Have you ever wondered whether bench grinder gloves are important when it comes to using a bench grinder? If so, then our team is on hand today to help you find out a little more about the benefits and drawbacks of wearing bench grinder gloves while working – and, hopefully, this will help you to stay a little safer overall as well.
Are Bench Grinder Gloves Important?
Are bench grinder gloves an important investment? Whether you run a firm that operates bench grinders or if you use a bench grinder personally, having the most suitable protection in place is critical to prevent injury and harm from occurring. One such option could be gloves for bench grinder gloves – but are these actually important?
The Benefits of Wearing Grinder Gloves
First of all, we’ll consider the benefits of wearing grinder gloves. Indeed, if you regularly use a bench grinder, it’s undeniably crucial that you have the best protections in place to protect your hand from injury.
Fortunately, specialist gloves are the most obvious type of protection you could consider.
In many cases, employers have made it a mandatory requirement for all bench grinder operators to wear gloves while operating the machine.
Not only does this provide some degree of protection against direct injuries from the grinder blades themselves, but wearing specialist gloves also helps to absorb vibrations from the bench grinder, which in turn may lessen the severity or incidence of hand/arm vibration syndrome.
As a further benefit of wearing grinder gloves, you won’t have to worry about potential injury from any flying metal dust or shards to your hands.
Naturally, fast-flying shards could potentially do severe harm to your hands from the momentum; meanwhile, metal dust may cause allergic reactions, which can be lessened by wearing gloves.
However, additional protections (such as a face shield and full skin covering) should also be worn to protect the remaining, vulnerable areas of your skin from potential injury.
The Argument Against Bench Grinder Gloves
It might seem obvious that wearing safety gloves while using a bench grinder is crucial – however, there is a counter argument to this topic.
And, while we absolutely recommend that you wear gloves at all times to stay safe, some people point out that there are a few minor drawbacks associated with wearing gloves while working. Two of the most notable of these arguments are summarised as follows.
First, there’s the design of the gloves themselves. Understandably, to ensure your hands don’t get accidentally nicked while using your bench grinder, safety gloves tend to be incredibly thick and bulky – which may make nimble movements much harder to make.
With this in mind, some people argue that wearing gloves while using a bench grinder can actually be more dangerous for the lack of dexterity!
What’s more, there’s also a concern about gloves getting caught on and dragged into the grinder. If this happened, your gloves would do very little to protect your hand. Therefore, some argue that it’s safer to go without gloves – at least your skin can’t snag and get pulled in!
The Final Verdict
While there are a couple of notable points against wearing gloves while using a bench grinder, it’s worth considering that these typically relate to the quality of the gloves.
Indeed, if you choose poorly designed gloves that aren’t appropriate for use with a bench grinder, you could be putting yourself at great risk; as such, choosing premium gloves that are specifically designed with bench grinders in mind is crucial.
Not only do they need to be made from durable materials, but they must also be capable of providing protection without hindering the user’s movement.
The optimal bench grinder gloves should hence be ones that are made to allow easy movement of the fingers so as not to impact dexterity during use.
Moreover, the best glove designs should also allow plenty of excess material so that, in the rare case of snagging, the user can confidently pull their hand away in time to prevent injury.
Quality Gloves for your Bench Grinder Are a Necessity!
We’ve outlined at this point that bench grinder users should always wear high-quality gloves – but what makes a quality glove for bench grinders?
When looking for a suitable solution for your own grinder needs, we recommend you look out for gloves that offer all of the following features to be safe:
- All high-quality gloves should be made with durability in mind; after all, there’s no point investing in a pair of gloves for your bench grinder if they’ll only last a few weeks of heavy-duty use. Instead, the most suitable gloves are those which will provide several years of service; ideally, look for a brand that offers a warranty to be confident in this feature.
- Vibrations from the bench press can eventually cause hand-arm syndrome if not treated. And, with this in mind, it’s highly important that you look for a pair of gloves that offer good vibration absorption for the best results overall. Fortunately, many high-quality gloves can offer this level of protection for users.
- Effective gloves for your bench grinder should be made with long cuffs to protect the users’ wrists from getting hurt during use.
- Flexibility is a key component of an effective glove design for use with bench grinders. Indeed, to ensure you’re able to safely operate the bench grinder, it’s essential that you’re able to easily operate the machine despite wearing the gloves.
Don’t Leave Things to Chance!
All too often, we can overlook the importance of having the appropriate protections in place when it comes to using a bench grinder – but, with this in mind, our team here at Grinder Critic has come up with some key suggestions to help you choose the safest approach. After all, while they might be a little cumbersome, bench grinder gloves are absolutely essential to ensure you stay safe for all of your grinding efforts – so, please don’t compromise or put yourself at risk by going without them.
