Читать книгу Woodcarving Illustrated Issue 83 Summer 2018 - Группа авторов - Страница 13
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What to Look For
Since most cut-resistant gloves are made for working with sharp
metal or glass in industrial settings, and puncture-resistant
gloves are made for handling thorny brush or medical waste, it’s
hard to find gloves that are excellent at both—but you should try.
What do the CEN numbers mean?
Right now, the CEN standards for European-
sold gloves, including some that are also sold
here, use a four-digit code (often preceded
by EN388) to rate abrasion, cut, tear, and
puncture resistance. For cut resistance, the
ratings run from 1 (lowest resistance) to 5
(highest resistance); for the others, they run
from 1 to 4.
For carvers, the second (cut) and fourth
(puncture) numbers are the most important.
The cut numbers are based on how many
passes with a rotary blade are required
to pierce the material (see photo, above);
puncture resistance is measured by the
weight required to push a stylus through the
material. The Cordova Power-Cor gloves
we use in our shop, for example, are rated
3444. So, these gloves have a good rating for
abrasion resistance and high ratings for cut,
tear, and puncture resistance.
WCI
contributor Tom Borecki, who
helped explain these complicated rating
systems to us, uses Pakel High Performance
gloves with a CEN rating of 4543. Personally,
we would avoid using gloves with cut and
puncture resistance ratings of less than 3.
Steel-Thread Gloves
These gloves, made from Kevlar yarn that includes
strands of steel wire, have an ANSI A6 rating, so they
are more resistant to cutting than any other ones
we've seen. Unfortunately, most are not tested for
puncture resistance, and the woven design can
let small gouges slip through.
Budget Carving Gloves
These gloves usually have an ANSI rating of 2
(or A2). They will stop a minor slip but not a major
slash, and are not generally puncture-resistant.
Use with caution.
Leather-Palmed Gloves
These have an ANSI cut rating ranging from 2 to
4 (A2 to A5), so check to make sure you're using a
higher-rated one. They were some of the only
carving gloves we found that were also tested
for puncture resistance, most coming in at
level 4 (or A5).
Latex/Nitril-Coated Gloves
Not all of them have an ANSI rating, but two
common ones, including the Cordova Power-Cors
we like, have a solid CEN rating of 3444 or higher.
They are often confused with gardening
gloves—make sure you get the ones made
with Kevlar.
How Much Is Too Much?
While researching for this article, we came
across some gloves that have an A9 rating
for cut resistance. We're working on getting
a few pairs to test out. We'll let you know
in a future issue how they perform in cut
resistance, comfort, and ability to hold
carvings. Stay tuned!
The four-digit CEN code
rates gloves for abrasion,
cut, tear, and puncture
resistance. For carving
gloves, we suggest at
least a 3 for cut and
puncture resistance.
ABRASION
RESISTANCE
CUT
RESISTANCE
TEAR
RESISTANCE
PUNCTURE
RESISTANCE
CEN Ratings
