Anti-Vibration Gloves

[Lee Ohmart]

At a recent meeting of out woodworker's club, we discussed shop safety, and the topic of vibration came up.  Several members suggested ant-vibration gloves.  In searching the internet, I find few reliable reviews.  The search also uncovered a separate issue of going with full fingered or fingerless.  One forum just devolved into a discussion of tools with lower vibration.  I can't afford to buy all new sanders, etc. so I focused on the gloves which seem much more affordable.  I was wondering what those of you who wear gloves had experienced.

[tomsteve]

im 56 years old. I've been running power tools since I was 12. ive worked in the woods cutting firewood, worked in a pallet shop, worked in a machine shop, and framed houses.and spend a lot of time in my shop. worked with many,many different power tools. the ONLY time I wore gloves was was in the winter while cutting firewood and building houses.  
you will NEVER catch me wearing gloves in my woodshop. 
the first lessons in woodshop in middle and high school was safety. gloves are a huge NO around power tools.

[Bill Holt]

I'm 79.  Growing up, we leased land and raised cattle.  I remember asking my dad for leather gloves; his response "Gloves ware out, skin grows back."  In the winter he did furnish gloves.

Turning bark off and roughing out bowls can be very hard on the hands.  I have an old pair of bicycle gloves (exposed finger tips) that are wonderful for turning.  They are padded and do a great job of absorbing the shock. 

Other than for turning, I cannot picture myself warring gloves in the shop.

[Bill Wilson]

I got a pair for Christmas a few years ago.  I can't recall what brand they were, but they got decent reviews on the innerweb.  I wanted to try them out to address the issue of my hands going numb after long sessions with the ROS.  For me, they only made my hands hot & sweaty.  I experienced no difference with regard to numbness.  I haven't worn them in a long time.  I only used them when sanding.  Never when using other power tools.  Mine had full finger coverage, so I wasn't able to get the tactile feel of the surface of the board when sanding either, which is another reason I gave up on them.  

That's just been my experience.  Seems plenty of others benefitted from them, but I wasn't one.  Maybe a different design or brand would perform better.

[jteneyck]

At a recent meeting of out woodworker's club, we discussed shop safety, and the topic of vibration came up.  Several members suggested ant-vibration gloves.  In searching the internet, I find few reliable reviews.  The search also uncovered a separate issue of going with full fingered or fingerless.  One forum just devolved into a discussion of tools with lower vibration.  I can't afford to buy all new sanders, etc. so I focused on the gloves which seem much more affordable.  I was wondering what those of you who wear gloves had experienced.

I don't see a safety issue wearing gloves for use with a ROS, but wouldn't use them for anything else.  Anyway, you might want to look at bicycle gloves.  Back when I road, a lot, I wore ones with Sorbothane padding in the palms.  My hands would go sort of numb on long rides without or with old school gloves, but fine when I started using the ones with Sorbothane.  

John

[Lee Ohmart]

im 56 years old. I've been running power tools since I was 12. ive worked in the woods cutting firewood, worked in a pallet shop, worked in a machine shop, and framed houses.and spend a lot of time in my shop. worked with many,many different power tools. the ONLY time I wore gloves was was in the winter while cutting firewood and building houses.  
you will NEVER catch me wearing gloves in my woodshop. 
the first lessons in woodshop in middle and high school was safety. gloves are a huge NO around power tools.

My only use for them would be when sanding for extended periods.  I, like you, would never wear them when running cutting tools in which they can catch on with the probable disastrous results.  I also do not wear long-sleeved shirts for the same reason.

[DieselDennis]

I have some experience with them in an industrial setting. The people using them were running pneumatic needle scalers and air hammers.

They do give some degree of relief against vibration. There's little foam pads built on to the face of the glove to absorb the vibration. You're going to be hard pressed to find any concrete information about them since the tool manufacturers aren't going to rate the vibration of their tools and the glove manufacturers aren't going to put a hard rating on the vibration absorption. Mainly just opinions.

You won't want to wear the anti vibe gloves for anything else. They're thicker to absorb the vibration, that makes them a little bulky. The foam on the face of the glove is also very soft and therefore does not wear well at all. You will wreck them in short order if you use them for any kind of hard work.

Buy a pair to try. Keep them next to your ROS. It will provide you with some relief, but only if you take the time to put them on and keep them on. Doing things like changing a sanding pad would likely require you to take a glove off.

Other things I can think of to help mitigate vibration in sanding:
- Buy a better ROS. There's differences in the vibration of ROS as you go across the different dollar levels.
- Switch hands. Can you sand with both hands? Maybe use your dominant hand in the detail areas and your off hand when it's wide open?
- Try to position the work where it doesn't multiply the vibrations (back through the ROS and into your hand). Hopefully the work is resting on something solid that will absorb the vibration.
- Break up the sanding. Sand a little while. Go do something else. Come back in an hour and sand some more.

Good luck

[fredhargis]

Bicycle gloves might be a good option to try. I had several pair when i rode and they helped a lot. As they got a little too worn for bicycling I moved them to use with my tiller and other yard equipment. I don't have much probme with my ROS but if it bothered me I would try them. Usually they have exposed finger tips so it wouldn't be hard to change paper while wearing them.