I was wondering how y'all protect your hands and wrists? I use rings made of steel, so my hands get tired pretty quickly. My current setup is Xuron pliers and my gym gloves to protect my hands but my wrists still hurt quite often. If you have any other useful hints to avoid pain I'd be grateful.
Protection of hands / wrists
- Thread starter necklez
- Start date
Might be easier to answer if we knew what kinda protection are you describing - protection for what & from what?
If it's just a reference to the making of chainmail & protecting your hands n eyes, for me, when making a custom ring size that can't be bought in bulk packs from my usual supply source, I use protective glasses, as to get the rings as close to the desired diameter & AR, I use a grinding stone on a dremel to cut away at the wire end, & also remove the resulting burr. For the hands, I don't use gloves while making either the custom ring sizes, or the weaves that use either the custom ring sizes or the bulk ring packs, just pliers of both the long-nose & bent-nose family & the flat/blunt-nose pliers to save the fingers.
If it's just a reference to the making of chainmail & protecting your hands n eyes, for me, when making a custom ring size that can't be bought in bulk packs from my usual supply source, I use protective glasses, as to get the rings as close to the desired diameter & AR, I use a grinding stone on a dremel to cut away at the wire end, & also remove the resulting burr. For the hands, I don't use gloves while making either the custom ring sizes, or the weaves that use either the custom ring sizes or the bulk ring packs, just pliers of both the long-nose & bent-nose family & the flat/blunt-nose pliers to save the fingers.
I mean crafting the jewelry / making the weaves. Sorry, should have specified that. 
The new pliers I bought (flat nose and chisel nose) protect my fingers much better already and my hands get less tired or at least it takes a little more time to feel pain / tiredness. But especially the palms and wrists hurt pretty quickly and I'm wondering whether it's a wrong technique I'm using or if there's another tool that helps with that or if it's just normal and I have to get used to it.
The new pliers I bought (flat nose and chisel nose) protect my fingers much better already and my hands get less tired or at least it takes a little more time to feel pain / tiredness. But especially the palms and wrists hurt pretty quickly and I'm wondering whether it's a wrong technique I'm using or if there's another tool that helps with that or if it's just normal and I have to get used to it.
I'm not sure what technique you're using when opening/closing the rings, & I also don't know the technique you're using for making the patterns/weaves you've chosen (eg. speed weaving vs. slow weaving), but it helps to go with the speed weaving option, as not every ring has to be opened & closed. As for your hands, mine have calluses in different areas, like at the 2nd knuckle areas of the fingers, & the 1st knuckles at the base of the fingers, which is partly down to making chainmail, so if technique isn't the problem, you might have to just soldier through the pain, & develop calluses that in turn stop/minimise the pain. Also consider how much you do/make in one session in a day, as that can affect how your hands & wrists feel too (like how doing too much gaming in one hit on the PS or Xbox console can give sore hands n wrists, + a sore back).