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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

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  #1  
Old 2017-02-25, 7:36pm
Beckala Beckala is offline
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Default Has anyone tried thermal finger covers?

Hi all!

I have a friend who curls her hair with one of those wands and the other day I noticed she used these little finger covers to be able to hold the end of the very hot wand.

https://www.amazon.com/JATAI-Heat-Sh...01EXOBKOI?th=1

I could see them being helpful for protecting finger tips when the stringer gets too short. Or maybe on smaller glass rods. I don't think they'd protect you from a direct torch hit. I ordered the pair linked to try so I can post a update on functionality.

Has anyone ever tried something like this?
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  #2  
Old 2017-02-25, 8:18pm
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I haven't tried them, but I'm very interested in what you think of them.
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  #3  
Old 2017-02-26, 3:43am
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Speedslug Speedslug is offline
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The temperature difference between the curling wand and a stringer of glass short enough to conduct heat to your fingers is going to be close a thousand degrees higher.

Glass is already a really bad conductor of heat so only something like two inches is going to get too hot to hold in your fingers.

If your fingers are that close to the end of the stringer then the real danger is going to be direct heat from the flame itself and the flame is going to be upwards of 2500 degrees f if not lots more than that.

My thoughts are you are going to be better off welding that stringer to some other glass (if not another stringer of the same color) and using that as a handle than trying to find something that will protect you fingers and not melt on to your skin while doing it.

Needle nose pliers or hemostat can work and I have several that I have filed a groove length wise across the serrations so the stringer can settle in to it to point out the end of the tool rather having to hold it sideways.

I even have a set that the end of my mandrels fit into so I can stick finished beads into the back of my kiln without loosing the hair off the back of my hand.


I know some welders use something called "Tig Fingers" that are several layers of Kevlar fiber. They put them on the outer two fingers of their welding hand so they can rest the hand against the work they are welding in order to steady the hand while melting the welding rods with the electric arc.

They work for that purpose but they are very bulky and are kind of like a shoe for the side of the last two fingers.

Not something useful for manipulating something as small as a stringer.
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Last edited by Speedslug; 2017-02-26 at 3:45am.
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  #4  
Old 2017-02-26, 7:07am
Beckala Beckala is offline
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Thanks for the detailed reply Phill!

I wasn't really thinking these would be good for picking up a hot stringer or being in the flame. More for when the stringer gets down to about four inches and it gets just a little uncomfortable to keep applying dots. Your idea about the groove in the pliers sounds awesome. I love how often the artists here come up with homemade solutions to problems.

I don't know if it matters on temps but I am on a hot head which burns a bit cooler than a duel fuel but I definitely take your point of not considering these real flame protection seriously. I got my first lampwork related third degree burn this weekend and I'm not looking for another which is definitely part of my inspiration here. I thought this night work for some heat guard since most curling irons are over 400 degrees and these let you touch the hearing element directly.

When I try these out I'll try not to melt them on to my fingers and I'll look into grooved pliers!
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  #5  
Old 2017-02-26, 2:20pm
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Beatrix Beatrix is offline
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The grooved pliars are brilliant, I even have a chainsaw file that is about a rod's diameter. As for the finger gloves, at first I thought they would be a good idea, but if they block the sensation of heat too well, it may make someone careless as to how close fingers get to flame. I know a few nurses, and they say that burns are the worst thing to deal with, especially if something is melted onto the wound.

Last edited by Beatrix; 2017-02-26 at 5:30pm.
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  #6  
Old 2017-02-26, 2:47pm
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Ask a nurse friend about having to "debris" a burn wound.

Pain killing meds don't work on burns and having to "rummage around in someone's skin" making sure you get the last "foreign object" out of a burn takes a titanium spine and a heart of stone and can make a nurse cry about it years later.


In the Navy they issued us polyester uniforms for a few years until the first major burn accidents put a sudden stop to it.
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  #7  
Old 2017-02-26, 10:50pm
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Unless you're going to juggle your mandrel and hot bead to put these on only when you need them, my guess is they're going to interfere with being able to spin the mandrel at a uniform speed. Just my guess - let me know if I'm wrong.
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  #8  
Old 2017-02-28, 1:11am
della della is offline
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Just an obnoxious aside from an old lady...you will get sort of calluses on the ends of your fingers after many torch sessions. I can remove pans from the oven with only a dish rag.

Keep on melting!!!
della
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  #9  
Old 2017-04-26, 5:35am
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I hold short stringer with needle nose pliers. Sometimes I am using a hand mixed stringer and I need every bit for a matching set. The pliers let you use all but the last 3/8" inch since the pliers can start to burn at the tips. It can also gas your bead with crap.
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  #10  
Old 2017-04-26, 2:45pm
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I just remembered that we used to use needle nose plyers as a way to prevent heat from traveling up the wires on tiny sensitive electronics when soldering them into circuit boards.

Often we would wrap the handles of the plyers with a rubber band and turn them into instant inexpensive hemostats with a very skinny nose.

That should give you stringer access down to the last 3 /16 ths of an inch.
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  #11  
Old 2017-04-27, 7:03am
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Cmon.
When the heat starts getting uncomfortable the stringer goes in the scrap pile.

No glass stringer is that precious.

With experience, I realized I don't need to melt down to little bitty nubs.
What's the point?

Pick up a new stringer and get on with it.
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  #12  
Old 2017-04-27, 2:47pm
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I think I would go crazy with things on my fingers.

Beckala, you're right the HH is cooler, but it's got a big bushy flame. My shorts from my HH days were almost half a rod, now they're a nub. But even still, i would just use a tool if I HAD to get that close with a tiny piece.
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  #13  
Old 2017-04-27, 3:53pm
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That's funny, Kanassky. I used to agonize over each & every little short. I was gonna squeeze that last bit o'life from it. Now I'm like where do I put the next five pounds? I know, I know, weld onto the end of a new rod, but I never get that done.
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  #14  
Old 2017-04-27, 11:15pm
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I probably said this already somewhere here abouts but I just weld shorts onto the next rod or stringer until there is nothing to hold on to and then it goes into a collection of stubs that I pick up with a hot gather of one color or another when my creativity needs to just muck about for a bit.
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