Gloves/Vibration, Searched

[Cheese]

Gents,

First, I managed to get a Stihl ES bar for the 660 here in Colorado instead of Bailey's and even found another local dealer on the site who volunteered to help, thanks.

How many of you wear gloves to deal with saw vibes? Other than toughen up, do you find the vibes to be better or worse with any sort of glove on your hands? A full day of 660 work leaves my hands hammered, to the point of not being able to type or tie my shoes.

I cut every weekend, for firewood/felling for pay/wood to practice with. The 440 gets me, but not to the same degree. In the warmer months, it is not a big deal, but now that there is a chill in the air, I spend the first half of the week trying to get my hands working again.

There were three good glove links in the last safety glove discussion. I am not looking for saw protection, just vibration dampening.

Thanks.

 

[stihl86]

Stihl has vib reducing gloves. About 30.00. Good quality. They work also. All vib reducing gloves are bulky and quite warm

 

[Stihlman15]

i just wear white ox's, they seem to do a mighty fine job...or is that just a pnw thing?

 

[2dogs]

Gents,

First, I managed to get a Stihl ES bar for the 660 here in Colorado instead of Bailey's and even found another local dealer on the site who volunteered to help, thanks.

How many of you wear gloves to deal with saw vibes? Other than toughen up, do you find the vibes to be better or worse with any sort of glove on your hands? A full day of 660 work leaves my hands hammered, to the point of not being able to type or tie my shoes.

I cut every weekend, for firewood/felling for pay/wood to practice with. The 440 gets me, but not to the same degree. In the warmer months, it is not a big deal, but now that there is a chill in the air, I spend the first half of the week trying to get my hands working again.

There were three good glove links in the last safety glove discussion. I am not looking for saw protection, just vibration dampening.

Thanks.

I feel your pain!

 

[Cheese]

I have to add, I am a young guy and I am used to outdoor work, have calluses, etc. but the vibes are a different beast.

Are the Stihl vibe gloves really worth a darn? They didn't fit well and the palm felt useless.

Maybe it is time to invest in a 441 and 661 instead?

 

[JTElectric]

I have a pair of Makita gloves I got a long time ago in my paintballing days, they were called something like "Impact Resistant" or something...they are armored on the back side, supposed to be for people that ran jackhammers and the like. The palms are padded, and they're nicely ventilated, I really like them. They also kept those knuckle shots in paintball from making me swear *quite* so much! :censored: :censored: haha

I am thinking they were made by Mekanix, or however they spell their name, Just google that, Or maybe it's Mechanix, not sure, but I bet they have something!

I'm abnormally picky about, well, everything, and especially gloves for some reason. Some guys have 2 pair for everything, I have 2 pair I keep on my work bench alone! And they have to fit perfectly, I hate seams, etc. bothering me while I'm working. These Makita ones are really comfortable, I would bet they still make them one way or another! Good luck, Justin

 

[gixxer1237]

i use some of the mechanix impact gloves. I got enough without carpel tunnel.

 

[Slamm]

This hulkster gloves:

http://www.shubee.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=hulkster

Are the best option for vibes, they are also very tough and great for handling firewood. No other glove comes close. They are also great for pulling skidder cable with their very think (3/16") rubber palms.

I have the same problem with wussy hands that can't take the vibration and these gloves were the only ones regardless of price that did anything to help.

A 441 and 361 will also help, LOL.

Sam

 

[Mike Van]

Cheese, if you have problems with your hands now, as a young guy, you should be buying the best AV saw you can get. Your hands will only get worse as you age, so any help you can give them now will pay you back later.

 

[Ole Farmerbuck]

Cheese, if you have problems with your hands now, as a young guy, you should be buying the best AV saw you can get. Your hands will only get worse as you age, so any help you can give them now will pay you back later.

Ah.....are you telling him to get a Husky? lol Good advise.

 

[SawTroll]

Ah.....are you telling him to get a Husky? lol Good advise.

A 390xp sure would help a lot, and even the old 395xp should help some.

 

[Tzed250]

Sounds as if you might suffer from Whitefinger. This is a circulation issue, so keep the core of your body warm, that will keep the blood flowing to your extremities. The 660 has three levels of buffer stiffness available. You might try the soft ones. I would try the Mechanix Impact glove.

 

[redwing2]

Another thought is to try a pair of motorcycle gloves with gel in the palms. They are thiner and give you better feel, work great on the Harley.

 

[BobL]

I was getting white finger on the tip of my left hand thumb and forefinger from milling with my 076. I bought special gel padded gloves with gel pads in all the fingers and thumbs. They work OK but then I made me one of these.

No more Mr White Finger!

 

[Cheese]

I ordered a couple of pairs of Mechanix Impact and padded palm gloves, hoping they are helpful, just wondering if you guys have some panacea.

If it happened all the time, I would be more worried. This is just not an issue in the summer/spring, all day, either saw, no worries. Do you guys ever get the screaming pukies int he winter? After running a bunch of saw, you stop and because both vibration and cold has numbed your hands, the warm blood returning makes you want to scream and puke?

A 361 is on the list, just time and money.

Thanks for the help.

 

[B_Turner]

If the 660 vibration bothers you at your age, my honest advice is to run a saw that has less vibration. Not a popular advice here on AS, but so it goes. The difference between saws in terms of vibration is night and day.

I find the vibration of my 066 too much for sustained cutting, but that is just me. Love the saw otherwise and still value it in my quiver. (Just don't use it much).

When I do use it I use good gel pack gloves which help somewhat. Also really good cutting technique is very helpful here too. Sharp chains, light but controlled touch on the saw, and sharp chains. When all is right, while doing typical crosscutting you can have the dogs damping most of the vibration.

My challenge is the majority of cuttting time I spend is not the typical felling or bucking.

I say all this because all damage is cumulative, and if it bothers you now I believe you would be smart to save yourself the "damage" that will be more troublesome later. Many people have nerve damage that is troublesome later and even though the damage is much less than whitefinger, it effects your ability later to work with your hands.

I am not dissing the 660, as it is a amazing and legendary saw if one's hands can take the vibration levels. But for me, my hands tingle pretty soon after running my 066 even with gloves, but I can run my other saws like my 7900 or 395 for hours (even bare handed) with no issues at all.

In my case I believe I am in part paying for abusing my hands when younger. For example I used to work seasonally for the railroad and used to spend weeks driving spikes with a spikemall. All young guys, we would wake up many mornings and have to take a couple of minutes to get our hands to open and close freely from the day before. And throw into the mix a fair amount of time shuffling down the track straddling the rail driving spikes with a 90 lb jackhammer, my hands are feeling all that a little these days (I think).

 

[Woodie]

If the 660 vibration bothers you at your age, my honest advice is to run a saw that has less vibration. Not a popular advice here on AS, but so it goes.

Roger that. A lot of the guys that talk about people being wusses 'cause they complain about the vibes...a lot of those guys look like they're typing with framing hammers.

Try a saw with spring-mounted AV system and see if that helps, along with the vibe gloves.

.

 

[jjett84724]

I found that wearing two pair of gloves helps. I wear a pair of the white, cotton liners and then my leather gloves over those. I found it helps quite a bit.

 

[vmiller]

I have some carpel tunnel problems and find that vibrations from equipment can really bother me. I've had decent luck with the Mechanix Impact Protection gloves.

 

[Nailgunner]

well, my instructor agrees with the HSE's current best practice guidelines; gloves are there not to absorb vibration but to keep your hands warm and keep the circulation going. This will prevent nerve damage and HAVS. I find it helps: Any gloves will do, but they should fit well and be reasonably warm. cotton liners will be of use here.