Hyde Job Guides

How to Cut in Cold Weather With Heavy Gloves

The 42090 fixed-blade utility knife has no slide to work through a glove. Cold and heavy gloves still need a warm-up, a dexterity check and a planned blade path before the first cut.

What you need

• Model 42090HD Fixed Blade Utility Knife $26.65 each$18.48 each at 100 or more

  Add

• task-selected gloves
• dry backup gloves
• clamps or other workholding

Steps

1. Warm up away from the knife. Open and close each hand and check for numbness before you cut.
2. Pass a dexterity test in the glove you will wear. Pick up and set down an object the size of the handle, and pinch a small offcut.
3. Set up the station: clear ice and trip hazards, set good light, mark the cutting zone, and place the blade disposal container.
4. With the edge protected, check the handle, knurling and nose. Check the blade for chips, a bent tip or corrosion.
5. Check the material for staples, wires, frozen lumps and hidden layers.
6. Plan the cut. Decide what holds the work, where the free hand is, and where the blade goes if it slips.
7. Clamp the work if you can. Keep the free hand behind the cutting plane.
8. Make a short sample cut on a conditioned offcut at the shallowest angle. Start production only if the handle holds, the blade starts cleanly and force stays modest.

Tips

• Repeat the dexterity check after warm-ups, wet gloves, glove or blade changes and weather changes.
• Replace gloves that are wet through, torn, oil-slick, stiff or the wrong size. A soaked glove chills the hand.
• Cold laminates and plastics can be brittle, and adhesives and rubber can stiffen. Sample cut the actual cold material.
• Square the work so a draw cut finishes beside the body into open space.

Watch out

Questions about the right tool for your job? Email cs@hydestore.com or call 508-916-6442.