finger protection

by Marti
(Franklin, IN )

I wear rubber gloves (made for stained glass), but my fingers are so sore and dry from grinding, soldering, etc that I may have to wait until they heal before starting my next project. Do you have suggestions on how to prevent this from happening?

Thanks
Martina Brown
Franklin, IN

Answer

Hi Martina,

My hands suffer too when I do glass work, more in the winter than summer. To help them heal, I make sure I wash them freqiently and use lots of moisturizer made specifically for healing. I don't wear gloves except when I'm working with patina (it stains cuticles and burns if it gets in cuts).

If you wear rubber gloves, perhaps your hands are sensitive to rubber. Try Nitrile gloves. They are allergy free and don't contain any powder which can also cause allergic reactions. I get mine at Harbor Freight. Walmart carries them too. They are fairly cheap at around $5.00 for 100 gloves.

I have also heard about these: Finger Gloves From what I've heard, they work very well, but please bear in mind that I have not used them, so I can't recommend them as something I know works.

Another thing people use is Scooch's bookkeeper fingers. They are the rubber fingers covers bookkeepers and bank tellers use. Most office supply stores sell them.

Perhaps other people reading this can tell us what they do to protect their fingers.

Hopefully, people reading this will give you some more ideas for finger protection.