Do you have better ideas for outdoor work gloves?

Do you have an idea for a more durable leather work glove that protects the entire hand and wrist than what I've come up with over the past year or two?

The best I can find are these three types of gloves:

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  1. For working outside, the best I can find are the TIG welder's gloves. They protect well, but they don't last long - so the goal is something more durable that doesn't cost much more (they're about or so per pair).

  1. For most chemical jobs, I use the Costco nitrile gloves by the boxfull (since they're single-use only).

  2. For the easy jobs in between those two, I use the Costco set of rubberized cloth gloves (but they are also single use only as they're destroyed within minutes in most cases).

The nitrile and rubber-coated gloves work fine for the easy jobs - but the tough outside jobs are wearing holes in my skin because the leather gloves are torn within a few weekends.

I've learned NOT to buy any glove with a seam across the palm; nor any with thin leather at any location (and to get extra thickness of leather in the palms) - but even then they're worn out too soon.

If you have better ideas for more durable outdoor work glove that also protects well, that would be very useful advice indeed!

Reply to
Danny D.
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Basically the type gloves I use. I'd probably have duct tape over the holes in the leather gloves until the gloves were useless.

Other gloves I like are bicyclists gloves with no fingers and padded palms when mowing the lawn. Keeps mower vibrations from running up your arms and feels more comfortable.

Reply to
Frank

Do you have an idea for a more durable leather work glove that protects the entire hand and wrist than what I've come up with over the past year or two?

The best I can find are these three types of gloves:

formatting link

  1. For working outside, the best I can find are the TIG welder's gloves. They protect well, but they don't last long - so the goal is something more durable that doesn't cost much more (they're about or so per pair).

  1. For most chemical jobs, I use the Costco nitrile gloves by the boxfull (since they're single-use only).

  2. For the easy jobs in between those two, I use the Costco set of rubberized cloth gloves (but they are also single use only as they're destroyed within minutes in most cases).

The nitrile and rubber-coated gloves work fine for the easy jobs - but the tough outside jobs are wearing holes in my skin because the leather gloves are torn within a few weekends.

I've learned NOT to buy any glove with a seam across the palm; nor any with thin leather at any location (and to get extra thickness of leather in the palms) - but even then they're worn out too soon.

If you have better ideas for more durable outdoor work glove that also protects well, that would be very useful advice indeed!

Check and see what the rodeo riders use. They must be durable to withstand the ropes. WW

Reply to
WW

Work gloves never last long, except for the heavy suede. You lose a lot of feel with them Better to develop some callouses, and wear gloves only for protection where burning, cutting, cold, chemicals, etc, might damage your skin. That's been my experience. If you do like them for common work, just buy some cheap cotton work gloves that you've found to be comfortable and last some. Then stock up when you find the cost suitable.

Reply to
Vic Smith

On 4/29/2013 11:28 AM, Danny D. wrote: ...

What kind of work are you doing that qualifies as the tough jobs?

For general farm work (other than "bob wahr" fences and the like) I just use single thickness cowhide gloves and wear them until generally there is very little left--the protection is good enough w/ pretty hardened hands a few holes don't really bother that much. They're $6-8/pair at local farm supply.

For fencing and other really hard work generally just use heavier of the same, often w/ the rough exterior. Again, they're still serviceable long after a few holes even w/ barbed wire and the like. They're $8-10 a pair.

Never could see point in 2X-3X the asking price--as your post says, never found any that lasted enough longer to make the cost differential worthwhile.

The first failure I generally see in the smooth leather is the stitching along the forefingers...

Reply to
dpb

That's a good idea!

I have a hilly semi-wild lawn that has very tall grasses tucked away in all the myriad corners and edges which I mow infrequently:

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My palms hurt for days after mowing ... so the padded bike gloves idea may be a wonderful addition to my work glove drawer.

Reply to
Danny D.

Interesting idea of Bull Rider Gloves, as it looks like they thought about not having any stitching in the palm (the palm stitches always come undone after a few hours simply because the stitches were through so I'm always gluing the palms back together).

This looks like a nice one, but it's $75 a glove:

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Here is also a nice one, but it's $50 a glove:

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It gets more reasonable with deer skin gloves at $40 a glove:

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This looks as good, but it's still high at $35 a glove:

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This gets us down a bit lower to $29 a glove:

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Googling further, I can find them for $18 a glove:

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source=pla&tid=JTIN1124-2&adtype=pla&kw=&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=JTIN1124-2&gclid=CJX6mpa68LYCFYRfpQodyXQA3A

So now what I need to do, since size and fit are important, is to find a local resource in San Jose for rodeo or roper gloves.

Reply to
Danny D.

Ooops. The stitches 'wear' through ...

Reply to
Danny D.

I just slapped together a collage to show where work gloves fail:

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These fail in what I would consider normal home maintenance, which includes felling trees, clearing (very) spiny brush, pulling thorny weeds, digging & filling holes, cutting & pulling nasty poison oak infestations, removing Scotch & Spanish broom weed bushes, etc.

Looking to see *where* they fail, it seems, as you noted, the right index finger stitching often fails, as does the right thumb stitching. By far, that's the main failure mode of these work gloves.

In some cases, the right index finger and the ring finger wore through the leather, but most of the damage, as you noted, was at the seams of the index finger & thumb.

Reply to
Danny D.

I buy the cheap kind. When they get dirty, I throw them away. I have been known to take them off and leave them "who knows where"

Reply to
Metspitzer

...

For that kind of thing I'd just continue as I do--use 'em up and go on. It doesn't seem to me worth the cost for anything as expensive as you're buying already and I expect half-the-cost will last nearly as long.

And, even if the finger is split along the seam they've got much useful life; cosmetics are of little matter.

Reply to
dpb

That's a good idea!

I have a hilly semi-wild lawn that has very tall grasses tucked away in all the myriad corners and edges which I mow infrequently:

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My palms hurt for days after mowing ... so the padded bike gloves idea may be a wonderful addition to my work glove drawer

One more thought. Try a thin coat of "shoe goo" (spelling?) That is tough stuff. Just coat the hardest wear areas. WW

Reply to
WW

I buy the cheap kind. When they get dirty, I throw them away. I have been known to take them off and leave them "who knows where"

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

These may not suit every project you have in mind, but I consider them a very good value:

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They are often available with a coupon or on sale for $3 - $4 a pair.

Reply to
Larry W

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