Before I even start the real covering I put fillets of covering in a lot of places so I cn just butt up to some of the compound curves. As Hookie pointed out, a glove can be a very good idea but I don't worry about the oil, I tend to run the hot iron over my fingers and legs, burns tend to hurt a lot over time. I do a lot of work on my lap and I wear shorts about 9 months out of the year. One year I had scars.
Cutting covering is easy as long as you have a very sharp blade. I have a home made strop loaded with rouge and just keep sharpening as needed. This way my blades are sharper then when they are new right out of the box.
Jim, Anyone: I broke the flat shoe on my trim iron if anyone has any extras?? I too use a couple of irons at different settings.