9.1.20

8.1.20 Industrial gloves? Get good ones!

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Industrial gloves, offering high manual grip, without excess effort, are essential for those dealing with large and heavy telescopes and mountings. IMHO. Bare hands need far more strength and pressure to achieve the same grip as good gloves.

Grip varies enormously between seemingly identical, industrial gloves. By which I mean cloth gloves with a thin, applied, rubber palm and fingers and thumb only. There is no need for the backs of the gloves to be coated as this just makes them sweaty to wear. Full rubber gloves are only useful for partial immersion.

Some "matt" looking gloves are extremely slippery on metal surfaces! These should be discarded. Or preferably returned to the dealer. Or just kept only for moving rocks and paving slabs. They can be quite lethal on smooth metalwork! So try them in the shop, if you can, before you buy them. You should be able to hang from a bar in gloved hands without the same effort as bare hands. They make a huge contribution to the user's lifting and handling strength without strain. I swear by them in helping me to avoid injury.

The more familiar, full rubber, dipped gauntlets, intended for wet work, are similarly variable. They are usually too stiff and slippery for jobs requiring much manual grip and dexterity. I don't even use them for handling wet paving slabs any more. The similarly stiff ones, with cloth cuffs, are just a nuisance in taking them on and off with already wet or dirty hands.

I recently came across some thin, black, stretchy, rubber gloves in a box of hundreds. Thinking they would be the typically disposable trash. They are remarkably strong with excellent grip! Ideal for mechanics or dirty workshop but use them well away from machines!

The downside is they are so sweaty they must be discarded anyway. At least they don't instantly tear into gaping holes as soon as you glance at them. Like many totally garbage, latex and nitrile disposable gloves sold today. Which are sadly available from many chemists and supermarkets. Imagine if a surgeon wore a pair of those?  They would break from just putting them on!

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I have just discovered that the major chemist chain in Denmark sells "distilled" water. I need to clean my folding [mirror] flats without leaving water marks. The idea is to rinse the dirt off with tap water with possibly a little washing up liquid to help to remove any grease. Then to finally rinse off with the demineralized/deionized/distilled water. Interestingly[?] plastic storage containers can affect the distilled water over longer periods. Garages or petrol stations often have demineralized or deionized water for battery top up.

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