front of the generator or car exhaust for a minute or so. Production stops, but it has to be done. When givin the opportunity we use to start a fire with scrap lumber, put a fist sized rock in it, when it got hot we'd put it in the bottom of our nail pouch and put the nails over the top. The nails heat up for a half an hour or so and you can stick your hand on top of the nails if you have to. It's an old native american trick, they use to hold on to heated rocks in the winter to keep their hands warm,my Mom's a history professor. Otherwise you just have to be careful and use common sense, production always suffers in the winter because of the elements.
*Wells Lamont makes a glove that's skin tight. The palms are made out of a rubber type substance. and the top is cloth. As long as your hands are working they seem to generate heat inside the glove. If your standing around they get real cold. I'm an Electrician and have been wearing them for the last two winters. They leave you with enough dexterity to do anything you want.And they're only a few bucks a pair. Wally world carries them.
*I've been thinking about buying a pair of those "Ironclad" framers gloves, the ones with the index and thumb ends cout off. Has anyone tried them? I have a few of those reusable warm packs that they sell at walmart. You snap the little disc and they crystalize and get warm. I keep one in my pocket and when possible slip my hands around it. It takes 3 or 4 to get thru a day. At home you boil them and they return to liquid. We used to heat nails in a paint can over the fire then put them in our bags, this works great to. Same as the rock trick, but who wants to lug a rock in their pouch? My native american relatives tell stories of heating bricks in the fireplace, wrapping it in towels and putting it at the foot of the bed to keep warm. I usually just turn up the thermostat......but like they say......But what do I know??
*dad grew up in michigan.. about where blue is now.. 'cept this was the '20's..anyways...school was a one-room school house and they used to pick all the little kids up in an ox drawn sledge... guess it was a log sledge...as one of the older kids, his job was to light the fire in the pot bellied stove.. but first he had to take the stove pipe apart, and scrape the soot out into a pan...then light the fire, and melt some snow in the pan.. and mix the soot into that day's ink supply...the cold part is this.. gramma would bake some potatoes for each of the kids, one for each pocket, and then they could eat it for lunch..and at home everyone took a brick to bed wrapped in a towel......needless to say , there were no hotwater bottles in our house growing up.... but after 30 years in the navy dad had switched to filling empty scotch bottles with hotwater if he wanted some supplemental heat...try 'splainin that one to the state trooper when he pulls you over
*Just offer to give the officer a couple bottles of this here fine scotch if'n he'd tear up the ticket...
*This is not at all what I thought this thread was about.I came in here to find out if women have that same cold/shrinkage problem men have...
*The big thing is stay dry. Keep extra gloves, and if one pair gets wet change them immediately. Also, for the times you have to take off your gloves. Stuff them inside your jacket not in your pockets. This way they stay warm and your not sticking a cold hand into a cold glove. I don't think I'd be hanging around exhaust pipes and such. Carbon Monoxide could really slow production. Stay Warm Larry
*KeithMy dog got me a pair of those Ironclads for Christmas. They aren't much on warmth but man can you work in them. I don't get the sore hand from over gripping tools like with other gloves. They are ,obviously, about a month old and starting to show a little wear and tear. I'm not completely convinced that I'll ask her for another pair for Father's Day. At thirty bucks a pair I'd like to see them go a little further. They are comfortable enough to forget that you are wearing them and that is a good point.Larry dry is good. I usually have about ten to twenty pairs of those brown jersey gloves in various states of life floating around in the truck. Some days it takes ten minutes to find two that make a pair and still have all the fingers on them. They seem to be alot like socks that way.Luka Sorry.:)jim
*Or Larry ,we could stick them down our bibs and stay really warm.....but then production really slows. Like gramps would say "get the boy pants for his birthday, cut holes in the pockets, now he has something to wear AND something to play with" Funny old guy. Come to think of it, none of us were permmited to play with gramps unsupervised....hhmmmm.
*Sorry about that last one, with all the child abuse and such in the f-ed up world today, that was just sick. Sorry gramps...rest in peace, er pieces I mean(he was cremeted, creameted, cremated, oh F it, he was burned up)
*I never feel the need to wear two pair of gloves. I used to wear the brown jerseys but abandoned them after I discovered the wonders of dotted white knit gloves. (I've included a pic of them).Usually two pair of gloves cuts circulation, making it harder to keep the digits warm. I will admit to keeping a fire bucket going. It instantly takes the chill off if the gloves get slightly wet and dries them off too. If it's one of those wet snowy days, I simply change them. I've went through as many as a dozen pair in a day. I hate wet gloves more than almost anything...Those dotted gloves are excellent. I can pick up small washers with them. I never have trouble fingering nails. I really never feel the need to remove them. I also wear them all year around. They have taken away the feeling of arthritis that used to plague me. They also make me feel much stronger, kinda like using that rubber gripper to open a tight jar.I recommend them highly.I pay 9.99 per dozen for a decent weight. I'm lucky, the local supplier uses a good supplier. blue
*Guys, try getting some cold-weather gloves from your local bike shop. Bicyclists are crazy enough to ride when it's below freezing, and while they need quite a bit of dexterity to operate the bike's controls, their hands don't move much and therefore produce very little heat of their own. A lot of cold-weather bike gloves are relatively close fitting, but extremely warm. Some even use breathable fabrics like Gore-Tex to allow sweat to evaporate while sealing water and snow out. I have a pair of "Aquanot" gloves made by "RaceFace" that I wouldn't trade for anything. HTH, Bill
*BlueThat's a great picture. It almost looks like someone is about to dismember themselves.:( What the heck were you cutting and do you always wedge your gaurds up? I stopped doing that years ago and now seeing a blade sticking out without a gaurd around it justs scares the hell out of me.jim
*I think he did it on purpose to get a rise out of people.
