what gloves do you use

[nekshot]

When handling blueing I either end up with gloves that are so stiff I can't use or the ones that I can feel the work thru get holes from acetone. Any economical gloves that allow you to feel what your handling and still protect?

[Nobade]

I don't use any gloves. Why do you need gloves? Anything that protects you from blueing salts is going to be so stiff you can't manipulate the parts. I do have a sink right next to where I work so I can wash off any salts that get on my skin promptly though. If you are worried about fingerprints harming the finish, it's not an issue - never seen a problem with that in more than 20 years.

Let me add to that - my big tanks require I put my hand over the gaps between them to lift parts out by the wire I use to hold them. There I do wear gloves, big insulated rubber covered oven ones. But once the part is out of the tank and rinsed off I take the gloves off to handle it. And I don't use them at all with the small pot on the camp stove.

-Nobade

[country gent]

At work we used a nitrile rubber glove in the solvent tanks and hones, these help up good to oils and solvent not sure how bluing salts would be. They dont hold up at all to burrs or sharp edges. We would pur a little talc or baby powder in them before putting on made getting them off much easier.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

If they are for the actual act of hot bluing, many people would indeed be just as happy without gloves (what is so great about getting 270 degree anything on your hands?), but nitrile should be about as good as gloves get. If it is for protection from hot but dry objects, including sharp ones, it has to be Kevlar. If it is for the ultimate in handling "feel" without leaving fingerprints, but little protection from anything else except bacteria, the best are latex or polyurethane surgical gloves, which come in large disposable packs, often ready powdered. They are good for protection from parasites when cleaning live game, and I think the polyurethane ones would resist acetone much better than latex.

[plainsman456]

For hot water bluing we used the old playtex dish washing gloves,but for cold/hot bluing nitrile have worked best for me.

I get them the size i need and buy them by the box of 100 from the auto parts store in town.

[RustyReel]

When rust bluing or using Oxpho cold bluing, I use nitrate gloves from Harbor Freight, 5mm weight. They are probably a little pricy if that is all you are ordering (assuming you don't have a store close to you), and have to pay freight. But they have different sizes which actually fit me. Those one size fits all do not. They protect your hands from the solution but more importantly they protect your work from the oils in your hands.....

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Oh, and one other. If you really can't avoid handling items you are going to rust blue, thin cotton gloves of the kind used by photographic darkroom operators and museum conservators would be good, as long as the environment is cool. Sweat and skin oils would soak through them. Yes, sweaty fingerprints rust, and with rust bluing you are out to promote rust... Now we have brought logic to the problem, but real-life chemistry may not be so obliging.

[oldred]

Just a warning about those brown Jersey gloves and rust bluing, some of them (only some brands certainly not all) will leave a black smudge if the part is handled hot, handling cold does not seem to hurt anything but still hot (even when dry) from boiling water does, and this WILL NOT come off! I had to start over on several parts that were nearly finished when this happened to me and yes these were new gloves and not some that had been contaminated from prior use on something else, this is best described as a slick shiny stain that will not card off nor will subsequent applications of rusting solution remove it. I noticed this a while back and it happened to me twice before I ditched the gloves and just used a soft cotton towel to handle the parts, I have no idea what brand(s) of these gloves caused this problem or how many out there will cause it but for sure I will never use those cheap brown Jersey gloves again!

[Nobade]

Aah - forgot about rust blueing. I only do hot caustic blue, so it slipped my mind. Yes, wear white cotton gloves when handling parts for rust blueing. Fingerprints will mess that up.

-Nobade