"You have a woman's hand my lord!"

[TomBartlett]

Not sure if this is quite the right place for this, but here we go!
I've recently got into this bushcraft m'larky and am having a great time. I've been furiously whittling spoons, toggles and even a wooden fish! However my hands, tempered from years of reading books and generally living a comfortable life, have come up in blisters from the carving. Any tips for 'toughening' up my hands or is it just a case of waiting for calluses to form?

 

[Steven J]

Just keep going. Some say that methylated spirits will harden the skin but I am sceptical of its real effect. Like most things it is also down to technique. Maybe lighten up on the grip a little???? I am a school teacher by trade but also own a 16ha block of land. I always seem to raise the blisters on the weekends and school holidays because I cannot keep up the hard work during the week when I am busy. Gloves are a good solution. Keep going, have fun.

Steve

 

[helixpteron]

Wear a pair of thin gloves.

 

[Matt.S]

I'll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm. And don't get me started on your purse...

 

[mr dazzler]

Dont be discouraged. Do a little and often, even 15 or 20 minutes a day. Its like athletes that have to stay in trianing. If they stop it takes a long time to get back to fitness (ask Mr D Beckham) Build up your hands (and your strength) gradually. I dont get blisters, but EG yesterday I spent probably 3 hours using axes and an adze, and several more using knives and hook knives (at least until my catastrophic accident-see hook knife danergous thread......) No blisters, just a crescent shaped cut

 

[Biker]

I'll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm. And don't get me started on your purse...

Ya got there before me Matt. Nice one! Mine was going to be: "I'd wager those legs have never been cut off to plug a hole in the leaking bottom of a lifeboat!"

Blisters are something you're going to have to work through or around. Gloves make a good barrier but in the long run they don't toughen up the skin or let it form calluses.

Don't know what to suggest but keep on plugging away at it. One thing I can recommend is carrying a 4 inch length of wooden broom handle dowel and hold it in your hand as if holding a knife handle, just constantly grip your hand onto it to build up the grip muscles, a tennis ball works just as well, I suppose. When your grip can burst a tennis ball you know you've reached the required strength

I suppose in the process of gripping the dowel you'll also develop those calluses.

Just a thought.

 

[Toddy]

I find it goes through seasons..........and I do have a woman's hands

I've been away for a long weekend and my hands were covered in little nicks, a really bad hack and a few hot spots, by the time I got home, but I've had a lazy Winter.
If your hands are in use all the time then the muscles and tendons in them and your forearms strenghten, and help take the strain off your skin since they work that bit easier.

Basically just keep doing things.

I do find gloves help when I know I'm going to be tackling some specific tasks, like taking out brambles or cutting willow, but make sure they fit properly, most 'working' gloves leave more blisters with badly positioned and made seams, than they're worth.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Melonfish]

Surgical spirit helps build calluses as does urine, your choice which one you pick mind

old guitarists trick.

 

[Nagual]

I'll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm. And don't get me started on your purse...

Ahh them were the days when they still actually made comedy....


Cheers,

 

[Ogri the trog]

.....but keep on plugging away at it. One thing I can recommend is carrying a 4 inch length of wooden broom handle dowel and hold it in your hand as if holding a knife handle, just constantly grip your hand onto it to build up the grip muscles, a tennis ball works just as well, I suppose. When your grip can burst a tennis ball you know you've reached the required strength

I used to do something similar when I was into climbing - a ball of wax - it starts off cold & hard, but as you work at it, the wax softens and becomes easier!

In general though, if you can feel a "hot-spot" developing, take a break and do something else - it doesn't take much for the spot to become a blister, but if you can recognise the signs the situation is recoverable.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Hugo]

I'm with Melonfish, pee on them, also you stated (I've been furiously whittling spoons)
Chill out take your time and enjoy.

 

[dkabat579]

I work a desk job 40 hours a week so I don't have farmers hands (and they're a little on the small side to boot), but that said I've noticed a big improvement in the 8 months I've been carving with axe and knife. When I first started I could barely keep going for an hour with any tool without either tiring or hurting myself in some way. Now I can sit for a whole Saturday and work without even noticing. Over time you get callouses and bizarre forearm muscles and with a little persistence even the softest hands will harden up pretty well. Just work carefully, nothing messes up a training regimen like slicing off a couple millimeters of your finger (ask me how I know).

 

[badgeringtim]

Just to ad a bit of a twist it seems to me to make a lot of difference when you change tools, ie adzing seems to rip my hands appart where as axing and knife work is ok so long as i move occasionally.
Also having ecsema so essentially moisturise my hands daily (unintentionally!) so dont get much hard skin developing. Although am also suffering from the being based in the office for a few years now syndrome = soft hands and softer belly (pluss back back from sitting at desks all day).

glad its spring and i can get out and whittle more though!

 

[Everything Mac]

when away at uni my hands tend to get very soft and once back to hard graft they get quite sore. but after a week or so the calluses are back and my hands are fine.

I tend to go to the gym a fair bit these days and my calluses build up in a matter of days. generally speaking i have to clip some of them away as they get huge.

atb
andy

 

[dasy2k1]

rowers in both oxford and cambridge have the best calluses on their hands that i know of, (that and basque pelote players)

 

[maddave]

I've gone the other way... Used to work in I.T. and hands as soft as a babys bum.... Now I'm a park ranger I have to neutrogena them occasionally to stop em turning into shoe leather !!

 

[FreddyFish]

.........and I do have a woman's hands

But you have a good reason..

 

[TomBartlett]

Thanks for all the great advice and encouragement! I don't think I'll be (intentionally) peeing on my hands anytime soon, but working often, and maybe for shorter periods, sounds like a plan I can follow.
And Matt S., it's not a purse its a possibilities pouch

 

[tombear]

Surgical spirit works, I discovered this one year when I was trying to toughen up my feet by rubbing the stuff in, Being a bear of remarkably little brain it didn't occur to me I was rubbing twice as much into my right hand as onto either of my feet! D'oh!

Now for really tough hands hands mining was the thing. My uncles party trick when he was in his late teens was to fire a air gun (and not a crappy pop out either) into the palm of his hand and the pellet would end up flat!

My old man, even back in the early 80s when everything was mechanised could snatch a wasp or bee out of the air and hold his fist to your ear where you'd hear it going mad trying to sting him!

ATB

Tom (feeling quite a big wimp)