Sandblasting Glove Alternative?

[Tink]

I have tiny hands. Imagine my tiny hands slipping into big, bulky rubber-type gloves inside a blast cabinet. The end of the glove fingers is a good 2" past the end of my own fingers.

Now imagine me trying to hold and manipulate a vessel that is about 1.25" tall.

It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOO frustrating!

Are there alternative gloves that can be mounted to blast cabinets?

[Firelilly]

Since I don't know anything about this subject...I don't really know what this means...
Gloves

If you are using the cabinet with the arm-hole brushes, find some rubber or tightly-woven cloth gloves that fit and give you the combination of sensitive feel and secure grip that you like. Dishwashing gloves work quite well. Experiment with different gloves; they really are an underrated link in the blasting system as far as comfort and endurance are concerned.

A set of adapters which allow for the use of gauntlet-type gloves instead of the brushes is available for those who prefer to work totally free of any direct contact with the dust inside the cabinet. The adapters replace the brushes and provide an absolute seal against abrasive seepage from the cabinet.



It's from this site...
http://www.glastar.com/catalog/sandblasting/glasspasser_assembly.cfm

Hard topic to search using "small" in the description. Couldn't come up with "small size gloves". Just small size cabinets. :-/

Lil

[Melodie]

I cut mine off at the wrist and sewed elastic around the new ends so that they would close around my wrist but where I could still get my hands through. When I blast I wear the disposable gloves you can buy just about anywhere. Harbor Freight has the thicker Nitrile ones. They cost a few pennies more but the added thickness is nice to have.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=37050

But then ... I keep my system at a lower pressure since most of my work is delicate so the thinner gloves work out fine compared to those big bulky ones. Have to warn you though, there will be a tiny amount of abrasive that always manages to work it's way through the elastic wrist just a bit so it's not as clean as having the sealed ones. Always wondered if I should have simply sewed a pair of heavier household gloves in instead.

[jennsyn]

I have the same problem. One thing that has worked for me is to put a couple pair of the nitrile gloves over the sandblast gloves. Not ideal, but atleast it helps.

Jenn

[Tink]

Over them? That helps? These blast gloves are huge and not very flexible.

It's really pissing me off.

[Tink]

I just emailed Cyclone, which is the company that made my blaster. We'll see what they have to say.

I had another idea last night: I usually know beforehand if I'm going to be blasting a piece or not. I bet it would be easier to do so while it's still on the mandrel.

[J. Savina]

Tink, I know what you mean about the bulky gloves. I have a really hard time too. My husband says that some of his blasting buddies don't wear gloves at all. Go figure. Anyway. I thought, if you want to get more answers on this specific subject, there is a pretty informative forum called Cutting Edge Sandcarving Forums (http://www.cuttingedgesandcarving.com/forums). There are so many woman who do sandblasting and I'm sure that you may get ideas from any of the great ladies (and gentlemen) on this forum.
I like the idea of the elastic myself. If it weren't for the fact that I have to share the booth with my big handed hubby, I'd try it that method.
J.

[Mr. Smiley]

Take a mandrel and stick a cork on it. Put this into the vessel and now, it's on a stick... it's much easier to manipulate and turn. This is what I have done anyway. ;) Those gloves prolly suck for everybody except King Kong.

[Tink]

Smiley, you are a total genius! Remind me to give you an extra squeeze next time I see you. Which will be in, oh, about six months...

[prairieson]

Those gloves prolly suck for everybody except King Kong.

Excuse me... those gloves fit just fine.

Lol!

[Tink]

Heheheh.... Well then, maybe you're the Studio Gorilla instead of the Studio monkey. ROFL!

I like your big hands.

A lot.

Mmhmmm.

Yep.