flywheel1935
Well-Known Member
Is it just me, but does anyone else find the black vinyl gloves "just a bit creepy" 

I thought I was the only one that thought that. Never seen a true engine mechanic that was uncomfortable of a little oil on their hands.Is it just me, but does anyone else find the black vinyl gloves "just a bit creepy"![]()
When as student I worked on my car engines I never succeeded keeping oil free hands (and face) Only when I did (under supervision) little service on my late fathers plane engine I kept kind of clean, only because it had no inverted oil system cleaning the belly of it made me again dirty and smelling of oil and fuel LOL.I thought I was the only one that thought that. Never seen a true engine mechanic that was uncomfortable of a little oil on their hands.
Maybe should go back to the keyboard. Its clean and neat.
23 years as a transmission engineer with Ford and Chrysler. Worked with mechanics who tore down and put together our stuff all day long. At the beginning, the guys would work sometimes bare handed, but then our oil tech specialist put the word out that used engine oil was loaded with stuff considered to be carcinogenic, while new oil was fine. By the time I retired, all of the mechanics worked with gloves on engines and transmissions that had been run, and almost all used gloves even on new builds with new oil, and extended it to almost all work on the cars too.I thought I was the only one that thought that. Never seen a true engine mechanic that was uncomfortable of a little oil on their hands.
Maybe should go back to the keyboard. Its clean and neat.
Everyone that wrenches on cars uses surgical gloves now. I keep several hundred in both my shops. It's the new world. Everyone seems to be ditching their air tools for electric now too.I thought I was the only one that thought that. Never seen a true engine mechanic that was uncomfortable of a little oil on their hands.
Maybe should go back to the keyboard. Its clean and neat.
Well, yes, but to be honest when I was first starting to play around with airplanes the old mechanic who mentored me had me cleaning engine parts and stuff with 1,1,1 Trichlorethylene. Most of those guys are now gone, and they departed quite a bit earlier than their originally scheduled expiration date.tore down and put together our stuff all day long.
but then our oil tech specialist put the word out that used engine oil was loaded with stuff considered to be carcinogenic,
By the time I retired,
almost all used gloves even on new builds
So, another part of the world has become averse to a little bit of grease and oil.
My father worked most of his life in the oil industry. He ended up allergic to petrol fumes, which gave him terrible sinus trouble.Wearing gloves started a couple of years ago on some TV shows. It started to be a signature and signify safety for the safety police. I will agree some things shouldn’t have finger prints on and should be clean. Everything is a little much. A buddy was on a date and the fan belt came off. Handy, he fixed it. The girl was horrified his hands were dirty. He stopped working on cars after that. She should have been dumped way before she dumped him. Exposure to chemicals is a hard subject. If you are not a professional and are getting exposed daily like a professional, something is wrong.
Just to clear things up: the active ingredient in RoundUp is glyphosate, it was invented in 1970 so was not an ingredient in Agent Orange (or the other rainbow of agents used in Vietnam). There are some safety issues with glyphosate which are mainly evident if you are exposed to a lot of it.Then there is the current hot topic of RoundUp weed killer, the artist formerly known as Agent Orange. What they have learned about that stuff is pretty awful, military and now civilian. I have more than one Viet Nam era friend who has cancer from that.
Neither of these things are hard to figure out. Air tools have a hose and a compressor...electric are now just as powerful with neither limitation.Everyone that wrenches on cars uses surgical gloves now. I keep several hundred in both my shops. It's the new world. Everyone seems to be ditching their air tools for electric now too.