I used to wear Kevlar sleeves and gloves back when I worked for GM. ANYONE
in any department who handled sheet metal was supposed to wear them. Since it was a metal stamping plant, that meant just about anyone who wasn't on break. The sleeves made me break out in a rash every time I wore them, so they issued me coveralls and I wore the sleeves over my coveralls, until they finally issued everyone uniforms the last few years I was there. Then I wore them over my shirts. Before they issued me coveralls, I had to go up to medical where one of the nurses would rub some kind of protective barrier cream on my forearms, and wrap them in bandages, so I could wear the sleeves over them. The rules said everyone had to wear them, and having an allergic reaction every time you put them on was no excuse not to.
The Kevlar gloves were a Kevlar/cotton blend and probably had some other fiber in them too. The knit cuffs were really tight and I was always slitting them wide open with my pocket knife. Cut resistant, but not cut proof. I'd poke the tip of the blade through and... zip! No more tight cuffs squeezing on my carpal tunnels. Those gloves all had to be thrown away instead of washed and reused, but GM wouldn't buy gloves for people with wrists well over 8 inches in circumference. Most of the time, the sleeves and gloves smelled like dry cleaning solvent or something when the used ones came in. That solvent with Kevlar sleeves is a perfect recipe to make me itch. I think the sleeves were all Kevlar and the gloves were only half. I don't know, but my hands didn't itch the way my forearms did. Like they are now, just thinking about it.
After the gloves were washed, the wrists shrunk down so small, they would fit a different part of my anatomy a lot better than they fit my hands.
Why, yes ma'am, I do have protection.
I could hold 2 fingers flat together, slide a glove over my fingers, point my fingers straight down, and the glove would stay there. Well, obviously, my wrist is bigger around than 2 fingers, so they were way too small. And out came the knife again. I sharpened my 2-bladed Case knife so much that the blades got shorter and skinnier, until one day, when I was using a big air chisel to do a destructive weld test on a Camaro/Firebird rear frame rail, I chiseled my Case to death and gave it a proper burial with the rest of the scrap.
The sleeves looked just like these and were slash resistant, but pointed stuff could still poke through both layers. The gloves looked like these but the cuffs were a darker red, and the rest of the glove was white and red, not black. I took a pair home from work and gave one glove to each of my brothers-in-law for cleaning deer. I didn't think they needed one on the hand that had the knife in it, but think I gave them another one later anyway. The fabric in these gloves tightens up when you run them through the wash, and it makes them a LOT tougher. So, fair warning to anyone buying Kevlar gloves, wash them before you wear them.
And wash them separately from the rest of your clothes in case you have a reaction to the Kevlar. You don't want to have fibers in your tighty whities then discover it feels just like fiberglass insulation to you.
When Kevlar gloves weren't enough protection, we had to wear "pads". These were mittens made of 2 pieces of gray leather STAPLED together, with another layer stapled to the palm for reinforcement. I tried to find them online but gave up. When parts were covered with "dope" that lubricates the parts and dies in the press room, it would cause any gloves to wear through in a hurry. Cotton gloves might last a couple of minutes. Kevlar would last longer, but when you're handling sharp, slippery metal, you need more than that. Unfortunately, the leather pads were EXTREMELY slippery when wet, which meant you had to hang on even tighter. If you already had carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists, that made it much worse. I never took home a paycheck I felt guilty about not earning. I gave GM my blood, sweat, and tears, to earn it. The physical scars still show.
MBTV
Forum Index
Help
Calendar
Contact Info
Register as a member
