Burns and Gloves

No burns here but there is not a hair on my hands or wrists. I try to remember to where the gloves. Its usually after i have had my hand in the stove, I cant take the heat, Cant get the piece of wood in and its on fire already.

I use gloves religiously and still have scars all over the forearms and biceps trying to fill every nook and cranny with wood.

I also have a few healing burn spots on my wrists because of lazyness of not using the gloves.The two Andirons are what bite me when reloading or checking the fire.

wood spliter said:

No burns here but there is not a hair on my hands or wrists. I try to remember to where the gloves. Its usually after i have had my hand in the stove, I cant take the heat, Cant get the piece of wood in and its on fire already.

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i do the exact same thing!

I don't use gloves, only load n/s so I don't have to reach into the stove much. I don't know how you guys who have to load e/w do it since you have to reach into a hot stove to place the back splits. I've loaded the stove twice that way and it wasn't fun. If I had to load e/w I would have to have a side loader.

I always use my gloves. I've got thick welders gloves that come to the elbow. You can pick up cherry red steel with them but the heat from the fire still manage to get throw enough to feel uncomfortable if I'm fiddling with the fire too long. I leave them laying across the top of my tool hanger so I can't take a tool without moving the gloves.

I got a real nice pair of Vermont Castings stove (welding) gloves thrown in with my used stove, but I've never even put them on. I use one medium-duty Wells-Lamont glove on my right hand. No way to open that griddle top without it. Open the door, gently drop a split in, adjust it with my 3' poker and grab another.

Two very minor burns on my forearm from reaching way down inside and nicking the rim. I used to have what my wife calls "baker's arms" (she used to be a baker) from loading my old stove with it's narrow front-loading door.

I just love top-loading.

I got more splinters than burns before using gloves.

I have a few burns too! I'm finding that the longer I have the stove the less I attempt to load wood without gloves. The gloves I wear are not the long type. They are actually a retired pair of work gloves I've had for seven years! I used to live down the street from a gas station called Lamountain Brothers, they had these blue and yellow gloves for $2 a pair. These were made of canvas and a thick suede leather with a thick, fur like insulation inside. We moved and the gas station sold to a CVS store that took its place. I used these gloves for 7 winters, for carpentry work and tree work, as well as, shovelling and sledding with the kids. They have held up far longer than any other glove I've ever bought. I finally retired them from outdoor work because after many wash cycles the little finger now has the insulation bunched up, so I can't get my finger all the way in. I wish they were longer because they work great as stove gloves. The same insulation that kept me warm in the winter keeps my hands cooler inside the fire. I bought a pair of winter gloves for $12 this year and the seams are already coming apart. If I ever find some of those blue and yellow gloves for sale I'll buy an entire case of them. The ones I have are finally showing a pea sized whole after almost 8 winters, but none of the seams have slpit!

Our gloves are right by the firebox door and slipping them on every time before the door gets opened is just a reflex now because we've done it this way for years. Seems rather silly to me to not wear gloves when working with hot stoves.

Backwoods Savage said:

Seems rather silly to me to not wear gloves when working with hot stoves.

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And if you have a horizontal run in your flue, wear a leather shirt. Worse burn so far in over 20 years was when my skinny son tried to slip past my old stove and the wall to get the fire poker he dropped and came up a little too short. Just touched that red-hot flue pipe with his upper arm and got a bad second-degree that ended up getting infected. He still has the scar. Because of its mass, cast iron transfers heat faster and seems to burn deeper, but the flue pipe can do a pretty good job on unprotected skin.

The FV has a dinky little handle that forces you to wear gloves; there is no way you can even try open it barehanded with a hot stove. I have not had a serious burn since putting that stove in. The old stove had a wound wire handle cool enough to operate barehanded - and there was constant burning/scarring/screaming/cursing (at the stove I mean) because the gloves were not on. Also, the side loading on the FV reduces poker action to a minimum. Moral - put on a dinky handle that forces you to wear gloves; or maybe just wear the gloves any time you open the door anyway.

i have a pair those red gloves that are suppose to be for the stove. i only use them when i need something quick and they're in front of me. but i like using a long pair of pot holders. they're the same lenght, but hold the heat off way better and 5 times as long as those red gloves. with the pot holders i can hold on to the door handle for a extended time and not get even hot. with the red gloves it has to be fast or i get burned , right thru the red gloves and it holds the heat long after i let it go.

Here's my glove collection - sittting just to the right of the insert on the hearth -- red BBQ gloves [came with the insert] , regular work gloves for grabbing splits from the rack right outside the door, and uvex clear safety glasses [aviators]. Why uvex safety glasses ? Because the second time I used the insert, [this is my second season] I went to rake the coals forward before adding more splits and was *** instantly *** showered with hundreds of little sparks all around me like it was the fourth of July. It happened way too fast for me to close the door !! I wasn't happy with having live sparks so close to my eyes shooting out of the insert. I've been wearing the glasses ever since any time I open the stove to add splits. Extra safety avoids a trip to the ER...and the gloves and specs are within easy reach.


Never had more than a small minor burn on my arm once when I grazed the hot door, but that's pretty minor in the scheme of things.

I can handle the heat, but I wear gloves because I can't handle the splinters.

Some things I learned about gloves:

1. Don't leave them on top of the stove
2. Don't hold the wood too long
3. Don't use them when they are wet
4. Don't scratch your nose when wearing
5. Don't leave them on the couch
6. Dogs like chewing them

wood spliter said:

No burns here but there is not a hair on my hands or wrists. I try to remember to where the gloves. Its usually after i have had my hand in the stove, I cant take the heat, Cant get the piece of wood in and its on fire already.

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This is my first year with a wood stove, and I've already had the same thing happen to me twice - this has made me much better about wearing the gloves

Even though my stove gets our family room warm enough to wear short sleeves, I've learned from multiple forearm burns (hitting the airwash right where the gloves end while loading) that I also need to always wear long sleeve shirts when adding more wood.

This fireproof sleeve goes all the way up to the shoulder. For our top-loader, reaching all the way in
to adjust the logs is NP. Got it at the local welders' supply store. Paid for itself first time I used it.

I have gloves, now I need a stove helmet. Do they make those?

Shoulder pads... what about shoulder pads?

Gloves & glasses
Gloves for splinters & burns
Glasses do I can see & if I open the stove to poke around the heat don't dry my eyes, singe eyebrows & lashes

No gloves. I use a pair of fireplace tongs I trashed picked. After 20 years of working a roofing kettle you learn how delicate human flesh is.