*Bill what do those gloves go for if ya don't mind me asking.Gunner I hope yer right ( I'm so afraid od that spinny thing with the teeth.)jim
*Up here in Calgary, Canada, on the cold days (below -5) we wear thin nylon gloves that allow us to grab nails and pull the trigger on the saw with a thinsulate wool glove over top. We cut out the fingers of the wool glove at the second nuckle giving us the room to move.Farm boy
*Bill, at one time I use to wear scuba gloves. Rubber palms,insulated,made to get wet and work and stay insulated that way. The problem was I'd destroy them in a matter of days if not hours. To replace them it would cost me $50 to $200 a week. Great gloves but not made for the abuse of construction, I now wear them instead of bike gloves when I ride in cold weather, they seem to work better for that.
*Jim, the gloves I have go for about 40. They have suede palms, which seem to hold up pretty well, although the backs are lycra. I never wear out the backs of gloves, but who knows? You could also try cold-weather sailing gloves, which are made to resist abrasion from lines etc. See if you have a West Marine in town- they might be a bit spendy, but they'll be warm as hell.
*Actually Jim, I wanted to show a different perspective because that one looks a lot worse than it is.I don't usually shim the guard...I usually just remove it entirely. I was leaving this one on for some reason that I can't remember. In that pic, I'm beveling a hip rafter. I've got the rafter leaning in an unnatural manner to allow the view for the camera. My hand is stabilizing the work because I'm cutting in the unnatural position. My hand is about a foot in front of the work and I'm not fearful because I've never seen a saw jump forward, it usually jumps backward.I'm not scared of an open blade because I've worked that way for 25 years now.blue
*NO gunner, I don't try to get a rise out of people. I don't really care what you, or they think of me, or my methods. I just do things the easiest way possible for me. I don't care how others do things. If they want to add layers of safty for themselves, good for them.When sugeons get guards attached to their scalpels as they work, I'll put the contraptions on to hamper me. I find them to be binding and unsafe.blue
*Good response Blue I just thought you might have been getting bored. No offense meant. I get tired of reading the safety disclaimers and "you should no better than to do that" posts too. We're all adults here if you want to take the guard off do it. I probably would to if I were in your situation. I just thought you might have been setting the bait is all. Sorry if I urked you.
*I've seen these around several times; but, they only seem to come in medium and large around here - can you get XL or 2XL sizes where you are ? PS, I have a couple of pairs of the Kevlar gloves with grip dots on them: unfortunately, they don't seem to provide any warmth and are decidedly expensive. I do love the "dot" gloves for moving sheet goods, you can pick up 4x8's easily from the top all day without an attack of tendonitus, or, for working with sheet metal.
*Gunner, you didn't flare my nerves. I simply am what I am. I really got disgusted when I couldn't get the safty tag off my visor in my truck. I have to stare at a big yellow warning to wear my seatbelt or something idiotic like that. I think it's time someone gets sued for including too many warnings, thus decreasing the real warning's worth. I'm certainly tired of reading all the standard disclaimers for electrical things. I'm ready to wrap the cord around my neck so I never read another....in three different languages....blue
*I hear ya on that. Then you always have the little old lady at the Mcdonalds drive thru who can't balance her coffee so she sues, and because of the one moron in the world we all suffer,therebye making it impossible to get a hot cup of coffee anymore. That p¦§§£§ me off to.
*Blue, you ever notice how many warning stickers are on baby seats/car seats? You don't get squat in the way of instructions with a baby, but the seat has enough for a nuclear reactor. Joe H
*Thats funny Joe. Just wondering....how many warning stickers would be on the nucleor reactor? I'll bet those guys get hypnotized just trying to take a leak in the men's room...blue
*I totally agree about the warning stickers. Eventually they will say: "Do not use this tool! Put it down and slowly walk away!"One of the stupidest I've seen is on a hand dryer in a newly remodeled rest room. Are ya ready? "Do not touch with wet hands".
*All winter I use polypropelene glove liners -- made out of the same material as the nice long underwear, usually dark blue or green. They are thin, warm, comfortable and you can pick up a dime with them. When the fingers wear out, I head to Farm & Fleet to get another pair for $2-3 (tho last time I picked up a dozen so I can have a pair in each jacket, the garage, the closet, the truck,and probably in every customers house too.....). When its really cold, any other gloves will fit over these. They are a little more slippery than the dotted gloves, but Ive got my saws and guns wrapped with tennis raquet or bat handle tape for grip and warmth.
*tried Larry's suggestion about taking your gloves off. Storing them inside your coat makes for a nice warm hand house when you put them back on. My big brother is so smart. Thanks again Larry.jim
*How about the the little step ladders with a sticker on the first step that reads, "Do not stand here. You may lose your balance...Seriously, I try real hard to schedule indoor work in the winter, and outdoor work in the summer.
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My brother and I were discussing why tool manufactures don't make the trigger holes of saws and stuff big enough. That is big enough to get a gloved finger in there to comfortably hold and operate the tool. I came up against this Tuesday when the temp was in the teens and we were cutting osb two layers of gloves and could barely fit the trigger finger in the saw opening.
Maybe just the tool guys way of saying if it's that cold stay home and make whoopee.
BTW how do you guys/gurlz keep your fingers warm and working when the temperature dips
stay warm
jim